I went to hear Ishmael Beah speak last night, and when he uttered those famous words; “call me Ishmael” (when someone referred to him as Mr. Beah) a lady in the crowd thought it was metaphoric, but I’m not going to get into that.

I wasn’t sure what to expect; I imagined it’d be dark and horrifying. I know evil abound in this world and although I believe we all have it in us; I’ve never deliberately been in a presence of someone who has (albeit involuntarily) committed such atrocities before.

It was a packed auditorium. When he walked on stage the woman behind me muttered “he’s just a kid” he looks very young and the evening wasn’t at all what I expected.

He’s a very affable young man, precocious and very well spoken. He spoke of his life before the war – I’m not sure how many times he’s had to tell these stories but you could still hear the happiness in his voice. He then talked about the sad and ghastly parts of his life thereafter; on the run and as a child soldier.

He’s seen, endured, and has been forced to do some very atrocious things; yet manages to keep his wits about him and most importantly he survived and is hopefully a better person for that.

He echoed a sentiment I’ve lived with for years – you don’t have to suffer pain to learn, you can easily learn from others, this makes his book even more significant.

Another thing is the emotions I felt; I know for most of the people in the audience this was a horrific tale of far away lands as told by a survivor, for me it was very real. These were people I once lived among and the places like Bo, Makeni and Kenema… he mentions are places I know.

His story gives me a twinge of hope for all those faceless and nameless children out there but it also breaks my heart into little pieces, knowing they’re still out there, in danger, hurt, scared, alone and ignored while we go about our pitiful little existences.

If he’s going to be in your town – you have to go see him! You’ll be inspired.

On a personal note, I couldn’t help but notice he has such perfect teeth.

Technorati tags: Ishmael Beah, Sierra Leone, A Long Way Gone