some of you might have read, or heard of, or might be reading, or planning to read, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, which is about the best book I've read in the past five years. In any event, I just got this email from an EDHS grad who's presently attending Syracuse Unversity, where Beah did a visit and a speech, and I thought some of you guys might enjoy reading it, particularly in light of some of our recent conversations! Have a great weekend! :)cav
Hello Mrs. Cavalluzzi!
I've been at Syracuse for about a month now and I am loving it. Everyone is nice and seems to get along with everyone.. except the college of environmental science students. Those students have enormous egos so they stay to themselves. It is just starting to get cold here so I am waiting to see the first snow storm, although I hear sleet comes first unfortunately.
Tonight was Ishmael Beah's lecture and it was amazing! He spoke of what he did after the book ended as well as what he suggests governments should do to help other countries. He said that he actually wrote a letter to his mother before she became his mother (Cav note: Beah was adopted by an American woman that he met at a UN conference during some of his political efforts) and tried to get the Red Cross to send it to know he was alive. However, the Red Cross only sent family members letters, so he wrote "Ishmael Beah, son of *forgot her name*". When she got news of a letter from her son, she didn't have any sons, she said "which one?" remembering everyone she met at the UN meeting. He has personally been funding kids to go to High School and college, and he says that soon there will be and Ishmael Beah foundation. And he also mentioned he didn't want it named after him, but the board did it anyway.
When he tried to get to the United States, he was rejected in South Africa because he did not have sufficient documents. He made a joke that when war comes to your hometown, who gets their documents? He was also 16 at the time so he didn't own any property or anything to ensure he would return to Sierra Leon, which was one of the requirements to leave. After being rejected from his first country, they stamped his passport. That stamp told every embassy he went to that he had been rejected and they sent him out the door. Finally, at one embassy where he was rejected the first time, he was allowed a 2nd visit, thanks in part to his future mother. On his second visit he told the man he could send him home, where he would likely die, or he could send him to the United States to live with a loving family who is prepared to take him in. The man replied to Ishmael "I shouldn't have let you come a second time" and then gave him a prospective student passport that lasts 3 months, time to find out if you get accepted to any schools.
His response to a question about what countries can do to help all the conflicts was to try to prevent it. He said that the children of countries in turmoil or distress are left alone, they grow up to be the dictators and problems of the children's generation. He also said that one of the peace organizations he is a part of is trying to get Washington to pass new legislation restricting military aid to countries who do not use boy soldiers. He said that the best place to get military aid is from the U.S. and if the U.S. restricted it countries such as Columbia would shape up.
To this day he says that there are children on the streets of Sierra Leone who have restless nights due to their lack of therapy. After the war was over there were so many children who needed therapy that the centers for treatment didn't have enough supplies. Once the war ended the large amounts of funding that went to Sierra Leone to help dried up because people thought the conflict was over. Due to this, the children were rushed out of recovery centers and put into society, many of them ending up on the streets. Just because a conflict ends, doesn't mean that the problems that started it did.
There is also a documentary about his return to Sierra Leone where he took some of the popular hip hop artists of the day back with him. He said that although they rapped about carrying Mac 10s they were afraid to go, even though the conflict was over. He even had to make them think they were doing some "Rambo sh.." to get them to fly in a helicopter. Oh, and he doesn't like the new hip-hop, he says it is crap compared to the old stuff that actually helped expand his vocabulary. Original hip-hop he said used words such as soliloquy in their rhymes and was like poetry with music. He did reccomend a new artist to us, K'naan, if we wanted to hear some good hip-hop.
It was incredible to hear him speak about his life, although he only said "boy soldier" once, it was evident he had it come up in his mind several times. During his speech he said that he believes everyone is good, but everyone can also lose their humanity. He very clearly stressed the fact that Africa is not how it used to be, and that each country in Africa has it's own problems. Each time he mentioned Africa he said that he does not like it when he says he is from Sierra Leon, in Africa and other people say "oh yeah! my wife went to Africa" like it was all the same.
I wish you could have been there to hear him speak, he was funny and yet he got the point across. Hendricks Chapel was full of people, there must have been 500 there to hear him speak at 7:30 on a school night. He was worth the crowd and the uncomfortable wooden benches we sat on. Sorry for any typos, don't have time to re-read. Hopefully you have enough time to read this!
Go Orange! -Kevin Stouffer
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Lego, Cav (the Lego brand name was derived from the Danish expression "leg godt" - play well - and lego also translates in Latin as "I study" or "I put together"...really, one of the world's most perfect words!)
wow this was very intresting to read i definatley feel more enlighteneed after reading this, i also feel motivated with a positive energy to help. I wish i was actually there to hear him speak it would have been absolutly amazing!
