Sierra Mist

Salva as a Character Nelson Mandela once said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” This quotes relates to Salva, the main character, because sometimes he feels that he won’t find his family ever again. In this book, the main character, Salva, has lost his family after a shooting during school, and Salva joined a group of people from his village on a long walk to find refugee camps in Ethiopia. I have chosen the theme about Salva as a character. In the beginning, Salva was weak because…

A Ugandan warlord abducts children and forces them to join the military. Invisible Children, a US organization, created a YouTube video called Kony 2012 opposing the actions of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army. John Naughton wrote an editorial praising Kony 2012 in the Observer in March 2012. Children from other countries are compelled to enlist in the military as well. Ishmael Beah became a soldier when he was young. He wrote a book, A Long Way Gone, detailing his…

Burke, Jason, and Phil Hatcher-Moore. “’If you are old enough to carry a gun, you are old enough to be a soldier’”. The Guardian, July 24, 2017. Accessed October 22, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jul/24/south-sudan-child-soldiers This article provides a qualitative narrative of the child soldier conflict in South Sudan and the experiences that they have. This article follows several child soldiers, such as David Zelu, a fifteen-year old from South Sudan, who is a…

Bullet shells litter the ground your bare feet are treading on like dead leaves in Autumn. The only pair of clothes you own are torn and two sizes too small but it’s all you have. The main emphasis of your appearance is not any of this, but the enormous machine gun slung over your starved body. No emotion is felt from you; no regret, hurt, or pleasure. The only thing you want is the chemically dangerous drugs fed as a reward to you in the little food you are given. Was this your choice? Did you…

Children, the future of mankind. They may just be children, but there is no excuse to give them amnesty for being a child soldier. Now you might be saying that they're young and are taken advantage of, but they still kill people, and they even enjoy it. Normally they should not be given amnesty, but there has to be some kind of “qualification” to be given amnesty. They should be given amnesty if they were given too much drugs, have never killed anyone, or have only been a child soldier for a…

the agonies of life in Sierra Leone. Two authors chronical their experiences in Sierra Leone to enlighten the world about the tragedies taking place there. A major component in Ishmael Beah’s, A Long Way Gone, is describing how difficult his rehabilitation was from being a child soldier while The Bite of the Mango, by Mariatu Kamara, highlights her resiliency as a victim of various violent crimes. Given the physical and mental components of Mariatu Kamara’s life in Sierra Leone before and during…

A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park, is about an 11-year-old boy named Salva. He lives in Southern Sudan in 1985, during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He ends up having to flee his village, Loun-Ariik, not knowing if he will ever see his family again. The factors that made survival possible for Salva are individuals, such as Uncle, groups/organizations, like the refugee camps, and Salva's strength, both physical and psychological. Salva would not have been able to make it to the…

All Quiet on the Western Front, written by Erich Remarque, and A Long Way Gone, written by Ishmael Beah, are both stories telling one of many otherwise overlooked tragedies of war. Those who are not forced to fight never see the true horror of the war. Many think of war as something heroic and honorable, and focus on the idea that it is bringing justice and fighting for one’s country. They only see the patriotism fighting. However, people lack the understanding of the horrors that war brings.…

The topic of child soldiers has been a very controversial dilemma for a very long time. Many people argue that child soldiers are victims, while others argue that child soldiers are perpetrators. The real question though, is whether or not all child soldiers should be given amnesty (legal forgiveness) after the war is over. But with further research, it is clear that overall, child soldiers should be given amnesty if they were forced or manipulated into joining the war. Child soldiers usually…

Salva is a young boy in a tribe called the Dinka tribe. They are enemies with the Nuer tribe. A war breaks out while Salva is in school and his teacher tells him to run into the bush away from home. Salva is a character in Linda Sue Park's novel, A Long Walk to Water. The book describes the struggle for Salva, who had to run away because a war broke out. The outline of the story shows that in reality, many kids face this trouble. Salva proves that people are capable of being able to survive on…