In 1995, Christine, her father and her uncle, were all abducted by the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. She was only twelve years old. They were taken to the neighbouring country Sudan, a foot march that brought her several hundred kilometres from her village. On the way, her father was beaten unconscious, because he could not follow. Finally, he succumbed to his injuries. Christine was forced to beat her own father to death, simply because he had swollen legs.
In Sudan she received a three-day military training. Afterwards, she went to battle. She saw many of her partners in misfortune being killed in battle or dying of hunger and thirst. In Sudan, she was given as a ‘wife’ to one of the commanders, who raped her for years.
In 1998, Christine was sent back to Uganda with a group of rebels to raid villages and to abduct children. She also had to murder and to mutilate citizens by cutting off ears and lips. During a fight with the government army she managed to escape, but she had to shoot one of her bodyguards. The other bodyguard returned fire. The bullet ricocheted off her head. Christine managed to reach a camp where her injuries were tended to. She was taken to the rehabilitation centre, where a nurse said she was pregnant. She tried to kill the baby and herself with an overdose of tablets. But the attempt failed. At the age of 15, Christine gave birth to a girl. She moved in with her mother and tried to make a living as a seamstress. But nobody wanted clothes from a ‘rebel’. Every night, she went to the forest with her baby, for fear of the rebels. Because the child was constantly ill, she brought her back to the rehabilitation centre.
At the centre, people told her about the "Childsoldiers" sponsoring programme. Since then, Christine has been going back to school. The NGO pays for her and her daughter’s studies. In the future, she wants to become a doctor.