Vacation Reading

I am in Playa del Carmen mexico. The air is warm, the water is turquoise and the overall atmosphere is relaxing... divinely so.
We are renting a house about 30 steps from the water's edge, and I am sitting on the refreshingly cool tile floor in the living room because I can't pick up the wireless connection and thus have to plug the computer into the wall. I just had the need to come inside out of the sun and blog.

Oddly enough, I chose to spend time on the first two days in paradise reading a story that describes exactly the opposite - war. I started reading this story on the plane and turned the final page about 2 hours ago - the book is completed but I know the story will remain in my mind for quite some time. For those of you who don't know me, I am a Starbucks freak and consequently for the past several months everyday when I go in for my iced venti non-fat latte, I have had the cover of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier staring back at me from the register. Having heard stories of boy soldiers, and recent depictions of their experiences through movies like "Blood Diamond" I felt the need to become globally aware on the issue.

Ishmael Beah wrote his memoirs that outline, in my opinion, three key periods of his life - before his involvement in Sierra Leone's civil war, during his time as a soldier and his rehabilitation and integration into society following his military years.

Bottom line - the story was heartwrenching, fascinating and very hard but most of all I feel like it opened my eyes further to what is really going on around the world (and what we don't hear about in the everyday news in the US - that is why I enjoy Anderson Cooper so much)! When I think about Ishmael's story, I feel helpless in some respects. What can I possibly do to help spark the change needed in the world to end such attrocities? Perhaps I need to find time to donate to such global issues - but I don't know where to start...... Any suggestions?

I have convinced myself that I will meet Ishmael Beah and in some way join his quest to stop people from tearing the childhood out of children's lives around the world.