Journal 7 Reading Response to Chapter 18-19 Sydney Alspach

Reading chapters 18-19 I felt as though the rehabilitation was going very well for Ishmael. Ishmael started to let go a little bit by starting to trust others. By the fifth month Ishmael had been became very close with Ester, although he wouldn't admit it. I believe with the love and support that Ester gave Ishmael it really started to help him overcome some of his feelings about the past. In chapter 18 I remember reading what Ishmael said about he would look at Ester and Ester would through him a piece of paper that would be folded, then Ishmael would open and think as if there was a special note that Ester wrote to him. Ishmael stated that he forgot about his loneliness for the time being.

 

I beilve that Ester has made the biggest impact on Ishmael since he has been at camp because she seems to be like a sister figure to him. Actually, Ester even says that in the book; "Think of me as your family, your sister" then Ishmael said "But, I didn't have a sister." then Ester said back to him "Well, now you do. You see, this is the beauty of starting a new family. You can have different kinds of family members." I truly think Ester impacted Ishmael and made him a better person in the rehabilitation processes. It allowed to achieve something that I would never have expected while reading this book.

I feel very confident in Ishmael's rehabilitation process. I feel this way because he was asked to become a spokesperson for the center which I would have never guessed would happen. He took on the opportunity and talked in-front of groups of people about children soldiers and what they can do to help stop it all. I was very impressed that he had enough courage and pride in him to stand up and talk about himself that way. I personally still probably wouldn't want him to live in my neighborhood because if something went terribly wrong I wouldn't be sure how he would to respond to it all.