Biografie kurz (E)

Ihsmael Beah

Ihsmael Beah is an author from Sierra Leone who wrote the book “A long way gone”.

When the civil war started in 1991 Ishmael’s whole family died and he had to make it on his own until he got into the national army from Sierra Leone. After three years as a soldier he got liberated by the UNICEF and they brought him into a rehabilitation camp for child soldiers. 1996 Ihsmael spoke as representative for his country in the children parliament.

After that Beah spoke in TV shows about his experience as a child soldier. He said how they all got drugs and brain washed and that he killed a lot of people, that it is harder to get children into normal life again then to make them a soldier and that he needed a lot of help.

After some time Ihsmael went to school again and studied in the USA. Now he works for the Human Rights Watch Children's Division Advisory Committee and lives in New York.