With hundreds of thousands of children being abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers, a lucky few are able to escape and share their stories. One example is Ishmael Beah, a young boy from Sierra Leone who was “picked up by government troops and impressed into the army as a soldier.” Ishmael explains how the environment itself changed with the onset of the civil war in his country. He recalls, “so once the war started and came to my part of the country, there were gunshots, people were being killed in different ways, and the birds stopped singing.” He explains that once he joined the army, they actually became his family since he had no other family left. They destroyed everything he had and it allowed him to become a killer, as they do in countries all around the world. Once a child’s family is taken away, they have nothing to go back to; therefore, it may be difficult at first, but it quickly becomes the child’s reality. When he was finally rescued by UNICEF, he explains that everything did not immediately go back to normal. It took a while for him to trust others again, as well as to trust himself because he had to adjust back into a normal life. He had to learn how to control himself and not go back into violence. In his memoir, A Long Way Gone, he speaks of the terrors that remain in his mind. He writes, “I was afraid to fall asleep, but staying awake also brought back painful memories. Memories I sometimes wish I could wash away, even though I am aware that they are an important part of what my life is; who I am now. I stayed awake all night, anxiously waiting for daylight, so that I could fully return to my new life, to rediscover the happiness I had known as a child, the joy that had stayed alive inside me even through times when being alive itself became a burden. These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past.” Another child soldier, Norman Okello was also able to escape and share his story from Uganda. He was taken in to join the Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony. When Norman was taken, he recalls that he “totally lost any hope in anything.” He talks about his training and the first time he was forced to kill. ‘“When you kill for the first time, automatically, you change,” says Norman. “Out of being innocent, you’ve now become guilty. You feel like you’re becoming part of them, part of the rebels.”’ Norman also discusses his return to normalcy, recalling that it was not easy. Every night, the nightmares came and there was a fear of sleeping because of the memories. His family recollects that when he returned, he was very aggressive, often acting upon random bursts of anger and violence towards friends and family members. Norman shares that he attends therapy to deal with his guilt and memories, but the nightmares remain.