I (David) recently finished one of the best books I've read in a long time. Its a memoir from a young man from Sierra Leone, a country ravaged with civil war in the late 90s. It is incredibly well-written and very honest. Everyone should read this book. It's a heartbreaking inside look on the life of a child soldier. It also challenged me to be more prayerful and mindful of human rights abuses taking place all over the world. I'm sure that most people in the US never even knew a civil war took place in Sierra Leone (actually, most people probably don't even know the country exists). I had a unique opportunity to take a clinic at law school last year called International Human Rights that focused entirely on Africa. We spent a lot of time talking about this country and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission now taking place there (an effort to bring communities there to reconciliation with each other - a hard tasks to do when you read what has happened there).As Christians, I think that it is our call to be more aware and active of genocides and atrocities happening in Africa, including Rwanda, Darfur, the Congo, and now Kenya (hopefully the situation there will quickly subside). Click here to see a documentary about Darfur. Its long, but if you have the time, you should watch it.
4 comments:
Don't you just love truly good books? I also just read an amazing one that I wrote about on our blog.... :)
Blom, have you seen Blood Diamond yet? It takes place in 1999 in Sierra Leone and focuses a lot on child soldiers. It's good.
Yeah, he's seen it and loves it.
A Christian couple in our town here in Iowa has started an orphanage in Sierra Leone, and have actually adopted several kids from there. It's pretty cool, what just a few people with the heart of Jesus can do anywhere in the world. I also heard that the movie Blood Diamond was horrific, but telling and good.
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