Title of the Study: Road to Faraway: The Memoirs of A Child Soldier

Type of the Study: Book

Author of the Study: Ishmael Beah

Presentation,,

Year/Place of Publication: March 2008, Ankara

Language of the Study: Turkish

Number of Pages: 253

Purpose: To reveal a real life story of a child soldier. It is not that difficult to turn an ordinary child into a killing machine.

Content: The book has 21 chapters. The childhood of Ismael Beah that passed in Sierra Leone, West Africa is narrated. Ishmael Beah, an ordinary child lives with his family. Like his coevals worldwide; he listens music, play football, attends school and spends time with his friends. Sierra Leone has one of world’s richest diamond reserves. RUF(Revolutionary United Front), an insurgent rebellion armed group fighting against the government that is backed by Liberia, controls the diamond rich areas and kills innocent people in villages. Child soldiers once kidnapped are used to kill these people. Ishmael Beah’s village is also raided by RUF gerillas and his family got lost. Ishmael ran out with his friends in hope of finding his family. In every single village they reach, they faced hostile people with fear as they were also resembled of as child soldiers. In one of these villages they approaches they came across with governmnet official soldiers fighting against RUF.

These children want to take revench from RUF whom they thought of as the murderers of their families. At last they are child soldiers as well. They became addicted to brown brown that is a mix of cocaine and gun powder. They started killing RUF members and others whom they thought as enemy. After a while they are found by UNICEF representatives and send to Freetown for rehabilitation. Ishmael then goes to New York and continues his education.

Method: Based on real life story.

Excerpt: Rather than playing football, i was on duty at bouts around the village, smoking grass and snorting brown brown that is a mix of cocaine and gun powder that is always on the table. Also I was taking the white pills that i was addicted to. (p.134)

Some keywords: Child soldiers, diamonds, substance addiction, UNICEF

Subaşı, M., Kubilay, G.(2003); ‘‘Properties of Families and Dwellings of Children Living/Working in the Streets’’, Hemşirelikte Araştırma Geliştirme Magazine, 5:2, Ankara, December.

Number of Works Cited: 35

Scope:

The study has been made to determine the properties of families and dwellings of children living/working in the streets. This is a descriptive study. Data is gathered using the questionnaire created by the researcher by face to face talks with the families included in the sample group between July-November 2000. The study universe comprises 280 children working in the streets registered with Ulus Children and Youth Center operating under the Social Services and Child Protection Agency and the families of 20 children living in the streets registered Ankara Governorship Children Education and Treatment Center aged between 7 and 14. The sample group is the 30 families of 49 children accessed between July–November. Obtained data is evaluated with regards numbers and percentiles.

An Excerpt from the Article:

Situations like fast population increase in major cities, unplanned urbanization, migration, poverty, increasing inflation, unemployment, accommodation in poor conditions, family violence, disruption of family integrity and loss of social support of family have negative effects on the family and all family individuals. In addition to these factors, situations such as alcohol and substance addiction in the family, father leaving the house, parents’ marriage to other persons, absence of money-bringing person, seeking of adventure, physical exploitation, sexual harassment and rape, low educational level, insufficient educational facilities, and traditional attitudes of the society are affecting mostly the children among all family members. These factors cause the children to get away from the family environment and lead to the street, a setting increasing the potential to commit crimes.

Some Keywords:

family, migration, residence properties, substance addiction, children working on the streets, children living on the streets, poverty