Meg's update: June 1st: Ismael Beah/Child Soldier

Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone, journeyed his audience through several years of lost innocence, ending with the man he has now become - a champion in service to other child victims of armed conflict. Ishmael early childhood was nourished by a loving family, friendships and happiness. This was short lived, however; when the rebels entered his village; massacre of killings began, and with Ishmael, only a few boys were able to escape into the forest. After months of traveling, sleeping in the bush, eating what the forest provided the boys arrived at a village occupied by the Sierra Leone Miliary Forces. They had but one choice, to join the forces or to be left behind without anything to sustain their life. As young children soldiers, they were taught to kill and to enjoy it, to take drugs for needed energy to fight better, to remember only to destroy so that victory would be their prize. After a few years on the fronline, a UNICEF convoy arrived and took him, with a few other boys, to a rehabilitation center. Near the end of his stay, he was one of two children to travel to the UN and speak about his experiences as a child soldiers. His memoirs are featured in a book he wrote entitled," A Long Way Gone". Through the assistance of many friends, he has now set up a foundation to assist other children caught in armed conflict as they struggle to become whole again.