What is Love? To care and take action.

Jen & Sylvanus

July 30th, 2006 in DDM, Taipei

By the chance to attend the International Compassionate Youth Conference hold by Dharma Drum Mountain, I learned that there are still more things we should know. I was honored to join in the workshop where we discussed about the conflict resolution. There I met Sylvanus, the delegate from Sierra Leone, who shared the story about his country.

Sierra Leone is famous for diamonds but also well-known by domestic conflicts and poverty. People have been lived in war for decades until UN entered and garrisoned. On 14 May 2002, new president was elected. Under the help by UN, he started to rebuild the country. However, people still need more than everything they have already provided.

I asked Sylvanus about the real life that children and teenagers have now.

- Do children have enough food now and where do they live?

- There are still many children wandering on the street and begging for food everyday. Their parents died during the war time. They have no where to go.

- Who gives them food?

- People who have more food will give them. It's not always the same ones. We call the children number 001 that means they only have dinner in one day, and 010 means that children have only lunch, and 100 means they only have breakfast.

Hearing about the children's life in Sierra Leone and looking around the place I grew up in, I feel how fortunate I am to be here. Youths in Taiwan now have chance to go to school and seldom of them experienced starvation. We couldn't imagine the life far away from us in Sierra Leone.

People who live in the world but have totally different life experiences, and now we know it is never fair for everybody to not have the same life quality since we are born, however we can know one thing is that we should pursue a world where people all have enough food and nutrition to live and have chance to be educated, and then have the ability to create a hopeful future. What can I do to make the ideal be realized? I can have long-term plan to make progress of people's life in Sierra Leone, but now what I can do immediately is to let people know more about the unique place which should be more concerned about.

By Jen, Oct. 2, 2006, in Taipei
Rivised on April 13, 2007

盧安達飯店Hotel Rwanda
Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages. Written by Sujit R. Varma
Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395169/plotsummary

黑鷹計畫 Black HawnDown
Action/war drama based on the best-selling book detailing a near-disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993 where nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers, commanded by Capt. Mike Steele, were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord which lead to a large and drawn-out firefight between the Rangers and hundreds of Somali gunmen which led to the destruction of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu, and the heroic efforts by various Rangers to get to them, centering on Sgt. Eversmann commanding one Ranger unit, named Chalk Four, pinned down by the street fighting, to Warrant Officer Durant who was only survivor of the second black hawk crash site and whom was captured, to Lt. Col. McKnight who leads a rescue convoy for the Rangers only to get lost within the hostile city, to Lt. Perino leading Rangers to the first black hawk crash site, to Staff Sgt. Yurek who leads his decimated Ranger group Chalk Two through gunfire to safety, to many others involved who where either killed or survived. Written by Matthew Patay
資料來源：http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265086/

　　本片是根據真實的戰爭改編而成的，還原1993年索馬利亞戰事，此事是柯林頓在美國總統任期外交史上最挫敗的一次，是繼越戰之後最慘重的火拼。 　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　1993年，一組受過專業訓練近百人的美軍突擊隊，在非洲執行一項人道救援任務時，因誤判情報，兩架黑鷹直昇機被敵軍擊落迫降至索馬利亞，秘密任務衍生成戰爭事件。數量不到百人的美軍突擊隊必須對抗5,000名以上索馬利亞暴民的猛烈攻擊，在雙方人數和火力相差50倍的緊張情勢下，兩方展開一場無可避免的戰役。雙方激戰十五小時，堆積如山的彈殼灑落在索馬利亞首都摩加迪休的戰場上，當時戰況相當慘烈。
　　美軍增員前往救援，並堅持「無論生死，所有弟兄都要回來，決不放棄任何一個同袍」。 http://starblvd.net/cgi-bin/movie/euccns?/film/2002/BlackHawkDown/BlackHawkDown.html

The Last King of Scotland 　最後的蘇格蘭王
In the early 1970s, Nicholas Garrigan, a young semi-idealistic Scottish doctor, comes to Uganda to assist in a rural hospital. Once there, he soon meets up with the new President, Idi Amin, who promise a golden age for the African nation. Garrigan hits it off immediately with the rabid Scotland fan, who soon offers him a senior position in the national health department and becomes one of Amin's closest advisers. However as the years pass, Garrigan cannot help but notice Amin's increasingly erratic behavior that grows beyond a legitimate fear of assassination into a murderous insanity that is driving Uganda into bloody ruin. Realizing his dire situation with the lunatic leader unwilling to let him go home, Garrigan must make some crucial decisions that could mean his death if the despot finds out. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
From: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455590/plotsummary
改編自真實故事。佛瑞斯特惠特克演出1971至1979在位的烏干達總統，他屠殺了30萬人。一位年輕的蘇格蘭醫生(詹姆士麥卡菲)一時興起來到烏干達行醫，最後成為這位烏干達總統的個人醫生。起初年輕的蘇格蘭醫生很崇拜烏干達總統，但慢慢發現烏干達總統兇殘 反覆無常的個性......
資料來源： http://www.truemovie.com/2006moviedata/LastKingofScotland.htm

泣血四月SOMETIMES IN APRIL
In April 1994, one of the most heinous genocides in world history began in the African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of 100 days, close to one million people were killed in a terrifying purge by Hutu nationalists against their Tutsi countrymen. This harrowing HBO Films drama focuses on the almost indescribable human atrocities that took place a decade ago through the story of two Hutu brothers - one in the military, one a radio personality - whose relationship and private lives were forever changed in the midst of the genocide. Written and directed by Raoul Peck (HBO Films' "Lumumba"), the movie is the first large-scale film about the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to be shot in Rwanda, in the locations where the real-life events transpired.
Both an edge-of-the-seat thriller and a chilling reminder of man's incomprehensible capacity for cruelty, Sometimes in April is an epic story of courage in the face of daunting odds, as well as an exposé of the West's inaction as nearly a million Rwandans were being killed. The plot focuses on two brothers embroiled in the 1994 conflict between the Hutu majority (who had ruled Rwanda since 1959) and the Tutsi minority who had received favored treatment when the country was ruled by Belgium. The protagonists (both Hutus) are reluctant soldier Augustin Muganza (Idris Elba), married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuero), a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda.
The drama is set in two periods, which unfold concurrently: In April 1994, after the Hutu Army begins a systematic slaughter of Tutsis and more moderate Hutus, Augustin and a fellow Army officer named Xavier, defying their leadership, attempt to get their wives and children to safety. Separated from his wife Jeanne and their two sons (whom he entrusts to the care of his reluctant brother), Augustin gets caught in a desperate struggle to survive. Barely escaping the purge, he's haunted by questions about what happened to his wife, sons and daughter (who was a student at a local boarding school). In 2004, looking for closure and hoping to start a new life with his girlfriend Martine (who taught at his daughter's school), Augustin visits the United Nations Tribunal in Arusha, where Honoré awaits trial for the incendiary role he and other journalists played in the genocide. In the end, through an emotional meeting with Honoré, Augustin learns the details of his family's fate, giving him closure and, perhaps, hope for happiness in the future.
From：http://www.hbo.com/films/sometimesinapril/synopsis/index.html

　　藉由兩個胡圖族(Hutu)兄弟- 一個是不情願的士兵及一個電台人員-他們兄弟倆的生活被這集體屠殺給永遠改變了。在1994年胡圖族(Hutu，自1959年統治盧安達)與圖西族(Tutsi, 在比利時已得到盧安達統治權時獲得比利時的支持)衝突中，奧古斯丁莫甘查(由伊德斯艾伯飾演，美國影集<<火線>>)是三個孩子爸爸的胡圖族人，但卻娶了一個圖西人，當他的哥哥赫諾瑞(由歐瑞斯爾修羅飾演，曾演過黑俠II)是一個受歡迎的電台公眾人物，信奉並煽動著胡圖族的理念。
　　在1994年4月，胡圖部隊開始一個徹底的屠殺圖西人及偏向緩和派的胡圖人，奧古斯丁跟他的部隊長官朋友查維爾，抗拒他們的領導且試圖保護他的老婆與小孩，卻還是被抓到，在好不容易逃出了屠殺後，但他掛心著不知道老婆及孩子們發生什麼事，然後到了2004年，期待著結束並與他的女朋友瑪婷開始一個新生活，奧古斯丁拜訪在阿魯沙的聯合國法庭時，那裡赫諾瑞因著他跟其他記者們扮演著大屠殺的扇動者而等待著被審判。經過與赫諾瑞一場激動的見面後，奧古斯丁知道了他家人後來的命運，算是給了他一個結束，並期許未來的快樂…。
資料來源：http://starblvd.tisnet.net.tw/cgi-bin/news-show?mode=viewnews&path=1148544952

Zulu 祖魯戰爭
Two Lieutenants, Chard of Engineers and Bromhead find that their 140 man contingent in Natal has been isolated by the destruction of the main British Army column and that 4,000 Zulu warriors will descend on them in hours. Each has a different military background in tactics and they are immediatly in conflict on how to prepare for the attack. Nearly a third of the men are in the infirmary, as the welsh company tries to somehow survive with no help in sight. Based on a true story. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}
On the January 22nd 1879 the British Army suffered one of its worst defeats when Zulu forces massacred 1,500 of its troops at Isandlhwana. A short time after the main battle a Zulu force numbering in excess of 4000 warriors advanced on a British hospital and supply dump guarded by 139 Welsh infantrymen. The film concentrates on this bloody 12 hour battle during which the British force, under their commander from the Royal Engineers who happened to be in the area building a bridge and happened to be senior to the infantry officer, won 11 Victoria Crosses. While taking some liberties with history the film follows reality fairly closely, including matching exactly the identities of the VC winners. Written by Dave Jenkins {david.jenkins@smallworld.co.uk}
From：http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058777/

Tears of the sun 烈日風暴

Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the conflict that surrounds them, or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of innocent refugees. When the democratic government of Nigeria collapses and the country is taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters, a fiercely loyal and hardened veteran is dispatched on a routine mission to retrieve a Doctors Without Borders physician, Dr. Lena Kendricks. Dr. Kendricks, an American citizen by marriage, is tending to the victims of the ongoing civil war at a Catholic mission in a remote village. When Waters arrives, however, Dr. Kendricks refuses to leave unless he promises to help deliver the villagers to political asylum at the nearby border. If they are left behind, they will be at the mercy of the enormous rebel army. Waters is under strict orders from his commanding officer Captain Bill Rhodes to remain disengaged from the conflict. But as he and his men witness the brutality of the rebels first-hand, they are won over to Dr. Kendricks' cause and place their lives at risk by agreeing to escort the villagers on a perilous trek through the dense jungle. As they move through the countryside on foot, Waters' team, experts at evasion and concealment, are inexplicably and ferociously pursued by an army of rebels. They are confounded until they discover that, among the refugees, is the sole survivor of the country's previous ruling family, whom the rebels have been ordered to eliminate at all costs. Waters and his small band of soldiers must weigh the life of one man against their own and the refugees they feel obliged to protect. Written by Sujit R. Varma

From: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314353/plotsummary

Out of Africa 遠離非洲
Follows the life of Karen Blixen, who establishes a plantation in Africa. Her life is Complicated by a husband of convenience (Bror Blixen), a true love (Denys), troubles on the plantation, schooling of the natives, war, and catching VD from her husband. Written by Tony Bridges {tbridges@spicer.com}
Karen Blixen, a Danish woman, marries a friend for the title of Baroness and they move to Africa and start a coffee plantation. Things unfold when her husband begins cheating on her and is away on business often, so she's at home alone, working on the farm and bonding with two men she met in her first day in Africa. She eventually falls in love with the one, Denys Finch-Hatton and goes on safari and whatnot with him. Later, she begins to want more from him than the simple friendship/relationship they have and pushes marriage, but Denys still wants his freedom. By the end, she's gained a much better understanding and respect for the African culture than when she came. Written by KKaliforniApril22
A study of the life of Danish noblewoman and storyteller Karen ('Isak') Dinesen Blixen, from her marriage and departure for Kenya in 1913 until her return to Denmark in 1931. As she struggles to maintain a coffee farm through various struggles and disasters, and strives to improve relations with the local natives, her marriage of convenience to a titled aristocrat gradually gives way to an enduring romance with the noted hunter and adventurer Denys Finch Hatton. Written by scgary66
From：http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089755/
　　根據作者凱倫布里森（Karen Blixen）以筆名伊莎丹尼森（Isak Dinesen）寫成的回憶錄所改編。故事敘述凱倫（梅莉史翠普、「 親情無價」、「 親親壞姊妹」）於1913年為了利益嫁給丹麥貴族布利森公爵，而跟著夫婿前往非洲肯亞從事咖啡種植，丈夫風流成性，但凱倫卻為非洲的風情與人民深深著迷，也因著心靈空虛，她愛上了神秘的獵人鄧尼芬（勞勃瑞福、「哈瓦納」、「輕聲細語」），兩人就在非洲的廣大草原上譜出了一段難忘的戀曲。
資料來源：http://starblvd.net/cgi-bin/movie/euccns?/film/1985/OutOfAfrica/OutOfAfrica.html

Nirgendwo in Afrika 何處是我家

　　A Jewish family in Germany emigrate short before the Second World War. They move to Kenya to start running a farm, but not all members of the family come to an arrangement with their new life. Shortly after their departure, things are changing in Germany very quickly, and a turning back seems impossible. So everyone has to arrange himself with the new life in a new continent. Written by Benjamin Stello
From： http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0161860/

　　維吉妮雅一家人為了躲避納粹的迫害, 告別祖父母, 到了非洲肯亞暫居……但維吉妮雅的父親亟欲回祖國德國拿回他所失去的,但其母執意留下…….在非洲成長的維吉妮雅,對於融入當地生活與認同問題上,完全沒有大人的包袱,而成為清晰的對比,全片壯闊的場面,精緻的技術.流暢的敘事,讓人會聯想[遠離非洲,不同的是女主角並不是對土著施恩的優越白人,相反的,她還土旦肯亞原住民對她的啟發
資料來源：http://movie.starblvd.net/cgi-bin/movie/euccns?/film/2003/NowhereinAfrica/NowhereinAfrica.html

Ishmael Beah
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
娃娃兵回憶錄

想聽聽作者為什麼要寫這本書嗎? 請點Why I Wrote My Book
http://www.alongwaygone.com/whyiwrote.html

Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone in 1980. He moved to the United States in 1998 and finished his last two years of high school at the United Nations International School in New York. In 2004 he graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in political science. He is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities (CETO) at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and many other NGO panels on children affected by the war. His work has appeared in VespertinePress and LIT magazine. He lives in New York City.

現年二十六歲的 Beah 來自非洲獅子山共和國，該國內戰在他十二歲那年爆發，家破人亡的Beah流浪各地，最後被軍方收養，成了冷血、嗜毒、擅於掠奪的童兵。
原是恐懼死亡的無辜孩童，卻在 一夕之間成了草菅人命的殺人機器，Beah的童年以荷槍實彈的人肉戰場取代騎馬打仗遊戲，白日燒殺擄掠、夜裡擁槍入眠，直到兩年後，聯合國兒童基金會（UNICEF）介入，Beah的童兵生活才告終止，他先後被送進勒戒中心和中途之家，受 一名醫護士啟發，開始創作。目前，熱愛嘻哈音樂和詩意文字的Beah已於紐約完成大學學業，他據實寫下過往經歷、出版A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier，希望呼籲大眾關注童兵議題。


資料來源:
書籍官方網站:http://www.alongwaygone.com/ishmael_beah.html
誠品網路書店推薦:http://www.eslitebooks.com/Program/Object/BookFL.aspx?PageNo=1&PROD_ID=2680240259000

世界的盡頭：種族與文化的邊境之旅

作者：羅柏 D. 卡普蘭/著
譯者：吳麗玫
出版社：馬可孛羅
出版日期：2002 年 08 月 05 日

本書作者羅柏．Ｄ．卡普蘭是著名的《大西洋月刊》 資深撰稿人，他曾經正確地預言了後冷戰時代巴爾幹半島的混亂。這一次，他從賴比瑞亞展開他的背包之旅，自疲弊的西非國家和埃及與伊朗的回教基本教義派飛地，行經獨特文化色彩的中亞、印度、巴基斯坦和南亞，以深入了解他所經歷的各種文化如何面對當前的人口、貧窮與環境問題。

　　在他漫長的旅程中，經過了世界上某些最動亂的地區，這些地區是古老的文化對立和傳統種族界線，他對於這些地區中面臨瓦解的國家、交戰中的民族、舊殖民地，以及日益減少的資源都有翔實的描述。

　　卡普蘭走過象牙海岸的貧民窟、柬埔寨的死亡集中營，走過獅子山國和中國西域，他和難民、軍火走私者、政府官僚、邊境守衛或伊朗革命者談話，自其中發掘出大量驚人的事實；同時，他也在沉淪的日常生活和人們的恐懼、挫折與夢想中，找尋開啟一個國家未來的鑰匙。

http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010199962

阿拉不是一定要

作者：Ahmadou Kourouma/著
譯者：陳力雲
出版社：大塊文化
出版日期：2002 年 09 月 01 日

內容簡介

象牙海岸馬林凱族的小孩畢哈以瑪，父母過世後，跟著同鄉的護身符大師亞庫巴去投靠他的阿姨，一路經過部落戰爭進行得如火如荼的賴比瑞亞和獅子山國。路途上，兩人不斷投靠不同陣營，亞庫巴幫戰士們製作護身符，子彈一近身就會化作水；畢哈以瑪成了娃娃兵，揹著AK-47，抽大麻壯膽，跟著一群孩子在槍林彈雨裡當先鋒。

衝鋒槍喀噠噠噠，輕快地唱著娃娃兵的童年。大人的部落戰爭，成了孩子的童年遊戲。光怪陸離的非洲後殖民歷史，在阿瑪杜‧庫忽瑪筆下，成了十歲少年講述的荒謬寓言。黑暗部落戰爭為虐的黑色非洲，在畢哈以瑪時而童稚、時而早熟的話語裡，處處是一則又一則黑色的故事。荒謬嬉鬧的場景牽動你笑的神經，可你笑著笑著，卻發現淚水已然盈眶，只因為，這一切都是真的。

作者簡介

阿瑪杜‧庫忽瑪（Ahmadou Kourouma）非洲當代最重要的作家之一。一九二七年生於法國殖民地象牙海岸北部的布迪亞里（Boudiali）。一九五○年入伍服役，隨法國軍隊至印尼，一九五四年回到非洲，後赴法國南特（Nantes）在航太航海學校學習，接著到里昂參加保險精算師的考試。他於一九六○年象牙海岸獨立後返國，祖國獨裁者當權，他流亡至阿爾及利亞，在那裡開始作家生涯，成為反抗非洲獨裁政權的先驅。他的第一本長篇小說《獨立的太陽》，一九七○年於= AAk國出版，隨即獲得諸多文學獎項，今日已成為非洲文學經典。近作如一九九八年出版的《等待野獸投票之際》，獲一九九九年「法國國家電台書獎」（prix du livre Inter）。他以七十二歲的高齡，以十歲頑童的話語寫下《阿拉不是一定要》，並以此書獲得二○○○年「荷諾多獎」。

http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010201997

你最重要的東西是什麼？

作者：山本敏晴
譯者：米雅
出版社：天下雜誌
出版日期：2007 年 04 月 03 日

一個簡單的提問，讓全世界的人，都能再靠近幸福一點點…

聽聽孩子，問問自己：你最重要的東西是什麼？

　　本書作者山本敏晴先生對柬埔寨的孩子提問：「你最重要的東西是什麼？」並且請他們畫在圖畫紙上。有的孩子的答案是「家」，家裡務農的孩子回答是「牛」，也有孩子驕傲的回答是「國家」，或是珍貴的文化遺跡。這些孩子所珍視的東西，對台灣的小孩而言，具有何種意義？從鮮豔欲滴的野花、賴以維生的牲口、每天相處的家人，到世界和平的願望，有些東西看似微不足道，有些東西卻又視野廣闊得超過我們的想像。什麼才是最重要的事？這個問題沒有標準答案，而孩子們的回答，或許會讓我們憶起某些看似平凡卻重要的東西，以及簡單事物所蘊含的喜樂，以本書為討論的起點，讓我們也來聽聽孩子的想法吧。

　　本書裡孩子的答案反應出各種不同的生命經驗，其中有些出人意料的回答，他們說最重要的就是「中止戰爭」或「剷除地雷」，書中穿插了當地的戰爭紀實照片，以及孩子用蠟筆畫出的戰爭場景。雖然照片中的孩子對訪問者報以燦爛的微笑，但拄著柺杖的小小身影，提醒著我們，戰爭在他們身上、心裡留下的傷痕，就像是他們用塗鴉表現的戰爭場面一般，清晰可見。在此同時，孩子甜美的笑容和真摯的話語，讓人產生一種信念：正因為過去沉重的生命體驗，這些孩子絕不會輕易忘記──他們生命中最重要的事。

　　如果我們知道，這朵花是那個帶著羞赧神情小孩的寶物，那我們就不會任意摘下它；如果我們知道，這個宗教或文化，是很多小孩虔誠的信仰，我們就會好好尊重它；如果我們知道，家人是無數孩子最重視且唯一的存在，那人們就不會掀起戰爭、互相殘殺。如果大家對彼此的認識能多一些，世界或許就會很不一樣。

　　書的結尾把孩子們最重要的東西並置──汽車、牛車、植物、動物、漂亮的衣服等，每個孩子最重要的東西不盡相同，但相同的是，他們身邊都有親愛的家人和朋友，每個人都是重要的存在。在美麗而沉靜的柬埔寨暮色中，作者緩緩道出他衷心的期盼：如果大家都能尊重彼此最重要的東西，那麼有一天，所有的人，一定都能得到幸福。

陽明大學教授　洪蘭　推薦
光寶文教基金會社區認輔召集人　吳銀玉　推薦
台北榮總家醫科醫師、名作家　連加恩　推薦
台灣生命教育學會　教師群　教案編寫

專家推薦

　　「這是一本很特別的書，讓孩子看到每個人心中認為最重要的事很不一樣，從而學會尊重別人的想法。」──陽明大學神經科學所教授　洪蘭

　　「作者藉由提問『你最重要的東西是什麼？』溫柔地以兒童發展階段之思考為中心，勾勒出對兒童自我認同、世界觀與生命教育所要傳達的美好價值觀，也讓人類思索『戰爭』對兒童生活世界的影響。」　──光寶文教基金會社區認輔召集人　吳銀玉

　　「山本敏晴鏡頭下的一張張笑臉帶出一個又一個純真的回答，那些回答裡隱藏著家庭溫暖的愛，也透露著坎坷的歷史與嚴苛的國家情勢帶給孩童的不安。……這樣的一個問句，單純又細膩的『催逼』讀者在忙碌的生活中停格幾秒鐘，去正視自己、甚至是超越國界的人心需要。」　　　　　　　　　──國立靜宜大學日文系講師　米雅

作者簡介─山本敏晴

　　1965年出生於宮城縣仙台市。是一名醫生、醫學博士和攝影師。

　　12歲在南非深刻接觸到人種問題。之後，他就以阿富汗難民營等開發中國家為中心，在70多個國家進行訪問，並開始對目前在各國進行的國際援助形式懷抱著疑問，同時在當地進行攝影，並在全球各地舉行攝影展。

　　1990年考上醫師執照。1996年獲得醫學博士學位。2001年，以無國界醫師─Medecins Sans Frontieres ( MSF )的身分，在西非的獅子山國進行緊急醫療援助。

　　2002年，以日本醫療救援機構─Medical Relief Unit ( MeRU )的醫師身分，在阿富汗進行緊急醫療援助。2003年親自創設「世界共通教科書製作協會」。2004年該團體更名為「太空船地球號Earth the Spaceship(ETS)」。

　　堅守「真正有意義的國際協助」的信念，並且成為最前線的實踐者。

相關著作：《世界最短命的國家》、《住在阿富汗的她們對你說》（白水社）、《獅子山共和國》（ARTONE）、《她們所夢想的阿富汗》（MAGAZINE HOUSE）等等。

作者信念：只要我們友善對人，之後，那個人也友善的對待他人，這樣，和樂融融的氣氛就會在世界上擴散開來。

"Why We Fight": Voices of Youth Combatants in Sierra Leone
Journal article by Krijn Peters, Paul Richards; Africa, Vol. 68, 1998

Young people are the major participants in most wars. In the African civil wars of the last twenty years combatants have become increasingly youthful. Some forces are made up largely of young teenagers. Combatants may sometimes be as young as 8 or 10. Girl fighters are increasingly common.

This is partly demographic. Africa is not only the world's poorest continent, it is also its youngest. Half or more of the population of African countries are under the age of 18 years. Militia life offers training and a livelihood in countries where poverty and numbers overwhelm education and jobs. But the trend to more youthful combatants also reflects the discovery that children--their social support disrupted by war--make brave and loyal fighters. The company of comrades-in-arms becomes a family substitute.

Technology also facilitates the rise in the number of child combatants. Battle kit was once too heavy, and too expensive, for children to handle. Automatic rifles are now light enough for a 10 year old. Cheap but efficient rifles flood the continent. An AK47, firing thirty bullets per trigger pull, costs the equivalent of the price of a goat (Machel, 1996).

Confusing war and play, child combatants are heedless of danger. Groups of youngsters in bush wars operate on their own initiative for long periods in remote terrain, sometimes without even radio to convey commands. Incompletely socialised, they make up rules of war as they go. Civilians bear the brunt of the unpredictable atrocity.

There are two main adult reactions. The first is to stigmatise youth combatants as evil (as `bandits' and `vermin'). Many under-age recruits are from remote rural regions. Poorly educated, they are readily despised by urbanised elites. Elites always fear `unwashed' youth. Africa is no exception. Sometimes, as in Liberia and Sierra Leone, colonially rooted attitudes to interior peoples reinforce the stigmatisation of young rural combatants as `barbarians'.

The other reaction (regularly espoused by agencies working with children) is to see young fighters as victims (Goodwin-Gill and Cohn, 1994, Human Rights Watch, 1994; Brett and McCallin, 1996)---as tools of undemocratic military regimes or brutally unscrupulous `warlords'.

But, as will be seen, many under-age combatants choose to fight with their eyes open, and defend their choice, sometimes proudly. Set against a background of destroyed families and failed educational systems, militia activity offers young people a chance to make their way in the world.

The exemplary report by Graca Machel (1996) for the United Nations on children and war rightly cautions us against seeing child soldiers solely as victims of war. It is important to pay due attention to their agency in conflict. As rational human actors, they have an at times quite surprisingly mature understanding of their predicament.

The purpose of the present article is to let young combatants explain themselves direct (cf. Cairns, 1996). The reader is left to decide whether they are the dupes and demons sometimes supposed.

WAR IN SIERRA LEONE

The civil war in Sierra Leone began on 23 March 1991. The Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone (henceforth RUF/SL) sought to mobilise a socially excluded youth underclass to form a `people's army' to overthrow the All-party Congress regime of President Joseph Momoh. The RUF/SL drew some of its inspiration from the populist youth politics advocated in the Libyan Green Book (Gaddafi, n.d.). The leader of the RUF/SL, a cashiered army corporal, Foday Saybana Sankoh, trained as a guerrilla in Benghazi.

Following the precedent of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), the RUF/SL chose to try and establish itself in an isolated border region (Kailahun and Pujehun Districts) alienated from the regime in power. At the outset the movement was assisted by hired Liberian fighters. The brutal terror tactics of the Liberian `special forces' alienated local populations.
The RUF/SL abducted and trained numbers of captured border-zone youths. Some came from the most isolated and run-down schools in the country. Others were young `tributors' working alluvial diamond mining pits for Lebanese and Sierra Leonean merchant `supporters'. Abductees cooperated with the movement to save their lives, but some found the movement's analysis of the breakdown of Sierra Leonean society meaningful and accepted guerrilla training willingly.(1)

Opposed to the RUF/SL was an ill equipped government army, the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Force (henceforth RSLMF). Inexperienced war-front junior officers quickly learnt to survive by copying RUF/SL guerrilla tactics, including the recruitment and training of under-age irregulars. Much of the fighting was done by these locally recruited irregulars, less daunted than RSLMF soldiers by RUF/SL cadres prepared for combat with fear-inhibiting drugs.
In April 1992 a pay revolt by some war-front junior officers escalated into a full-blown coup against the Momoh presidency from within the RSLMF. The young coup-makers formed the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). Believing it had radicalised the coup-makers at the war front, the RUF/SL expected to be invited to share in some kind of government of national unity (RUF/SL, 1995).

But civilian, and especially capital city, political elements rallied to...

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&se=gglsc&d=5001368863

台灣第一批甘比亞志工 <照片:作者與另一位志工攝於甘比亞首都Banjul機場>

別問我是否準備妥當，只管我是否真心想要 by River

『當你真心渴望某樣東西時，整個宇宙都會聯合起來幫助你完成』

很熟悉的一句話吧？是的，你或許聽我說過，看我寫過，或是你早就在Paulo Coelho﹝保羅 科爾賀﹞的《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》中讀過。

但是，今天讓我再次為你印證這句話。

其實我應該在2006年11月就要出發，但是因為我「想要」擔任海外華裔青年台灣觀摩團的輔導員，並注定要認識觀摩團可愛的夥伴與學員，所以非洲之行延至今年。

其實我早在2003年底就要出發，但是當時我的心還沒有準備好，因此我不夠勇敢來接受這樣的挑戰。

現在，我想我是真心想要去非洲，並且老天爺確定了我的「想要」，因此我即將於2007年2月13日啟程前往非洲，成為國際合作發展基金會-海外服務工作團的志工。

你或許會問我真的準備好了嗎？我會說，我永遠都在做準備，只是永遠準備不完。

所以，別問我是否準備妥當，只管我是否真心想要。

是的，我要！

親愛的朋友，請給我祝福，讓我帶去非洲。

而我將從非洲帶回，一段又一段精采的故事，與你分享...

想要更了解這位志工在甘比亞的點點滴滴嗎? 請到下面網站參觀(有當地的影片喔!)http://www.wretch.cc/blog/riverhcy&category_id=6484030
*策劃機構:財團法人國際合作發展基金會ICDF(International Cooperation and Development Fund)
http://www.icdf.org.tw/chinese/c_about_bg.asp
*業務範圍:海外服務工作團
http://www.icdf.org.tw/chinese/c_affair_volunteer_intro4.asp
*服務單位:甘比亞通訊及多媒體訓練所GTMI (Gambia Telecommunication & Multimedia Institution)