Long Way Gone Assignment

2015 7th Grade Summer Reading

NON-FICTION ASSIGNMENT My first reaction to the topic of A Long Way Gone was shock. This book is about an African boy, named Ishmael Beah, having his family and friends slaughtered, home after home destroyed, and childhood taken by the civil war in Sierra Leone. I never could imagine having everything being taken away from me and running for my life for a year like Ishmael. He was my age when he, his brother, and four other boys were chased away from their home and everything they had. I would want to come back to collect some books, food, weapons, or at least something semimetal; if the boys were to go back they would be killed by the rebels that overtook their village and many others. Picture your whole family,

In chapter six, while bypassing a village they were captured by villagers because the boys were believed to be rebels; another boy from their home village, Mattru Jong, spoke out and said they were not rebels. Every page I turned, there was more shock, sadness, and a wanting to help that kept my eyes glued the pages and my mind wanting to engulf more of the story. One of the most saddening parts of this book was when Ishmael was at one of his lowest points: He had lost the other five boys journeying with him, including his brother Junior, and two months later ran into six other boys from his village. Him and these boys were walking to a village which a lot of Mattru Jong villagers were at. Just on the outskirts of this village were banana farms and one man working in them, that used to live in Mattru Jong, told Ishmael that he saw his mother, father, younger, and older brother. They had to go down one more hill to reach the village, when they heard gunshots. They raced down and the entire village was burned, including everyone in them. The boys and the man hid in a bush as some rebels boasted about how many people they killed; one of the rebel boys sat on dead body with a decapitated head in his arms, he swung it around by the hair like a new purse. Ishmael’s hope had been destroyed,

Why are they relying on American and other countries to help their next generation, what politically happened to make the wars over there so terribly gruesome, and how can I help? When I 'm older I could join organizations like UNICEF or a local church group, but I probably can 't help Sierra Leone 's government choose a side or help fight against the rebels that want to over throw Sierra Leone 's government and take over. At my old church, Northstar, they collected boxes of goodies to give to children all around Africa for Christmas. Every year my family has given the Church about three boxes that were filled with toiletries, drawing supplies, some clothes, sweets, and toys. I don 't want to just keep donating, I also wish to go do missionary trips and help on the front lines. I know if I were to become a nurse, missionary work would look good for future résumés and I could medically help the people sucked into war, but I wonder what organizations would allow me to do that, even if I didn 't become a