Former child soldiers
Children who serve as child soldiers experience many atrocities. Still, they can have the power to change their life for the better. NYPAW founder and author Ishmael Beah is one of them.

Ishmael Beah
Ishmael Beah (1980) was born in Sierra Leone, West- Africa. When he was only 12 years old, a vicious civil war overtook his country. One year later, his whole family was killed during an attack on his village by rebels. Ishmael was forced to become a child soldier and served with armed groups for three years. In 1996 he was able to escape from the war and took part in a demobilization programme from the United Nations.

Escape to New York
In 1998, Ishmael fled Freetown due to the increasing violence and found his way to New York City, where he lived with his foster mother Laura Simms. In New York City, Beah attended the United Nations International School. After high school, he enrolled at Oberlin College and graduated in 2004 with a degree in Politics.

Empowered
Ishmael is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations. Together with Kon Kelei and other young people affected by war, he recently founded NYPAW, a non-profit network which aims to change the lives of other children of war for the better.

Author
Ishmael wrote down his experiences in a powerful book, 'A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.' It is a personal account of how Ishmael endured the hell of war and survived an empowered individual. It describes war through the eyes of a child, how a child can be raised to become a killer and how a child can learn to stop being one. His book has become an international bestseller and Ishmael is often asked to speak out in panels on child soldiers.

Watch Ishmael's powerful interview with Katie Couric.

Watch more interviews with former child soldiers who have gone through our programmes.

Read about former child sodlier Kon Kelei's experience on the set of 'The Silent Army'.

Learn more about NYPAW.

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