Child Soldiers

Child Soldiers

Connections: 
The video of Ishmael Beah describing his life as a child soldier sounded very harsh for him as he went through many struggles during a very terrible time in his life. Despite many struggles he did start off as a normal child like many of us who listen to hip-hop, go to school and much more. As he was describing his life of being a child soldier it was very relatable to child labor as both consist of a child doing something for someone else. Ishmael was forced into pursuing in long battles without breaks and food, just like a child slave, who works for long hours and is not fed and many of them encounter many diseases.


The article "Teaching Kids to Kill," was similar to Ishmael's story because as a child soldier, he was a kid who was taught to kill at a very early age. Ishmael and other child soldiers were capable of killing others and firing weapons despite the fact that they were only children. However, in Ishmael's case he was forced into combat and was under the influence of drugs which forced him to kill without no feelings. In the article, it is described that children are learning such capabilities from violent video games, which they then pursue in real life without the influence of anything but video games.

Challenges:
I would argue upon the fact that a sooner solution to child soldiery should have been found before these children were forced into using weapons and being drugged. As the rebels captured these children, many were probably alerted that this sort of action was being done; therefore they should've had a way out for these children earlier as this situation has probably occurred many times before.

Concepts:

In this video there were many key concepts, but some very important ones were the fact that these child soldiers were drugged, which made them be someone who they weren't. Therefore, they were not the evil side of this conflict, but the ones who were drugging them were. In addition, it is important to know this because it describes the tough times people like Ishmael have been through.

Changes: 
Child soldiery is an issue around the globe which is very serious and is in need to be taken care of immediately. Organizations like the U.N made Ishmael Beah free from this terrible issue and if it is taken care of across the globe many lives will be saved. As a result, this issue should be looked at by every organization and then when more people are concerned about this issue, more solutions will be developed.