outline fixing

Student: ELISA RAMEY

Instructor: STEPHEN DECKER

Course: Middle Tennessee State University Sp11, COMM 2200 SEC 23 -Decker

Title: Through the eyes of a child soldier

Specific Purpose: The purpose of my speech is to inform the audience of how

children become child soldiers in predominantly African countries.

Central Idea: Children may become child soldiers in three ways: they are

abducted, they are deceived by promises for a better life, or they volunteer.

Intro

I. Grab attention: Ishmael Beah, former child soldier and current human rights activist quotes from his personal memoir “A long way gone”, published in 2007: “I am pushing a rusty wheelbarrow in a town where the air smells of blood and burnt flesh. The breeze brings the faint cries of those whose last breaths are leaving their mangled bodies. I walk past them. Their arms and legs are missing; their intestines spill out through the bullet holes in their stomachs; brain matter comes out of their noses and ears. The flies are so excited and intoxicated that they fall on the pools of blood and die. The eyes of the nearly dead are redder than the blood that comes out of them, and it seems that their bones will tear through the skin of their taut faces at any minute. I turn my face to the ground to look at my feet. My tattered crapes are soaked with blood, which seems to be running down my army shorts. I feel no physical pain, so I am not sure whether I’ve been wounded. I can feel the warmth of my AK-47’s barrel on my back; I don’t remember when I last fired it. It feels as if needles have been hammered into my brain and it is hard to be sure whether it is day or night. The wheelbarrow in front of me contains a dead body wrapped in white bed sheets.” (Beah 18).

II. Reveal Topic: In hearing the testimony of Ishmael Beah, we are given a deeper perspective of the hard life of an African child soldier.

III. Relate to audience: According to the 2002 article, The Boys of War, the United Nations quotes that, “in the past decade, more than 2 million children have been killed in combat and 4-5 million have been permanently disabled” (The Boys of War). As these baffling statistics continue to rise, one might ask “how have I been so unaware of its prevalence?”

IV. Speaker Credibility: I have spent 12 years in Africa and have researched this topic thoroughly in newspapers, books and articles.

V. Preview Main Point: In giving this presentation, I hope to inform my audience of three ways children become child soldiers: by abduction, deception or volunteering.

Body

I. The first way children become child soldiers is by abduction. A. Many times children are seized by rebel or government military groups.

1. According to the UN news agency MediaGlobal in 2010, recruitment tactics included catching children without proper identification or abducting children from schools, orphanages or jails (MedialGlobal 1).

2. JohnFelton,30yearfreelancewriterofinternationaltopics,statesinhis2008research article “Child Soldiers”, that military groups use the system of abduction because “children are so readily cheap, available and expendable” (Felton 187).

3. UgandanchildsoldiernamedSunday,statesinthe2005article“WaronChildren”by theology professor Donald Dunson that, "The door was kicked open and men in army uniforms with torches entered the hut" (A War on Children, Dunson 13). After taking valuables, rebels told his mother that Sunday would return after showing them back to the road but as he states, "It was all a trick" (A War on Children, Dunson 14). Sunday

was abducted. B. Because use of children lowers financial costs of war, MediaGlobal research has found that

an estimated 40% of armed groups worldwide use child soldiers (MediaGobal 1).

Transition: With a better understanding of how children are abducted, we will now discuss how they are deceived.

II. The second way children become child soldiers is by deception.

A.

Anna Sussman, freelance print and radio reporter explains in her 2007 article “Conscripted by Poverty” that, “Warlords lure physically and economically desperate children into armed groups with promises of food, money and shelter” (Sussman 26).

1. As made clear in 2004 by founder of War Child organization, Dr. Samantha Nutt, in her report, “Arms and the Child”, Congolese President Kabila enticed boys by a $300 US dollar "signing bonus" upon joining the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (Nutt 1.)

2.

3.

While promises made to children and their families seem opportunistic, the reality of the situation is quite the opposite.

Moreover, Dunson elaborates in a 2002 editorial, “The Child Soldiers of Gusco” how Ugandan LRA child soldiers only had leaves to eat while living with rebel groups. (The Child Soldiers of Gusco, Dunson, 13).

B. To agree with Anna Sussman, as economic needs remain unmet, children will continue to be attracted by the [deceptive] promises of armed groups (Sussman 27).

Transition: While many children are abducted or deceived others are willing to participate.

III. The third way children become child soldiers is by volunteering. A. Advocacy director for the Children’s Division of the Human Rights Watch, Jo Becker in his

2005 article “Child Soldiers” states how children, whose lives are devastated by poverty or war, join armed groups out of desperation (Becker 1).

1. Tom Malinowski, Washington director for Human Rights Watch reinstates in his 2008 article “Child Soldiers” that as communities break down, children are often

2.

Upon furthering this truth, Dr. Samantha Nutt, in her 2004 article The Arms and the Child, recounts a chilling statement made by ex-Congolese combatant Zakaria as he states, "I will fight for anyone, I don't care who it is. It is better than living in poverty, with no schools and no food to eat. What kind of life is that?" (Nutt 3).

separated from their families and left with no opportunity for education (Malinowski

2). 2. In cases like these, many believe that joining an armed group is their best chance for

protection or survival (Malinowski 2). B. Another incentive for volunteering is to seek revenge or power.

1. Interviewed by the United Nations in the 2002 “Boys of War” article, a boy who fought with government forces in Sierra Leone said he enjoyed being a child soldier. He stated, "I like to kill. The rebels killed my father. I joined to avenge him" (The Boys of War 2).

Conclusion

I. Signal Close: In closing, I can't help but ask myself the same question: What kind of life is that?

While denied every opportunity at the right to life, they have no other choice.

II. Review Main Points: Whether by abduction, deception or volunteering these children are forced to participate in unthinkable atrocities as they struggle for survival.

III. Memorable Close: None of us can truly fathom what each child has gone through. In hearing their tragic testimonies I desperately hope for an end to their war. While their battle for peace wages on, thousands of young lives continue to be lost. It seems to be, in the words of Greek philosopher Plato that “Only the dead have seen the end to war”.

WORKS CITED

"Africa News." MediaGlobal. Africa; Children Struggle for Freedom From Armed Conflict (09 Dec. 2010). LexisNexis Academic. Web. 11 Feb. 2011.

Beah, Ishmael. "Chapter 2." A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. 18. Print.

Becker, Jo. "Child Soldiers." Human Rights: Journal of the Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities 32.1 (2005): 16. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.

Dunson, Donald H. "A War on Children." America 193.10 (2005): 13. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.

Dunson, Donald H. "The Child Soldiers of Gusco." America 186.2 (2002): 12. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.

Felton, John. "Child Soldiers." CQ Global Researcher 1 July 2008: 183-211. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.

Nutt, Samantha. "Arms and the Child." Maclean's 117.6 (2004): 34. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.

Sussman, Anna. "Conscripted by Poverty." Dollars & Sense 273 (2007): 24. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.

"The Boys Of War. (cover story)." Current Events 101.21 (2002): 1. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.

TOM, MALINOWSKI, DIRECTOR WASHINGTON ADVOCACY, and WATCH HUMAN RIGHTS. "CHILD SOLDIERS." FDCH Congressional Testimony (n.d.): Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.