College Essay

Boom! As the Rebels bust in through your town village. They take your children and put them to war. They might use you or decide to kill you. These mighty Rebels have taken over the government and politics in Sierra Leone around the year of 1992. Ishmal Beah wrote a memoir called , a long way gone : Memoir of a Boy Soldier to show and explain to people how just people in general were treated during Sierra Leone's Civil War. The war was caused by a corrupt government and politics that Sierra Leone had at the time.

In 1992, the Momoh government was overthrown by a group of junior officers. These men had been serving in combat against the

Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in the country's southeast, near the

Liberian border. When the RUF would want to send a message to a

near by town," they had carved the initials RUF on his body with a hot

bayonet and chopped off all his fingers with the exception of his

thumb" ( Beah 21 ). The RUF had no respect for any of the village people at all.

During this time the Rebel forces are under the control of the near by town," they had carved the initials RUF on his body with a hot

bayonet and chopped off all his fingers with the exception of his

thumb" ( Beah 21 ). The RUF had no respect for any of the village people at all.

During this time the Rebel forces are under the control of the

government. They rule the land. The central government was just very

weak, so it was easy enough for a military group to over throw

Sierra Leone's government, which unfortuneately it did.

As government officials shake hands after the war is over some of

them have a sigh of relief. But others are pondering about whether or not

this war could have been prevented or not. If they had kept their

government in working order, they would have been better off . Why

would the government let this happen? How are the villagers going to act