Child Soldiers

It is believed that there are more than 120,000 children (under 18) participating in military armed conflicts just in Africa today, some of the children as young as 7 years old. I cannot believe such a huge number...i know that there are milions and millions of people in just one country of Africa, but still, considering these kids are equivalent to US 2nd, 3rd or 4th graders 120,000 is an overwhelming amount...in my opinion 1 would be too many. And becasue these children are obviously emotionally/pyschologically immature as well as physically, they are willing to take greater risks...this is probably becasue the kids think that they are part of an elaborate game and dont really realize the harsh consequence of their actions. These children can begin as porters (carrying food or ammunition) or messengers, others as spies. It bad enough that these kids have to be subjected to this lifestyle but to use them as spies really demonstrates the extremity of their exploitation, obviously they are much less likely to be suspected on enemy territory than a grown soldier, so the men use this to their adavntage and utilize every aspect of these children, including the preconcieved notion of their innocence...completely disgusting.

I also though that it was very interesting that girl children are also used as soldiers, which we werent really exposed to in Johnny Mad Dog. In Liberia, about 1% of child soldiers were girls. However, girls play other roles as well: girlfriends or wives of rebel leaders, through researching I found out that they refer to themselves as "wartime women". Many times girls are forced to become girlfriends of rebel soldiers, and if they refuse they are simply killed; however if they do become a part of the group the risk for sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies are enormous.

Johnny Mad Dog

I had mixed emotions about Johnny Mad Dog...although I found the book entertaining I never once stopped thinking that this kind of stuff happens all the time in Africa which made it frustrating and difficult to read at times. I was watching Tropic Thunder not too long ago and in the movie, the characters have a run in with a group of drug smugglers and the leader of them all is a homocidal child...although the movie mocks the idea of "child soldiers" or more specifically drug lords and poverty, I couldn't help but be reminded of the harsh reality of this lifestyle that was more truthfully depicted in Mad Dog. In a way it almost seems comical reflecting back on it now, because the whole idea seems completely absurd, however for the children in Johnny Mad Dog this way of life is very real (and very, very gruesome) and what these children fail to realize is that they are really nothing more than just brain washed little machines that have been programmed to lie, cheat, steal and kill. One aspect of the book that I did appreciate was Laokole's character, she seemed to provide some kind of humanity and relateable quality that made me realize the realness and effect of all of the destruction caused by Mad Dog and the other soldiers in the text. While the young boys glorify and glamorize killing (through strange yet eerie Western pop culture nicknames and clothing) and the power that coincides with it, she seemed to represent the real life consequences of all of this needless death and destruction. One part that really made me realize the stark contrast between Laokole and Mad dog's lives was when the book describes Laokole pushing her father on a wheelbarrow and trying to find her brother...I cannot imagine the immense frustration and hopelessness of her situation, and to make matters worse it seems like all of the child soldiers (the same age as her) have been completely transformed into killing machines. Whats even worse is that these kids justify their actions by mistaking their heartless savagery with the lifestyle of "real soldiers", their minds have been so distorted that they cant even distinguish wrong and right because all of their horrible behavior has been associated with masculinity and adulthood...things that any child naturally aspires for.

The Problem of Deforestation in Africa

As I'm sure many people already now, rain forests do more than just act as a home for exotic birds and cute monkeys...they operate as a sort of "lung" for the environment, recycling nutrients and helping to regulate the quality and flow of water (clean water is another big problem in Africa...kind of a vicious cycle situation).

The deforestation occurring in Africa is adding to a world wide air pollution problem. However the thing that makes this such a complicated issue is that because Africa is largely a suffering continent, many of the developing countries use wood fuel for heating and cooking (which are basic necessities to pretty much everyone).

Just to give an idea of how integral wood fuel is to African lives, I have some statistics... around 90% of the entire population of the continent relies on wood fuel for cooking, that's A LOT of wood! Its no wonder then, that even though forests cover about 22 % of the region, but they are disappearing faster than anywhere else in the developing world. It seems like, as always, Africa is in a complex situation...whereas other countries use the products of deforestation for logging or commercial use, the African people rely on the destruction of their rainforests just to survive.

Waiting for an Angel

Wow! I really liked this book, and usually I'm not a big fan of novels jumping around in time but this one was a lot easier to follow than Ancestor Stones. I actually appreciated the jumping around by the second half of the book because anything that was mentioned I felt like I knew because of the past history that was already provided.
I thought it was nice to see that for once the guard (or any kind of authority figure for that matter) was willing to help Lomba, but once he started his writing he had to do so secretly and half of the time didn't even know the right date...that aspect of prison is oddly what I found to be the most terrifying. Lomba seems to be completely isolated and detached from the rest of the world, which is why its so hard to read about him in prison within the first portion of the book. The further Waiting for An Angel develops the more I keep wishing for a different outcome than the one I already know.
One part that I found to be especially interesting was during the fortune teller scene. It was strange that the fortune teller knew that prison was in his future, but when asked about death the fortune teller only replies with "A wise man is always ready for death. Assume it will come tomorrow, or in the next minute." Parts of the book like this made me feel like Habila provided all around great life lessons and advice through his work, but when looking at the big picture I realize that what made this book feel like such a personal read was because it deals with the social issues of the time by exploring the life of one individual. I like that the novel was trying to accomplish too much, focusing on just a single person's experience made me understand the gravity of the situation a little better.