China Keitetsi was recruited as a child by the Ugandan Army. In a powerful interview she talks about the trauma of her life as a killer.
She was raped at 12 and gave birth to a baby in terrible conditions when she was still only 13. The army and her commander replaced her parents and she was terrorised into performing brutal acts she is trying to forget but can’t.
In a new life in Copenhagen, Denmark she talks in a calm and quiet way about the trauma of her childhood which makes it all the more shocking and horrifying.
She says: “With the gun you felt powerful, because you could shoot anybody, you know. You are no more this little girl, you had power in this gun, with this little finger, placing it on there and, you know, ending someone’s life. But later, everything changed, when they told you that you have to love your gun more than yourself. A gun was your mother, a gun was your best friend. There was this fear of losing your gun. There was this fear of not falling asleep, because you were scared: what if somebody comes and takes your gun. So you always had to sleep holding your gun so tightly, close to you.”
Read the whole interview and watch the video here.