Armed conflicts around the world have many faces. From
insurgent groups and terrorists, to veteran militants and professional
combatants, over the years the presence of ongoing wars has left its mark on
many generations. The most unfortunate aspect of which, however, is the use of
child soldiers in estimated 14 countries around the globe. Currently, the
United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) defines a child soldier as any child
under the age of eighteen who takes part in any regular or irregular armed
conflict. Previously, this definition only applied to children under the age of
fifteen; however, this was amended in 2002. Children and adolescents who
participate in armed conflicts, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, are not
only exposed to severe violence, but also struggle later on in life once the
armed conflict ends. In A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, the author, a
former child soldier himself, presents a haunting narrative chronicling his
early adolescence years in Sierra Leone
armed forces where he participated in the fight against rebel forces from the
age of thirteen until the age of sixteen. His subsequent rehabilitation and
reintegration into society was, perhaps, more difficult than the armed conflict
itself.
At the age of twelve, Beah survived
a rebel forces attack on a village he was visiting with his friends. Unable to
connect with his family members, he, along with a group of other children,
embarked on a foot journey across Sierra Leone
towards the last remaining safe zone, staying at random villages along the way,
where he exchanged labor for food. After several months of traveling marked by
imminent peril, he learned that his family was safe at a nearby village, but by
the time he arrived there, it was already under attack by the rebels, who
executed everyone in sight. The boys, however, manage to escape and seek refuge
at another village protected by the national army. Several days later, with the
rebels approaching, the army general in charge made all able bodies to join the
fight, and Beah, along with his friends, was no exception. Thus, at the age of
thirteen, Beah became a child soldier. Already traumatized by the violence he
had witnessed from the onset of the war, Beah had seen first-hand what the
rebels did to civilians, and he saw the need to take up arms not only as a way
to survive, but as a tool of revenge as well.
While initially apprehensive and
disgusted by the atrocities he participated in, Beah quickly lost empathy and
devalued human life. After losing several ‘friends’ during combat, what could have
been perceived as PTSD was replaced by indifference and rage, aided by the
seemingly endless supply of drugs provided by the army. In between attacks, he
lived in a perpetual state of high, smoking marijuana, and sniffing cocaine
mixed with gunpowder. The drugs not only numbed his senses and his humanity,
they gave him the energy to keep fighting. Over the next three years, he became
proficient in killing, and enjoyed executing prisoners of war as he eventually
rose to the rank of Junior Lieutenant. In charge of a small unit of fellow
soldiers, he organized food raids to nearby villages, and engaged in the same
atrocities he despised in the rebels, effectively switching from being a victim
of war to becoming the aggressor.
In 1996, in an intervention by
UNICEF, Beah was removed from active army service at the age of sixteen, and
sent to a rehabilitation center in Freetown,
the capital of Sierra Leone.
Surrounded by fellow child soldiers from both sides of the conflict, he engaged
in frequent fights amidst the former enemies. Dealing with drug withdrawals, he
shut himself off from the efforts of counselors and the medical staff at the
center, longing to return to the frontlines. Through the tireless work of one
nurse at the center, Esther, Beah finally accepted that the war was over for
him, and started making progress towards rehabilitation. It was at that time
that he began to have nightmares of the atrocities he committed. Esther,
together with other staff members, helped him establish contact with a lost
uncle, who agreed to adopt Beah upon his release. Once he was cleared, Beah
moved in with the uncle and slowly reintegrated into society and civilian life.
At the recommendation of the rehabilitation center’s director, Beah went for an
interview at the United Nations building in Freetown,
to apply for a speaking position at an upcoming conference on the plight of
child soldiers held at the UN headquarters in New York.
Once accepted, Beah had traveled to New York
where he, along with other former child soldiers and children affected by wars,
gave a speech detailing their experiences.
Upon his return to Sierra
Leone, Beah enrolled in a secondary school
to complete his education, which was cut short by the war. Not long after,
however, the rebels and a rogue faction of the army invaded Freetown,
and overthrew the government in a coup. Faced with the possibility of either
becoming a soldier again, or being killed if he were to be recognized by any of
his fellow child soldiers, Beah fled the country to Guinea,
and eventually to the United States,
where he had a contact from his earlier UN visit. Once in the United
States, Beah continued to work with the UN
and wrote his memoir, and started a charitable foundation aimed at helping
children affected by war to reintegrate into society.
The content of the book applies to
Human Development in multiple ways. When Beah witnessed the first attack and
subsequently became on his own at the age of twelve, his cohort effectively
changed from that of his family and friends, to the army, which affected his
future interactions with civilians at the rehabilitation center whom he
perceived as incapable of understanding his experiences. During his formative
years, he was affected by several adverse childhood experiences, which made him
more susceptible to drug use and violence later on in life, especially since he
did not have the support ecosystem that would help him build up his ACEs
resilience score. It also confirms Watson’s theory that kids can be taught to
love or hate anything – in this case, Beah, influenced by his peers, adapted to
love killing and violence. This was further exacerbated by operant conditioning
of reward in the form of drugs, when he did his job as a soldier well. It also
illustrates Erikson’s theory of Identity versus Role Confusion, when his role
changed from that of a carefree child to a sole provider responsible for his
own sustenance. Piaget’s principles of
accommodation and assimilation could also apply here, as Beah adjusted his
standards of right and wrong as the conflict progressed.
Having taken part in atrocities, is
it possible for an adolescent to develop into a healthy adult capable of
leaving the psychological trauma behind? Beah’s first defense mechanisms to
deal with his trauma were Dissociation and Displacement. During the war, he
displaced his anger at the loss of his family towards both rebels and civilians
alike, essentially targeting the weaker ones to ‘punish’ them for his loss.
After the war ended, dissociation became clear, because he had lost track of
time and events that had taken place during his years in combat. Because of his
involvement in armed conflict, Beah would have struggled with his development
of identity as well.
The first research article, The
Guiltless Guilty: Trauma-Related Guilt and Psychopathology in Former Ugandan
Child Soldiers (F. Klassen, S. Reissmann, C. Voss, J. Okello – Child Psychiatry
Human Development 2015), shows a clear correlation between child soldier
experiences and future psychological disorders, mainly PTSD and Major
Depressive Disorders. Interestingly, it shows that the majority of former child
soldiers (50.8%) see themselves as victims, while only a minority (19.1%) see
themselves as perpetrators. A greater number of traumatic experiences as a
self-identified perpetrator is associated with the feeling of guilt, which is a
predictor for externalizing psychological problems and resulting in aggression,
cruelty, law-breaking, property damage, and conflict with others.
Self-identified victims, on the other hand, tend to internalize problems, which
correlates with a greater occurrence of major depressive disorders. Applying
these results to Beah’s case, it confirms his initial aggression at the
rehabilitation center, followed by withdrawals from interactions as he began to
internalize his trauma.
The second research article, When
Combat Prevents PTSD Symptoms – results from a survey with former child soldiers
in Northern Uganda (R. Weierstall, I. Schalinski, A.
Crombach, T. Hecker, T. Elbert – BMC Psychiatry 2012) explores the link between
increased exposure to traumatic events and lower occurrence of PTSD. The study
found that there is a clear dose-effect correlation between organized violence,
as carried out by child-soldier units, and an appetite for aggression.
Appetitive Aggression, such as the enjoyment of a victim struggling, has been
found to lower PTSD scores in perpetrators. This, applied to Beah’s case,
confirms his transition once he started enjoying killing prisoners of war as he
went from a victim to a person responsible for violence and, especially, his
lack of PTSD. While this study was limited in its sample, I felt it was
relevant and important to include here, because it aids in understanding Beah’s
mental health.