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And Still Peace Did Not Come: A Memoir of Reconciliation
When bullets hit Agnes Kamara-Umunna's home in Monrovia, Liberia, she and her father hastily piled whatever they could carry into their car and drove toward the border, along with thousands of others. An army of children was approaching, under the leadership of Charles Taylor. It seemed like the end of the world. Slowly, they made their way to the safety of Sierra Leone. They were the lucky ones.After years of exile, with the fighting seemingly over, Agnes returned to Liberia--a country now devastated by years of civil war. Families have been torn apart, villages destroyed, and it seems as though no one has been spared. Reeling, and unsure of what to do in this place so different from the home of her memories, Agnes accepted a job at the local UN-run radio station. Their mission is peace and their method is reconciliation through understanding and communication. Soon, she came up with a daring Find the former child soldiers, and record their stories. And so Agnes, then a 43-year-old single mother of four, headed out to the ghettos of Monrovia and befriended them, drinking Club Beer and smoking Dunhill cigarettes with them, earning their trust. One by one, they spoke on her program, Straight from the Heart, and slowly, it seemed like reconciliation and forgiveness might be possible.From Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female president, to Butt Naked, a warlord whose horrific story is as unforgettable as his nickname--everyone has a story to tell. Victims and perpetrators. Boys and girls, mothers and fathers. Agnes comforts rape survivors, elicits testimonials from warlords, and is targeted with death threats--all live on the air.Set in a place where monkeys, not raccoons, are the scourge of homeowners; the trees have roots like elephant legs; and peacebuilding is happening from the ground-up. Harrowing, bleak, hopeful, humorous, and deeply moving--And Still Peace Did Not Come is not only Agnes's It is also her testimony to a nation's descent into the horrors of civil war, and its subsequent rise out of the ashes.
256 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2011
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480 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
April 9, 2012
I read over some of the other reviews, several of which said Umunna's book was poorly written. While this book was not a work of literary genius, as a memoir I don't think it was intended to be. It reads like a woman sitting down to tell you her story, and in so doing sharing the stories of many whose lives we never would have otherwise heard about. Through her work and her book, Umunna has taught many that though we don't live in a hollywood movie of superhuman abilities and character growth that occurs overnight, we do live in a reality where what people are capable of--for better or for worse, and in some particularly heart-gripping stories, both--is absolutely astounding. She brings to light that there are many stories to be told, from many sides, in the history of Liberia. To understand only one side is not to understand the history of Liberia. The same can be said of any time or place in human history.
In short, a sincere thank you to the author for sharing her inspiring and informative memoir with the world. It has been a valuable addition to my studies.
In short, a sincere thank you to the author for sharing her inspiring and informative memoir with the world. It has been a valuable addition to my studies.
March 16, 2016
This is one of those books which makes you realise that whatever problems and difficult circumstances you have it is nothing compared with those with which others have to deal with. This book is about Libera and its two periods of unimaginable cruel war fought to a large part by CHILDREN, deliberately chosen for this purpose by grown men (war lords)! All wars are terrible and in all wars there are unspeakable cruelties, but for me at least, the forced use of children, made pliable with drugs and violence is beyond unforgivable.
Having said that, the book is about Agnes Kamara-umunna's own history growing up in Liberia, her own experiences of the wars and especially her engagement with the reconcilliation process after the war. Starting with a radio show giving victims of the wars a voice, she then realises that the child soldiers also were victims and not only perpetrators. And this is where the real challenge lies. If I put myself in the place of these Liberians could I forgive somebody, even a child, if I had witnessed them raping, torturing and killing my children - honestly NO. Could I however feel it within me to give child soldiers a second chance - hopefully yes, but honestly, I am not sure. In the book you see Agnes getting more and more involved with the child soldiers and clearly being one of the only points of help for these draumatised and brutalised young men and later women(although she several times points out that they really still are children in many ways). She tries her very best with hardly any money - where was the international community? Later in she also interviews and talks to the warlords, who now unbelievably, are Liberia's current politicians and one of the most cruelest is even the Lord Chief Justice. What? Not even the Nazi's were that brazen. Hardly anything happened to these guys? Why not? This is what ordinary Liberians have to cope with! Personally, the book made me really take my hat off before most of these extremely poor and uneducated people. How would we cope?
The latter part also deals with Agnes' attempt whilst she is studying in the USA to help the former child soldiers who have emigrated to the USA, where she found connecting with them even harder. The difference is interesting and I would have liked to know more about the background of the Liberian population in the USA.
The sadest thing of course also is that over the past year of course another the Ebola virus has hit Liberia and once again these people suffer.
This book is educational, heartbreaking, but because of the recilliance of this population, leaves you quite hopeful for them.
Having said that, the book is about Agnes Kamara-umunna's own history growing up in Liberia, her own experiences of the wars and especially her engagement with the reconcilliation process after the war. Starting with a radio show giving victims of the wars a voice, she then realises that the child soldiers also were victims and not only perpetrators. And this is where the real challenge lies. If I put myself in the place of these Liberians could I forgive somebody, even a child, if I had witnessed them raping, torturing and killing my children - honestly NO. Could I however feel it within me to give child soldiers a second chance - hopefully yes, but honestly, I am not sure. In the book you see Agnes getting more and more involved with the child soldiers and clearly being one of the only points of help for these draumatised and brutalised young men and later women(although she several times points out that they really still are children in many ways). She tries her very best with hardly any money - where was the international community? Later in she also interviews and talks to the warlords, who now unbelievably, are Liberia's current politicians and one of the most cruelest is even the Lord Chief Justice. What? Not even the Nazi's were that brazen. Hardly anything happened to these guys? Why not? This is what ordinary Liberians have to cope with! Personally, the book made me really take my hat off before most of these extremely poor and uneducated people. How would we cope?
The latter part also deals with Agnes' attempt whilst she is studying in the USA to help the former child soldiers who have emigrated to the USA, where she found connecting with them even harder. The difference is interesting and I would have liked to know more about the background of the Liberian population in the USA.
The sadest thing of course also is that over the past year of course another the Ebola virus has hit Liberia and once again these people suffer.
This book is educational, heartbreaking, but because of the recilliance of this population, leaves you quite hopeful for them.
May 12, 2011
(4.0) Telling stories about telling stories to help rebuild a nation
Memoirs of a Liberian woman whose life is (through a roundabout path) devoted to healing the victims (and the perpetrators who were themselves victims) of the civil war that devastated her nation. She ran a radio show to enable Liberians to tell their stories from the war in order to heal. She also started a center for former child soldiers, outcasts after the war, to help them apologize, rehabilitate and heal with the rest of Liberia.
The structure was perfect: each chapter begins with a personal account that was told to her or to the reconciliation commission. It is a very personal and powerful account that starts off horrifying and terrifying and eventually giving some reason to hope that Liberia can recover...though she makes it plainly clear that there is an entire generation of Liberians (at home and abroad--many in Staten Island) who grew up participating (as victim or perpetrator or both) in the civil war.
Memoirs of a Liberian woman whose life is (through a roundabout path) devoted to healing the victims (and the perpetrators who were themselves victims) of the civil war that devastated her nation. She ran a radio show to enable Liberians to tell their stories from the war in order to heal. She also started a center for former child soldiers, outcasts after the war, to help them apologize, rehabilitate and heal with the rest of Liberia.
The structure was perfect: each chapter begins with a personal account that was told to her or to the reconciliation commission. It is a very personal and powerful account that starts off horrifying and terrifying and eventually giving some reason to hope that Liberia can recover...though she makes it plainly clear that there is an entire generation of Liberians (at home and abroad--many in Staten Island) who grew up participating (as victim or perpetrator or both) in the civil war.
December 28, 2017
First and second-hand accounts of the terrible civil wars in Liberia, where Charles Taylor and other warlords raped, murdered and terrorized their way across the country for 14 years. The book tells many of the stories, from victims, child soldiers and war lords. Telling the stories was an effort at putting the past in the past. Umunna worked for years in telling these stories over the radio and worked to rehabilitate men and women who had been forced to fight, kill, rape and torture as child soldiers. he recognized as few did, that these children were victims of the war too.
November 22, 2017
This was an excellent book, although a hard one to read. I grew up in West Africa, and although I didn't live in Liberia, I knew people who did, including a number of Liberians. Reading through it, I could hear their voices and I wondered how the wars affected them.
Agnes Kumara-umunna is not a professional writer, but she does a fine job of telling her story, for the most part. There are things that could have been written better, and there are parts of the book that could have benefited from some editing, but it's still a good book.
Her hope - for people and for her beloved Liberia - shines out of the story, and makes what could have been a dreadful catalog of horrors into an uplifting work. Recommended for those who want to know about Africa from the point of view of Africans, and for those who want to know more about the effects of the dreadful turmoil of the Liberian civil wars.
Agnes Kumara-umunna is not a professional writer, but she does a fine job of telling her story, for the most part. There are things that could have been written better, and there are parts of the book that could have benefited from some editing, but it's still a good book.
Her hope - for people and for her beloved Liberia - shines out of the story, and makes what could have been a dreadful catalog of horrors into an uplifting work. Recommended for those who want to know about Africa from the point of view of Africans, and for those who want to know more about the effects of the dreadful turmoil of the Liberian civil wars.
December 28, 2021
I liked this book, especially how it focused more on the aftermath of war instead of just the events of the conflict itself. Still, I found the narrator of this "memoir" almost frustratingly remote, and the structure of this book didn't really work for me. It seemed to bounce wildly from person to person, and from memoir to history book- that lack of focus didn't serve the story well. Still, this is a valuable book, and definitely has a unique perspective.
July 29, 2018
Child soldiers
This book is a great read on the war in Liberia, and especially the child soldiers who were both victims and perpetrators. The author's work with them gives hope that some of them can heal from their experiences and help others.
This book is a great read on the war in Liberia, and especially the child soldiers who were both victims and perpetrators. The author's work with them gives hope that some of them can heal from their experiences and help others.
September 17, 2019
A heavy read, full of harrowing, yet fascinating, stories. A must read--providing nuance to conflict and reconciliation. A quick read, with writing that flows and keep the reader moving on. All in all, a great book.
June 24, 2017
Amazing memoir. Incredible what people endure and their capacity for forgiveness. It expanded my understanding of humanity.
November 21, 2017
@couvee, yogyakarta. with coory.
March 9, 2018
Very powerful and captivatingly told story.
August 29, 2018
november 21st, 2017.
at couvee, yogyakarta. with coory.
at couvee, yogyakarta. with coory.
August 27, 2017
Many people think the world is at peace but in fact many nations are embroiled in civil wars and conflicts far from the eyes of the Western media. The story of Liberia's civil was is one such example, and the book raises some hard questions. How do you reconcile a nation that has been fighting for 15 years? how you do forgive child soldiers, recruited against their will and forced to commit horrific violence against their own countrymen?
February 13, 2013
And Still Peace Did Not Come by Agnes Kamara-Umunna
In 1990, Liberia plunged into the hell of 14 years of civil war. The war scarred every living soul in the country. Atrocities were committed by all sides and perhaps the worst atrocities of all were done by and to the children who were kidnapped, drugged, and forced to become child soldiers.
Eventually, the war ended with the country ravaged and the population decimated, mutilated, and devastated. How does one pick up a life and go on when so many atrocities have been committed by your next door neighbor or by their child?
In And Still Peace Did Not Come Agnes Kamara-Umunna tells how after the war was over and the fighting ceased, peace still did not come. It could not come until some how reconciliation could begin. Modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation Council set up following apartheid in South Africa, the TRC in Liberia began taking statements from Liberian citizens. For people to live together without falling into an endless cycle of revenge, truth must be told by both victims and perpetrators and the work of reconciliation begun. So much easier said than done.
Agnes Kamara-Umunna hosted a radio program straight from the Heart which allowed people to tell their story. Early on she discovered that the former child soldiers were virtual untouchables. They either had no family left or had been rejected by their family or their community. They were now living on the streets with no home, food, school, or friend and many were addicted to drugs or alcohol. Agnes began to help them with food and shelter. She brought them onto the radio program so that the population could see that they were children and were every bit as much victims as they had been perpetrators.
The book is well written and conveys the horrors of what happened without descending into ghoulishness. The work of building peace through telling the truth and beginning reconciliation is well expressed. It gives both a vivid picture of both the horrors that humans can inflict on one another and the hope that peace can come through truth and reconciliation.
In 1990, Liberia plunged into the hell of 14 years of civil war. The war scarred every living soul in the country. Atrocities were committed by all sides and perhaps the worst atrocities of all were done by and to the children who were kidnapped, drugged, and forced to become child soldiers.
Eventually, the war ended with the country ravaged and the population decimated, mutilated, and devastated. How does one pick up a life and go on when so many atrocities have been committed by your next door neighbor or by their child?
In And Still Peace Did Not Come Agnes Kamara-Umunna tells how after the war was over and the fighting ceased, peace still did not come. It could not come until some how reconciliation could begin. Modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation Council set up following apartheid in South Africa, the TRC in Liberia began taking statements from Liberian citizens. For people to live together without falling into an endless cycle of revenge, truth must be told by both victims and perpetrators and the work of reconciliation begun. So much easier said than done.
Agnes Kamara-Umunna hosted a radio program straight from the Heart which allowed people to tell their story. Early on she discovered that the former child soldiers were virtual untouchables. They either had no family left or had been rejected by their family or their community. They were now living on the streets with no home, food, school, or friend and many were addicted to drugs or alcohol. Agnes began to help them with food and shelter. She brought them onto the radio program so that the population could see that they were children and were every bit as much victims as they had been perpetrators.
The book is well written and conveys the horrors of what happened without descending into ghoulishness. The work of building peace through telling the truth and beginning reconciliation is well expressed. It gives both a vivid picture of both the horrors that humans can inflict on one another and the hope that peace can come through truth and reconciliation.
January 19, 2012
This is a heart-breaking book to read, as it chronicles both the life of the author interspersed with interviews of victims and perpetrators of the horrible violence that was the 14-year civil war in Liberia. The author largely escaped the worst effects of the war, but ends up as a radio interviewer trying to bring peace to her country by talking about what really happened during the war years. One horrible statistic? By war's end, 75% of women in the country had been raped. Children were turned into soldiers and taught in the most gruesome of ways. It's hard for me to even fathom the brutality and evil that exists in the world and heart-breaking to consider all the victims.
I would give the book higher stars, but it isn't especially well-written and it's hard to see very much good coming out of the reconciliation movement, except that honesty about the past ought to be better than pretending it didn't happen? It's hard to see how child soldiers, damaged from years of fighting, killing, gang-raping, torturing, etc., can ever heal or make any kind of restitution.
I would give the book higher stars, but it isn't especially well-written and it's hard to see very much good coming out of the reconciliation movement, except that honesty about the past ought to be better than pretending it didn't happen? It's hard to see how child soldiers, damaged from years of fighting, killing, gang-raping, torturing, etc., can ever heal or make any kind of restitution.
July 17, 2016
Unlike other war memoirs I've read, ‘And Still Peace Did Not Come’ gives us multi-dimensional perspective in wars. Agnes gives us layered perspectives between victims and perpeprators, civilians and soldiers, guilt and innocence. It shows us the complexity of a war, which I think make this book as one of the most important book for us to read in this time.
I have to admit that this is not an easy book to read. The stories are harrowing and heart-breaking. There are a lot of points in this book that has forced me to stop reading, or I might breakdown and cry for days. I can’t say much about the writing in this book, as English is not my first language. Some people said that the writing is poor. But I have to say that I quite enjoy the writing, it feels like I was listening to a story-teller. Since that’s basically the purpose of this book, I don’t think that it’s a big problem. Nevertheless, like Gloria Steinem said, this book is a gift. I really think that everyone should read it.
I have to admit that this is not an easy book to read. The stories are harrowing and heart-breaking. There are a lot of points in this book that has forced me to stop reading, or I might breakdown and cry for days. I can’t say much about the writing in this book, as English is not my first language. Some people said that the writing is poor. But I have to say that I quite enjoy the writing, it feels like I was listening to a story-teller. Since that’s basically the purpose of this book, I don’t think that it’s a big problem. Nevertheless, like Gloria Steinem said, this book is a gift. I really think that everyone should read it.
May 13, 2014
Agnes Kamara-Umunna's And Still Peace Did Not Come is a compelling, heartbreaking and shocking account of the Liberian civil war and the use of children to fight on the front lines of this atrocious civil war. A must read for all to read first hand accounts of the barbarianism and impact war causes. Umunna gives hope for recovery, nonetheless this book takes your breath away with its brutality and abuse of so many innocent lives. Using children as soldiers is absolutely astonishing. A haunting part of history leaving you lost deep in thought long after reading Umunna's words.
July 28, 2011
This was an excellent book, and I stumbled upon it. What a brave and incredible lady is Agnes Fallah Kamara-Umunna, and she shows what one human can do in the aftermath of madness and hooor. it is a memoir of reconciliation and as gloria Steinem said, "This book is a gift. Accept it." Two themes, unchecked inhumanity and humanity run through this riveting account. I think it is a very important book.
August 18, 2011
Not easy reading. Agnes grew up in Liberia and was in and out of the country during its war. After the war she found herself at a radio station broadcasting the stories of the child soliders who commited terrible acts against their loved ones and strangers alike.
People call to the show to commend the boys for speaking out, to condemn them for their acts or to share their own stores.
An excellent work of non-fiction.
People call to the show to commend the boys for speaking out, to condemn them for their acts or to share their own stores.
An excellent work of non-fiction.
December 13, 2014
After re-reading A Marker to Measure Drift (one of my favorite books) for book group, I looked for other books and films about the Liberian civil wars. And Still Peace Did Not Come provides personal stories of many Liberians who were devastated by over a decade of war. The author worked on her own and with the Truth and Reconciliation process to help the survivors. The book is well-organized, heartbreaking and interesting. And now they have Ebola.......
June 19, 2015
Kamarra-umunna introduced me to history I know little about and showcased not only her own story but the personal accounts of Liberians whose lives were forever changed by Liberia's civil wars. She writes not only about the atrocities committed and experienced but the reconciliation process with which she was involved. These types of stories are never easy reads but the stories are important and need to be told.
November 26, 2014
This book is riveting. Agnes Ummuna grants the reader the chance to view the complexity of war first-hand. We learn about her own experience with the war and her harrowing escape with her father as well as her attempts to later give voice to those who suffered the most during the war. She finds, over time, that even those considered "perpetrators" (ie, the child soldiers) were also victims.
December 31, 2011
Stumbled upon this book at the library. Can't believe it was not already on my radar. Great resource for those that need more enlightenment, not only on the horrible atrocities committed upon citizens of many African countries, but also those that are trying to learn the gift of forgiveness and reconciliation in every day life. I learned a lot from this lady.
April 5, 2011
This book is by a Princeton in Africa Fellow Emily Holland who worked with Agnes Kamara-Umunna to tell the story of Liberia's civil war and the many autocracies that were perpetrated. Its about reconciliation and seems like an interesting impressive story from what I have read so far.
November 1, 2011
The story is compelling enough that this could have been a five star book. But the repetition and complete lack of insight, not to mention good writing, make this just another hohum selection. Where is Dave Eggers when you need him?
September 8, 2016
I met Agnes through the agency I volunteer with & promptly ordered her book. She is an amazing, strong woman & leader for peace amongst Liberians. Read this book, and see many of her friends in a related documentary, "Pray the Devil Back to Hell."
September 8, 2012
Wow. Depressing as one would expect. I learned a lot about the 14 year long especially brutal civil war in Liberia but my complaint was that I felt the author often got in the way of the narrative. She was mostly spared the effects of war. Still worth reading.
December 19, 2016
I could pick apart this book and look for the literary flaws or holes or what have you, but I don't care. I haven't read a book that affected me this strongly in awhile. I feel like I've aged ten years. A beautiful book written by a beautiful heart. Highly recommend.
August 4, 2011
A beautufully written memoir on the power of redemption and hope.
October 13, 2011
I'm so grateful this was the book I chose off of the library shelf.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews