Short description
Child Soldier is the heartrending and lyrical account of one child’s terrifying journey out of her family home and into the world of bloody warfare. China Keitetsi’s story begins in the Uganda of the 1970s, when she is a small child living under the tyranny of her father and stepmother. Only eight years old and no longer prepared to put up with the abuse and loneliness of life at home, China runs away with dreams of being reunited with her biological mother. Instead she is drafted into Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army (NRA), fighting to depose Dr Milton Obote’s regime. She becomes caught up in a horrifying guerrilla war.
Long description
When China becomes bodyguard to an important commander in a bid to escape the terrors of army life, he too treats her mercilessly. After years of abuse, China flees to Johannesburg, where for a time, she inhabits Hillbrow’s underworld, all the time searching for a way out. Finally the United Nations relocates her to Denmark where she has been living ever since.
China Keitetsi has spoken at the United Nations on the rights of the child, and has made it her life’s work to fight for the respect that all children are due. Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel and Bill Clinton are among her supporters.