Author Profiles; African Writing Online, Many Literatures, One Voice

Bitek is the daughter of a poet father and a
story-teller mother. She was born to exiled parents
in Kenya, came of age in Uganda and now lives in
Canada. Juliane’s work has won writing awards in
Canada, the United States and Europe. She is an
essayist, free-lance writer and poet.

In African Writing:

My Son is a Story 11

This non-fiction is from a work-in-progress by Bitek
telling the stories of abducted women who returned
from the captivity of the Lord’s Resistance Army,
the guerillas that have terrorized Uganda, DRC,
Central African Republic and Sudan since 1987.
This piece is about Grace’s son, and her escape
from rebels after six years in captivity.

My son is a story that begins at my own beginning. Through him, I became a mother. I joined the throng of other mothers around the world. Ogenrwot was born in 1999. I was in captivity then. My son was the ultimate proof that beauty, life, hope, and everything else good is possible, even when there is desolation around you. My labour was not remarkable to anyone but me. The learning curve I had to overcome, learning to suckle a child, bathing him in steaming hot water; massaging his limbs so that his legs would grow straight, the way we have always done – all became possible when he chose me to be his mother. It was a choice. I believe it was a choice. His. He could have chosen anyone else. His father had many children with other women, but he chose to be my son and I learned to be a mother from him.... continues