China Keitetsi (born 1976) is a

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

n activist campaigning against the use of

child soldier Children in the military, including state armed forces, non-state armed groups, and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical adv ...

s. The memoirs of Keitetsi, a former child soldier herself, have been translated into French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and other languages.

Biography

China Keitetsi was born in 1976 in the west of

. Her mother was not present, and in 1984, at the age of 9, Keitetsi and her sister ran away in attempt to find their mother. She ended up becoming a child soldier for the

National Resistance Army The National Resistance Army (NRA) was a guerilla army and the military wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) that fought in the Ugandan Bush War against the government of Milton Obote, and later the government of Tito Okello. NRA wa ...

. China’s early years in Uganda and as a female child soldier showed the sexual assault that girls and women face in times of war and conflict.

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

fell on 26 January 1986, and

Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and Officer (armed forces), military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2025, he is the third-List of current state lead ...

was proclaimed as president, but Uganda remained haunted by civil war. During this period, China Keitetsi worked as a bodyguard for a high-ranking official before joining the Military Police. Several armed groups fought against the new government.

Life as a female child soldier

China, like many other children recruited by the NRA to fight in the battle against the

Obote Obote is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Milton Obote (1925–2005), former president of Uganda *Miria Obote Miria Obote (née Kalule; born 16 July 1936) is a Ugandan politician who was first lady of Uganda, and widow of for ...

government, remained in the ranks of the new government's army, the Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF). She spent ten years as a female child soldier in fear, humiliation, and sexual assault under the Ugandan National Resistance Army.

Life as free woman

Between 1986 and 1995 she made some short returns to civilian life but spent most of her time in the new governmental army. She now lives in Denmark and has published her memoirs in a book entitled ''Child Soldier: Fighting for my life''. She has become an international spokeswoman for the plight of child soldiers worldwide. China goes around Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan, as well as to the UN, UNESCO, and the German Parliament giving lectures on the problems of children as soldiers. Many organizations, including UNICEF, Amnesty International, Terre des Hommes, Oxfam, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, and IANSA, support China Keitetsi in her cause. China's book has been published in Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Africa, England, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Japan and China. She recorded an intro to the song "Blood" of

The Kelly Family The Kelly Family is a European-American music group consisting of a multi-generational family, usually nine siblings who were joined occasionally on stage in their earlier years by their parents. They play a repertoire of rock, pop, and folk mus ...

(sung by Jimmy Kelly on the 2003 album '' Homerun'').

Her books

* Child Soldier: Fighting for my Life (German edition: ''Sie nahmen mir die Mutter und gaben mir ein Gewehr'') published in 2002 * Tears Between Heaven and Earth: My way back to life 2007

References

External links

*Interview with China Keitetsi
''Harvard Gazette''
*

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

br>websiteChina Keitetsi homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keitetsi, China 1976 births Living people Ugandan non-fiction writers Ugandan women writers Ugandan women memoirists Ugandan emigrants to Denmark