China Keitetsi
On the 30th April 2008 some classes had the great honour to hear a presentation of China Keitetsi, a former child soldier in Uganda.
Asking questions was a great opportunity to get more information about her dramatic past and how she managed to escape to a better future.
Not everybody is able to live in a peaceful and free world.
Could you imagine how it is to live in misery and to obey without questions, to have a chosen fate which you can't influence?
Well, child soldiers can ...
When China Keitetsi was eight she was recruited and became part of the NRA, the National Resistance Army. From one day to the other she had to give up her childhood, got a weapon and was confronted with the cruel reality of war - which included systematic rapes, shooting people and being a "nobody".
Worldwide 600.000 child soldiers suffer without hope - traumatized for life ... China Keitetsi was one of the few that were strong enough to escape. After a long and painful way she finally reached Denmark, a country where she could live in peace. But there was still a big part of her life missing - her children. She had to leave them behind in Uganda but found them again with the help of the United Nations.
Helping those who were not that lucky to find relatives again inspired her to build an orphanage in Rwanda to help psychologically and physically abused children. Currently she is also working as ambassador to inform the whole world about this burning issue - that's why we had the chance to listen to her shocking and unbelievable story that she told to us with a great sense of humour.
We were really impressed and hope that she can convince many people and governments to tackle this problem. (7A - group Mag. Rein)
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