A Long Way Gone

by Ishmael Beah

During these visits, we brought with us brooms so that we could sweep away our footprints as we went back to our hiding place to avoid being followed.

We walked fast as if trying to stay in the daytime,

My uncle didn’t have children of his own, so he raised the children of family members as his own. There were four of them—Allie, the oldest one; Matilda; Kona; and Sombo, the littlest, who was six years old.