essay

           Everyday the sad cruel reality of child soldiers lives on. There are more than 300,000 child soldiers in Africa. But its not just in Africa where this happens. Its on other continents like Asia and South America. These children are forced to fight in their wars. They are mistreated and abused. I believe child soldiers are victims.
             Child soldiers are victims because they are forced to fight in wars for rebel groups. Many children don't choose to join. Some are sold from their parents to get money. Others join to be in a safe area and to be protected. However, most of the children are kidnapped and forced to join the war.These rebel groups demolished new towns and they mutate young babies. "Children are the perfect weapons; they do as told, they don't complain and they don't expect pay.  These children are also often mistreated. Many of the girl soldiers are used as prostitutes and sex slaves
             Soon the war becomes their reality. They start looking at each other like the family they have lost. They see their commander as a father and their fellow soldiers as brothers. " It became our reality; we lost ourselves completely in the war' says former child soldier Ishmael Beah in an interview with Katie Couric. He also says that killing became easier with the numbness that drugs gave them. These children were forced to take drugs and soon they got addicted to them. They say that first time killing is hard but that drugs made it easier. "It became as easy as drinking water" says a child soldier in the passage "Armed and Underaged".
         Despite their horrible past, many child soldiers have overcome their problem. Beah states that he went to rehab and was no longer addicted to drugs. He says it was a difficult process to go through. "Every time i turned on the foist  i saw blood instead of water. I would wake up in the middle of the night because i had a nightmare. I woke up in the morning angry and picking fights" The process may be longer for others. One thing that he said was that something that gave the child soldiers a sense of reality was being treated like a kid no matter what happened in their life.
         Child soldiers are victims; they get kidnapped and are forced to kill.  Many people and programs such as  UNICEF are trying to help child soldiers get out of the war.  These children are taken away from their families. They are forced to kill and if they don't they get their lives taken away. They get so used to this type of life it becomes their reality. Many of the children are taken at a young age and don't know what is wrong or right. I think that child soldiers are against human rights and and one day will never be heard of again.