In Development
Child Soldier
Synopsis
China Keitetsi, a former Ugandan Child Soldier - has become an international spokeswoman on the issue for Amnesty International, UNESCO, and UNICEF.
CHILD SOLDIER, based on a true story, is an account of the horrors of war from the perspective of a Ugandan child soldier.
At eight years-old, CHINA KEITETSI runs away from an abusive home where she was beaten by her father. Through a chance encounter, alone and scared on a desolate road, she joins the ranks of Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA). Though tiny – and at first, unable to carry a gun – China learns how to survive and becomes a ruthless guerilla fighter. Her superiors teach her that the gun is now her “mother” and she learns to kill on demand. But the fighting brings her into contact with every human horror imaginable: massacre, mutilation, brutality. And yet she still finds that the military is where she gains acceptance and long-starved-for affection. Paradoxically, her learned bravado on the battlefield does not prepare her to fight off being raped every night by senior officers. The suffering she endures, and the violence she’s forced to take part in, shatter China’s childhood.
As Museveni's NRA succeeds in overthrowing president Milton Obote's regime, China rises to the rank of sergeant by the tender age of sixteen. Still living in constant peril, however, the sexual abuse continues, and the revolution she was sold is revealed as a lie.
Then something remarkable happens that changes everything: She briefly finds love and discovers she’s pregnant. China makes a fateful decision – she will no longer rely on anyone else to survive. She will not give birth to her baby living like this. Fueled by the power of her impending motherhood, China hatches a heroic plan of escape. Overcoming countless harrowing adventures, including capture at the Ugandan border – where she is held prisoner and raped while pregnant – she finally finds freedom in South Africa at age seventeen.
Today, China has a new life in Denmark as a political refugee and dissident. She travels the world as a leading spokeswoman against the abuse of children as child soldiers. Her audiences have consisted of governing organizations, political leaders, academic institutions, and celebrities. China's personal memoir, CHILD SOLDIER, has been translated and published around the world.
China Keitetsi's unique and haunting story exemplifies courage, indomitable spirit, and illustrates a heart-rending brutalization of innocence.
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