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The unmaking of a child soldier

When Ishmael Beah was 13 he was forced to join the army in Sierra Leone. He was rescued and slowly rehabilitated. But what does it take to turn a soldier back into a child?

As a boy, Ishmael Beah was forced to kill. How do you turn a soldier back into a child?

Ishmael Beah was just 13 when war reached his village in Sierra Leone and he was made to flee. In the chaos, he was separated from his family. He ended up with a group of other children at what they thought was the safety of an army base. But instead, he was taught to become a hardened killer and sent out to fight. Nearly three years went by before he was finally rescued by child protection specialists from Unicef, but he was so brainwashed that he didn鈥檛 want to leave. It took months of careful rehabilitation and the support of a very special woman to break down his defences.

In 1996, at the age of just 16, he gave a speech at the UN in New York where he recalled his experiences. His testimony formed part of a pivotal report into the impact of armed conflict on children. A decade later, he would become the first Unicef Advocated for Children Affected by War. Today he is a bestselling author and married with three children. This interview was recorded in 2020.

This interview contains disturbing descriptions of violence.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producers: Edgar Maddicott and Jo Impey
Editor: Munazza Khan

Photo: Ishmael Beah
Credit: Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda

Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

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    Step into someone else鈥檚 life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary personal stories