Ishmael Beah Defends Himself and His Memoirs Against Accusations of Misrepresentation
Long Way Home-author Ishmael Beah, the child soldier-turned-memoirist from Sierra Leone whose credibility was challenged over the weekend by an Australian newspaper, has issued a statement defending his book and denying accusations that he misrepresented the time he spent in the Sierra Leone army.
“I was right about my family,” Mr. Beah writes in the statement. “I am right about my story. This is not something one gets wrong… [The Australian’s reporters] believe anything they are told–unless it comes from me or supports my account. Sad to say, my story is all true.”
The complete statement, issued by Mr. Beah’s publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, after the jump. The article from The Australian can be found here.
January 22, 2008
For months I told Bob Lloyd and The Australian’s reporter, Shelley Gare, through my publisher, my agent, and my adoptive mother, that unfortunately they were wrong, that the man they claimed was my father was not my father, and that my mother and brothers were not alive, as Lloyd claimed. Last week, when The Australiansent reporters to my home in Sierra Leone, they were forced to acknowledge that this has been a hoax.
Now The Australian’s reporters are trying to raise questions about the dates in my book, A Long Way Gone, regarding when the war came to my village. They offer as "proof" a man named Mr. Barry who claims to have been the head of the school I attended when I was young. I have never heard of a Mr. Barry. The principal of my school was Mr. Sidiki Brahima.
The war in Sierra Leone began in 1991. My story, as I remember it and wrote it, began in 1993 when rebels “attacked the mining areas” (my words from the book) in my village while I was away with friends. I never saw my family again. The Australian, presumably, is basing their defamation of me on reports that the Sierra Rutile Mine was closed down by rebels in 1995. But there were rebels in my region, my village, and my life in 1993. They attacked throughout 1993 and 1994 before closing down the mine.
Others from Sierra Leone can bear witness to the truth of my story.
Leslie Mboka, National Chairman of the Campaign for Just Mining in Freetown, was a counselor at Benin Home, the rehabilitation center in Freetown, Sierra Leone, I entered in January 1996. He told this to my publisher, Sarah Crichton, on the telephone today:
“A gentleman named Wilson was here investigating regarding Ishmael Beah’s book, and I told him emphatically−emphatically−that Ishmael’s accounts are accurate and correct. Wilson was going to Mogbwemo to find out if Ishmael Beah’s family was alive. When he came back to Freetown, he said he couldn’t find anyone alive, and the man who said he was Ishmael’s father was actually just a relative. But then he asked, what about confusion with the dates?
And I said, there is no problem with the dates. The rebels made sporadic attacks on the mining communities between ’93 and ’94, leading up to and in preparation for the major assault in ’95. In fact, military personnel were deployed to the area because there were these sporadic raids. Ishmael was caught in one of the earlier attacks.
I told all this to Peter Wilson. I told him everything that Ishmael wrote is accurate and completely factual, and I explained to him what was confusing him.
I do not understand what his paper’s agenda is. I do not understand why they are trying to blackmail this brilliant and honest young man.”
Mboka was contacted by The New York Times when they fact-checked the excerpts of my book which they published. His testimony did not appear in The Australian’s reporting.
My publisher also spoke today with Alusine Kamara, former director of Benin Home, who now lives in Boston.
“I have known Ishmael since he was a soldier and he came to our center. I have read his book, and I have no doubt that what he says is true I do not know why anyone would want to question what Ishmael writes about. He did not write a history of the whole war, he wrote about his experiences. And if anyone has any doubts about what Ishmael went through, or what it was like for those soldiers, I refer them to the BBC World—they made many documentaries about our center.”
I was right about my family. I am right about my story. This is not something one gets wrong. The Australian’s reporters have been calling my college professors, asking if I "embellished" my story. They published my adoptive mother’s address, so she now receives ugly threats. They have used innuendo against me when there is no fact. Though apparently, they believe anything they are told–unless it comes from me or supports my account. Sad to say, my story is all true.
Sincerely,
Ishmael Beah
Don't like this guy. I've seen him hooking at the millionaire club millionairecupidcom. He appeared there as a millionaiere and said he wants to find some pretty girls for serious relationships.
For over one decade Sierra Leoneans fought to survive. The world ignored them. I served in Sierra Leone from 88-90, and was there in 1993 during the war. My counterpart had to do some horrific things to keep his family alive. The international community waited too long to step forward and stop the insanity, much of which was ultimately fueled by greed for diamonds, gold and rutile (used to make titanium). The movie "Blood Diamond" raised awareness of how all diamonds lead to poverty, but people still crave diamonds. Ishmael raised awareness about child soldiers, but still they exist all over the world. Suddenly, the world is actually focusing, but on the wrong issues. They will attack Ishmael, but ignore the root causes of the war itself.
I agree with Dan Lavin . The issue here is what he went through and the kind of life he had until the unicef pulled him out . The reason that book was wrote is to raise awareness on the life of a child -soldier . How he had to struggle to survive . The fear he had everyday not knowing if he would be alive at the end of that day .
For anyone who believes that this man is a fraud, I feel sorry for you. How sad and miserable you must be! You missed the lesson . . . . the point . . . . the importance! Life is a gift worth fighting for and some have to fight harder than others.
Well I am one who believes he is a fraud. I am appaled he is still going around the world with his cocked up story. How can a person, a child, even in a war situation confuse the dates by two to three years? I suggest he has done this in order to justify himself as one who was really, really at the centre of child soldier abuse. The map he drew was off by some 1,200 miles...again necessary to suggest he was in the war much longer than he was. He claims not to remember the name of the headmaster of his school in Sierra Leone, cannot remember the name of the Roman Catholic priest in the community, his peers remember him in school with him in 1993, 1994. Yet he denies it all. His 'adoptive' mother is a writer of fantasy fiction. Hmmmmmmm., Look if it looks like a duck, it it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck...it's most likely a duck. Beah is not a duck, but he is a quack and has deceived us all. I find him really distasteful.
To whomever wrote the last post,
I cannot believe that you would question a child, in a war situation forgetting dates. When you are a child in a war and you are the one perpetrating crimes, it is all to easy to forget time and dates. You say you find Beah distasteful, but whats is really distasteful is your misunderstanding of the book. It doesn't matter if he was a child soldier for two months or two years. What matters is that he was able to give a first hand experience of a world many of us are lucky enough not to experience, but nevertheless need to understand. So rather than criticize, I say be thankful that you have never had to endure two months or two years of a war, especially as a child.
It is interesting to note that none of the commenters can really claim to know what Mr. Beah experienced as a child. Yet they are all willing to form beliefs about the truth. When the reality is unknown, the observer would do well to look for an underlying lesson that might be applied in the future. For me it is worth noting the message that even in the most appalling situation, hope should not be lost. Believe what you want about the veracity of Mr. Beah's story--the lesson remains just as valid.
I travel to Sierra Leone quite regularly on business and can tell from comments among people there that Beah is regarded skeptically and as one who has "engineered" his situation so that he may profit from it. It seems obvious to me that his adoptive mother has made some enormous financial gains and of course will back him up regardless of what happens...he is her mean ticket (to the exclusive restaurants). If he cares so much about his home country he should go back there to live, work and support the population, which is still overwhelminghly poor and underpriviledged. Beah, like the ruling elite in Sierra Leone, wants to squander all the wealth for himself. Quite the joke.
I choose to believe Mr. Beah's story, simply because the circumstances that his story is based in are entirely believable. To the disparaging commentators here, I can imagine your stance, growing up in a relatively peaceful country, it is easier to take the cynical side. However, then, ask yourself how much do you know about the violence in Sierra Leone during the war? We know there were so many children soldiers, and we know about all the mutilation and innocents killed! I say this because my friend's sister, (i won't say her name) who is adopted from Sierra Leone, had her arm cut off when she was six years old by a machete by a rebel, and her mother was killed too. If I had not known her, and seen how she has survived this, much like Mr. Beah has, then i could understand. But I have to say this: because you do not live in these countries, you have no right to say "that couldn't happen," or "that's fabricated." how outrageous- atrocities happen everyday, and we see them in the news as well! In any case, Mr. Beah's book has made the effect he intended- people are talking about it.
Wow! I am shocked by the flammatory remarks by people who did not walk in Beah's shoes. I would venture to say that none of you were even in Sierra Leone during the war. How judgmental to discount and slander a situation you have no REAL information about. It is so easy for people to believe, or want to believe, that situations like this don't happen in our world. Well they do happen, in fact they happen frequently. Children are victims of abuse each and every day. Little girls are murdered in China for being the wrong gender. Children are kidnapped and trafficked all over the world. Children are abducted and turned into killing machines, and so much more. PTSD is also real and the damage done from PTSD is staggering. I would encourage each naysayer to get off your highhorse of judgment and step out of denial. Stop slinging mud at Beah and do something of value. Get involved in stopping the autrocities that are done to children, and actually make a difference.
I agree with Mr. Polley. There is still a lesson to be learned from the memoir. Do the nay-sayers doubt that this sort of thing goes on entirely? These doubters are just one more example of lazy Americans (and other westerners) with too much money not wanting to be bothered by the harsh reality of lives in other parts of the world. That way they can keep their fancy cars and enormous houses without feeling guilty.
It wasn't pleasant reading. It wasn't even good reading but it did ring true to all I know about child soldiers in Africa. Maybe he did get facts wrong, and even significantly wrong, but that doesn't make the man a sham.
Ishmael doesn't deserve the controversy but it should certainly help your book's sales.
God bless my man ....
Dennis Khayelihle Bailey
The Fighting in Sierra Leone I would not refer to as a war. The rebels ran through town shooting random people and killing everyone. They are more like terrorists who use human shields and rape women and children. When Executive Outcomes( A Company Who Employs Mercenaries) went in there and drove the rebels out, the U.N. should not have been involved. As soon as executive outcomes left the fighting resumed. These Rebels should not get Political compromises. They need to be killed. The Sierra Leone Government should have taken control when it had the chance.
I don't know why people are missing the point hear. Ismeal is not a fraud he really went through every bit of it in the book. I'm a friend of his and I went through the war in freetown. His story might be different from the rest of us, but they are all true. So people leave his along he's been through a lot. Also whoever mr. barry is that said he was a headmaster of the school Ishmeal went to when he was young, needs to have a life and stop putting your fellow Sierra Leonean down.
I do not care if he fabricated some of the story. If he did, I truly believe it was an accident. I believe that he survived the war, he was involved in the violence, and that he has used his experience to raise awareness about the atrocities happening all over the world. I would gladly give him my money to continue his speeches. Even if it's a controversial issue, how many people have opened their eyes, and actively sought to learn more about the situation because of this?