A Long Way Gone

                When it came to reading “A Long Way Gone,” I felt like there is not much worse kids could go through. What Ishmael and his brother had to go through is beyond belief. Along with that point, when reading about these children becoming a part of an army and being forced to murder and steal from other is something that does not have the same effect when reading as it must have in person. Just knowing that children are brainwashed and forced into murdering people is hard to believe and is something that maybe I wish I could believe never happened. To take someone as innocent as most children are and put them into a killed or be killed situation is something that no child deserves to go through.

                Following Ishmael throughout the story, I thought originally the worst thing that happened was being forced into killing and being held captive. But truth be told, the recovery process and talking about what happened has to be the toughest part. Attempting to cope with the terrible things that Ishmael did has to be a challenge. While he was drugged and kept in a state where he couldn’t think clearly, he still had to deal with the realization of the terrible things he did. One thing that would be very interesting is to know the training of the people who helped children like Ishmael deal with their issues. I find myself thinking about how hard it has to be to help children who have gone through so much and have to realize what they have done.

                Another interesting point is that after he escapes the army and has dealt with his issues, his uncle is killed and then Ishmael leaves for America. This made me curious of what all someone has to go through to be able to seek refuge in America? I found myself having more questions than answers when it came to everything that Ishmael went though and why he could not come to the United States earlier? I also found myself constantly wondering how many children have experienced the same thing. We all watch movies and read books and articles about how these things happen, but unless these things are seen in person or shown in the mass media, it is hard to fully understand. The fact that it is so hard for individuals to recover from probably makes these circumstances tough to show the general public and is also why it flies under all of our radars going without acknowledgement by the general population.

                All in all it is hard to grasp everything that Ishmael and his brother went through along with every other child soldier throughout time. This topic of children soldiers and what they go through once again has brought up a topic that I have let go by the wayside. It is hard to realize that this occurs all over the world and yet there is minimal coverage here in the United States. This is a topic I need to keep up on and see the lasting effects left all over the world. 

Sierra Leone

When beginning the research on Sierra Leone I went in not knowing what to expect. Other than having heard of the name I was unsure of anything else involved with the country. What I discovered was that Sierra Leone is a very diverse country and has a lot of history intertwined throughout.  Just the fact that there is anything from Savannah's to Rain forests located in the same country helped me to understand how so much has happened within one country.

I discovered that Sierra Leone is split into four administrative regions each of which has their own government known as the district council. This was interesting because I have never seen a country divided like this and having separate sections located within. The diversity continues within this country as there are sixteen different ethnic groups all located in the same country. The two major ethnic groups located within Sierra Leone are the Temne and the Mende. The Temne are mainly located in the Northern region of Sierra Leone, while the Mende are located mainly in the south-east. This brought me to another interesting point involving the language.

While the language spoken in schools is English, the official language of Sierra Leon is the Krio language. I had never heard of this language before and it was interesting how there is a different official language and language spoken within schools. Usually what we see is the official language is spoken within schools as well. The official language is almost forced upon new residents and not unfair when you stop and think about it. After looking at some of the basic information on Sierra Leone, I dove into the civil war and everything that goes along with it.

The first thing I learned is that the war lasted eleven grueling years and left over 50,000 people dead. The main asset within the war was soil rich with diamonds and the money that would follow. Once hearing about the diamond conflict, it sparked some prior knowledge to the whole blood diamond phase I had heard about. I was a little unsure if it was Sierra Leone specifically, but still the fact that this sparked some remembering of a time that hurt Africa and specifically Sierra Leone. By learning about the events that took place involving the civil war, it sparked a lot of questions as well. I specifically remember watching the movie Blood Diamond, and I wondered how close to being factual it actually is. We are able to see child soldiers being used and shown how they are recruited or rather stolen and brainwashed to fight. I am really curious about how much money was made off of these so called “blood diamonds,” and are there still some in circulation to this day? While it said that the war lasted eleven years and has come to a stop, I was still curious on the lasting effects of the war on Sierra Leone. I know there are still at the very least visual reminders such as monuments and such located in America from our past wars, and it made me curious on if there are similarities in Sierra Leone as well?

Having known so little going into this research, I felt rather naive when it comes to world events. It is amazing how something like this eleven year war can take place and I grew up not learning much about it. I definitely need to expand my horizons and research some events that have taken place around the world.      

Revolution is Not a Dinner Party

               When reading Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, I could not help but think of the Holocaust at the same time. While there were differences between the two events, in my mind I was constantly linking the events in my mind. One thing I found different was how within this book and throughout the Chinese revolution the upper class were affected much like the family of Ling. It is weird to see the upper class such as doctors taken away from their families. When I think of revolutions I tend to fall toward thinking how the lower classes are affected and suffer while the upper class can avoid most conflict.

                It was very interesting to read through the part of the political officer moving in next to the Chang’s. Having to speak softly about political issues and be careful about what Comrade Li overhears would be a huge burden. Once the Comrade moved in and people started disappearing, I could not imagine the feeling of seeing other families disappear and be living near those families. I tried to relate this to something in the United States, and could not think of anything where family members were taken away, especially among the upper class. Once Lings parents were taken away, I linked this to as if my own parents were taken away and I wondered how life would even keep on going.

                Throughout this story I kept thinking about how hard it would be to lose everything and keep on going with life. When I find out about things such as the Chinese revolution, I am saddened because while I have known heartache and sadness, I know nothing compared to the pain that all of the Chinese went through with this revolution. Another shocking fact is that as a class we will get to meet and listen to someone who experienced and lived through such a terrible time. I find myself very excited to listen and learn about the revolution first hand. While there is positives to doing personal research and reading texts such as Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, to meet and talk to someone who lived first hand can not be overlooked.

                Although I am very excited to get a chance to listen and talk about this in class, there is also a part of me that is sad because this has to be a hard subject to speak on.  One thing I am very curious about is the Red Guard and how wide their reach was throughout China? Along the same lines I am curious about when the family members were taken was it forceful, during the day or night, and if family members attempted to intervene when family members began to disappear?

                In the beginning I knew nothing about China and while I feel like I have gained a basic knowledge of the Chinese revolution, there is still so much more I can learn. When reading through this book, I came to realize just how sheltered I have been. While I know there is a lot that goes on in the United States, I need to open up to more things that have happened outside of the U.S. and become more culturally and worldly informed as to better understand where people are coming from. Reading through this book gave me a look into another culture and allowed for a chance to expand my horizons.       

China Facts

          When looking up China the first thing that interested me was how populace of a country China was. I was shocked to find that there are 1.351 billion people as reported in 2012. I also discovered that the population density of China is 134 people per sq km which is around four times greater than that of the United States. It is hard to imagine that many people all living in one place at the same time. I get the feeling sometimes that the United States is crowded so I can not imagine what it must be like in China. Another issue with so many people is where they all live. China was forced into creating a move west plan because so many people lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, Yangtze River and Pearl River valleys, and the Northeast Plain. Dealing with such a large population has to be hard on the government and causing constant issues within the country.

            The next thing I took a look at was religion, and what I found was pretty astonishing. The website I found stated that there are estimated at well over 100 million religious worshipers. Most of the worshipers follow Buddhism yet there are other religions such as Taoism, Islam, Confucianism and Christianity. For being such a large country, I expected there to be a lot of different religions and be several followers for each as the population is so vast, and yet most of the information was on Buddhism. When it comes to religion Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism are referred to as the “three teachings.” By being named under these teachings, it refers back to 6^th century Chinese scholars of the time and the teachings they began with.

            After taking a look at the population and religions of China, I stumbled upon a site that had interesting facts about China. I am not sure how credible the source is or how accurate the facts are, but what I found was very interesting. The very first fact stated that over 100 million people live on less than one American dollar. If that fact is true, that is a crazy amount of people living in poverty and I wonder how so many people can survive. Another fact I found is that China executes four times as many convicts as the rest of the world combined. Now this is a touchy subject, but should the United States do more of this? While I understand this is a tough topic for anyone to talk about, how does China get away with this? While looking at facts I happened to stumble upon social media and the control that China has over its people. What I found is that since 2009 Facebook, Twitter, and The New York Times have been banned for the Chinese people to view. The facts continued on to get more interesting as I found one that talked about 35 million people still living in caves in China. I found this interesting because maybe this is part of the people living on under a dollar a day, but also could be totally misleading and nowhere near true.

            While the website I got these interesting facts from may have not been true or totally factual, I used these facts because I find it interesting how secretive China is and I could not find much information pertaining to these interesting facts. I will see if others found interesting facts similar to this and I can confirm that some of these facts are true or have some truth behind them.