Ishmael Beah Speaking at Syracuse University Hendricks Chapel on September 23, 2008

Ishmael Beah's childhood effectively ended at age 12, when he fled attacking rebels in his war-torn homeland of Sierra Leone.  Within a year, he was forced into service as a child soldier for the government army, where he found himself capable of performing truly horrific acts.  After being relocated to a UNICEF rehabilitation center at age 16, Beah was finally able to begin to heal and gain his life--and his humanity--back.  His gripping memoir is "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007). 

Beah will be speaking at Syracuse University's Hendrick's Chapel on September 23, 2008 at 7:30.  The title of his talk is "The Making, and Unmaking, of a Boy Soldier".