China Keitetsi

China Keitetsi (* 1976 in Uganda ) is a book author who wrote down her experiences as a former child soldier in Uganda in the book They took my mother and gave me a rifle . She founded the German association Aid for former child soldiers and African war victims e. V. and campaigns against the use of child soldiers in Africa .

biography

Early childhood

She was born in Western Uganda in 1976. Her father was a local man with his own land, a house in the city, and a farm. He disowned her mother when China was infancy and replaced her with another young woman who had a baby of her own. At first, China had a relatively good relationship with her stepmother, but that relationship deteriorated noticeably over time. She was mistreated by both her father and her stepmother.

When China was six years old, the regime under Milton Obote came under increasing pressure from the National Resistance Army (NRA), led by the current President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni . Obote blamed the Tutsi ethnic group by accusing them of supporting the rebels. Since China's family was also Tutsi, their farm was attacked, looted and destroyed by members of the Obote regime. However, her father was able to build a new, smaller farm some distance away.

The abuse of China and her siblings on the new farm increased, so that China fled home in 1984 at the age of eight.

Life in the NRA

Shortly after her escape, she was picked up by the NRA and placed in a recruitment camp. There it got its name China because of its "slit eyes" . Today she uses it as her official name.

After a month it was used for the first combat operations. She was involved in a raid on a government convoy, in which the surviving government officers were taken to an NRA camp and later shot.

Then she was used for the first time at the front. The NRA attacked and defeated government forces at Ruwenzori . After this battle, China was transferred to the 5th Battalion, where she met the future father of her son - Moses Drago. When China was eleven years old, the NRA moved from northern Uganda towards the capital Kampala . This was captured on January 26, 1986.

Thereupon Museveni was raised to the presidency of a one-party system and formed a government with the civil arm of the NRA, the National Resistance Movement . There were further battles against the remaining troops of Obote at the Kafu and Karuma bridges. Afraid of witnessing another battle at the front, China finally fled the NRA in 1989 at the age of thirteen and returned to her birth mother.

At the time, however, China was unable to cope with civilian life and returned to the army, where it was abused almost daily by its superior officer. She fled towards Kampala and met her former Commander Kashallingi again, whose bodyguard she became. In his service she was promoted to sergeant and chief escort and also saw Colonel Moses Drago again.

Kashallingi was later to be arrested and fled from Museveni's henchmen. The 14-year-old was interrogated because of her position as Kashallingi's bodyguard. She was transferred to the military police and discovered that she was pregnant with Colonel Drago. In 1991 she gave birth to her son Moses and lived with him in barracks. Soon after, however, Kashallingi was found, arrested and placed in the same barracks as China. Therefore, she was transferred to Karuma.

In an accident with a convoy in 1995, China saved the lives of several civilians and was rewarded with a lot of money by the company of the escorted convoy. However, she sustained an injury to her knee and had to take a few weeks off. During this time, she returned her son to her father's care.

Escape to South Africa

With the help of bribes, China got a passport and a visa, and took the bus over the border crossing Busia to Nairobi ( Kenya ), where her visa was rejected by the American Embassy. To get the money back for her plane ticket, she drove back to Kampala and took the money back to Nairobi in September 1995, where she met an old war comrade named Boxer. With him she decided to travel to South Africa .

China was now pregnant again. She met Peter Nkwe, with whom she also entered into a relationship. However, this relationship was fraught with violence. In the hospital, she posed as Patricia Nkwe and gave birth to their daughter Ashley.

She later learned through a phone call that her son's father, Moses Drago, had been murdered.

China was kidnapped by the Ugandan secret service and tortured and interrogated for weeks because of its relationship with Kashillingi. However, she managed to escape. She turned to the Ministry of the Interior of South Africa, where she was listened to with great understanding and given a letter to the UNHCR .

In 1999 Denmark agreed to accept China.

Europe

China received a very warm welcome in Denmark. She was housed in a diaconal monastery and shortly after her arrival met Knud Held Hansen, who was around 60 years old.

He became China's “foster father” with whom she moved to Søborg , where she still lives today. She started to work in a kindergarten and is to be trained as a social worker. Brigitte Knudsen, the head of Søborg's immigration office, advised China to process their pain by writing down their experiences. This then resulted in the book They took my mother from me and gave me a rifle .

This book was published by Ullstein Verlag on World Children's Day 2002. The result were numerous appearances, especially in German-speaking countries. Several television stations also broadcast reports on China Keitetsi.

In autumn 2003 she started a reading tour through Germany together with Amnesty International . However, this action soon expanded into a series of lecture tours, whereby it is particularly important to her to make it clear to young people that growing up carefree, as in Europe, is by no means a given in the whole world, especially not in Africa.

China now travels all over Europe and also gives lectures in the USA, Canada and Japan. She spoke to the United Nations in New York City and to the German Bundestag . She also met with the German President , who assured her that he would take care of the child soldiers' cause.

In 2004, China founded the German Association for the Promotion of Former Child Soldiers and African War Victims eV With the donations, she would like to set up a center for the reintegration of former child soldiers in Kigali , Rwanda. In 2005, China received the “Certificate of Appreciation for dedication and commitment to translating the ideals of human rights into practical reality: AMBASSADOR FOR HUMAN RIGHTS” from the American University of Connecticut. In 2006 she became an ambassador for the Missio campaign “Volltreffer” on the occasion of the World Cup: “Shoot goals instead of people”.

On February 6, 2008, she attended a papal audience in the Vatican. During the audience, Pope Benedict XVI blessed a cross made from a shell by former child soldiers.

Books

They took my mother and gave me a rifle

Your book They took my mother and gave me a rifle was published in Denmark and Holland. It then appeared in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, France, Spain, the Czech Republic and Japan. In Germany, her book even made it to second place on the bestseller list in the “Politics and Contemporary History” category. The proceeds from the sale will go to the Center for the Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers in Kigali.

Extract from the foreword

“You may be wondering how I got into writing a book. Brigitte Knudsen, the head of the immigration office in my Danish community, recommended that I write down the pain I feel. She thought that writing could help me to process what I had experienced. Because whenever I was sad or had nightmares, I would call her, no matter whether on the weekend or in the middle of the night. When I began to write on her advice, the spell was broken and tears began to flow. Every time I wrote something, I felt a little better afterwards. And soon I couldn't stop doing it. I wrote like I was crying. When I had more than one hundred and fifty pages together I told Knud Hansen, my foster father, about it. He said, 'Oh, China! You're writing a book '. That's when I thought for the first time that it could actually become a book. "

Tears between heaven and earth - my way back to life

The book Tears Between Heaven and Earth - My Way Back to Life was published in 2007 and reports on her attempts to find healing and reorientation as well as the search for her two children.

The development association

The association pursues exclusively and directly charitable and humanitarian purposes within the meaning of the section on tax-privileged purposes of the tax code.

aims

• Raising funds and supporting projects to help former child soldiers (especially in the African Great Lakes region)
• Promotion of international understanding, development aid and youth welfare
• Direct support for African youth: payment of debt fees, supply of clothing and school supplies.
• Social work: rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers into African society.
• Public relations: educating and informing the public about human suffering
• The association serves other purposes that deal with the consequences of the wars in Uganda and other African countries.

Web links

• Literature by and about China Keitetsi in the catalog of the German National Library
• Coalition against the use of child soldiers
• Amnesty International website on China Keitetsi

swell

1. ^ Vatican Radio : Vatican: Pope blesses child soldier February 6, 2008