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the Sierra Leone civil war began in 1991
the war began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. -
Events
On 13 November 1991, Nelson Mandela announced that the first constitutional talks would take place on 29 and 30 November at the World Trade Centre in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, and the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA I) started its first plenary meeting. -
1993
UN lifts all but arms sanctions. President De Klerk and Mr Mandela awarded Nobel Peace Prize. -
ishmael
he is 10 years old, 2 year before the war comes to his village he describes the war as theoretical -
ishmael and his friends
Ishmael, Junior, Talloi, and Mohamed have been singing and dancing to rap music since they formed a group when Ishmael was eight years old. -
how it started
In January of 1993, Ishmael, Junior, and Talloi set off from their village of Mogbwemo on a trip to the town of Mattru Jong to participate in a friend's talent show. -
knowledge of the attack
The boys stay at Khalilou's house and are surprised when he returns home from school early the next day to report that rebels have attacked Mogbwemo -
first encounter with the war
As the boys begin retracing their steps, they encounter remnants of the attack: crowds of people running; women hiding in bushes screaming their children's names; children, naked and lost, following packs of stray dogs. Ishmael describes cars packed with dead people covered in blood and the terror on everyone's faces as he passes. -
fleeing the war
Ishmael, his brother, and their friends walk for days in hunger and silence. They pass through abandoned villages and see houses ransacked and dead bodies everywhere. -
Risks taken
To seek safety, the group must cross a clearing filled with dead bodies. During the crossing, something falls out of a pocket and makes enough noise to alert the rebel guards in a nearby tower. Ishmael, who has already reached the other side, watches his brother pretend to be dead among the bodies so that the guards don't shoot. -
1994
South Africa saw the transition from South Africa's National Party government who had ruled the country since 1948 -
Rebels
ishmael and others all refer to the soldiers as the rebels which is a a person who rises in opposition or armed resistance against an established government -
attack
Most of the villagers are at evening prayer when the rebels invade. the villagers are killed or flee into the bush. Ishmael manages to escape, but he is separated from his brother and friends -
Quiting?
the villagers are killed or flee into the bush. Ishmael manages to escape, but he is separated from his brother and friends -
hope
A woman finds them and tells each of them news of their family. Ishmael learns that Junior, ishmael's brother, has recently been in the village; Ishmael can't sleep because of his excitement -
forcefully recruiting boy soldiers
"The RUF has forced many children to join its ranks in recent weeks, placing them on the front lines of combat," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch -
Connections
Sierra Leone shares a border with Guinea and Liberia. Guinea was also mentioned earlier in the year with Equiano -
becoming a boy soldier
After walking for days, the boys are captured by a group of soldiers and taken to Yele, a village occupied by the military. the village of Yele is surrounded by rebels, and the military are losing the war. They tell the boys and men that they must either join their forces and fight or leave the village -
training
The army of boys begins training.They are continually reminded that these rebels killed their families and that they are inhumane. The only hope for revenge, they are told, and for justice is to do the same to the rebels that was done to their own parents and loved ones. -
become used to the drugs and conditions
Ishmael and the other boy soldiers in the rehabilitation center behave like caged animals. They attack the cook, throw bowls and silverware at the nurses and counselors, break into the medical supplies for drugs, and drag their mattresses out into courtyard in the rain so that they can sleep outside where they are more comfortable -
traumatized
Ishmael writes that he has to fight through the war memories to remember anything from his childhood. -
rehabilitation
Ishmael decides that rehabilitation is possible and declares that children are strong enough to overcome what's happened to them in times of war, if they are given an opportunity to do so. -
change
UNICEF men arrive to take the boy soldiers from the war zone. Ishmael and his friends are lined up, and the lieutenant chooses the youngest ones to be released from their duty. He tells them that the UNICEF men will put them in schools and find them new lives. -
family
Leslie, Ishmael's case worker, finds Ishmael's Uncle Tommy, whom he's never met. Tommy visits Ishmael at the center and calls him his son now. -
new beginning
Ishmael returns to his Uncle's home in Freetown and begins the school year. The students know that he was a boy soldier and fear that he'll snap at any moment and hurt them, so they sit apart and refuse to speak to Ishmael. After there was another war coming his way Ishmael has escaped the war only to have the war find him.
He was afraid of his past reoccurring