Woman who fled torturers that killed her family tells story in new book
A Ugandan woman who narrowly escaped death at the hands of the
unrelenting torturers that killed her husband and abducted her children
has had her story published in a seminal new book.
‘My Painful Journey' is the story of Jade Amoli Jackson, a long
standing client of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of
Torture and a prolific writer with the organisation's writing group,
Write to Life.
It is one of 16 true stories featured in ‘From There to Here', the
second decibel Penguin prize anthology, described as "the widest
reaching contemporary survey of the immigrant experience published for
many years".
"I sometimes feel ashamed of my story, but I have had so much
encouragement from the Medical Foundation that I felt able to put it in
writing," said Jade, who has attended an Arvon Foundation writing
course and is now studying drama at Morley College, London. "When I'm
writing, it's like I have closed a door on the past and another one is
opening."
Jade fled Uganda seven years ago, where as the niece of former
president Milton Obote, political rival to current president Yoweri
Museveni, she had been subjected to a lifetime of harassment. Staunchly
opposed to the guerrilla warfare that was claiming the lives of her
fellow country-folk, Jade helped many desperate families flee the
country.
In 1991, Jade's own life began to unravel. Her husband was abducted and
murdered by the military and just weeks after identifying her husband's
dismembered body, Jade's twin sister and her father were killed as
Museveni's men descended on the family's farm to seize their property
in the ongoing power struggle.
Scrambling together her three children, Jade fled to northern Uganda.
The family lived in relative safety until 2001, when Jade returned home
from work to be confronted with the sickening news that the village had
been attacked and her children had been abducted. Desperate and
distraught, Jade sought refuge in a neighbouring village and it was not
long before that too was destroyed and the villagers captured.
For two days, Jade was marched barefoot into a secluded jungle enclave
where she was to spend the next few months enslaved in impoverished
conditions, confronted daily by death, rape and starvation.
Jade considers herself fortunate to have escaped, and though the loss
of her children haunts her still, she has slowly managed to rebuild her
life. Her prose and poetry, which chronicles her experiences both in
Uganda and her reflections on life in the UK, has earned her praise at
literary festivals up and down the country which she has attended with
other MF clients.
Six judges, including Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty and the novelist
Kate Mosse, selected the most illuminating and powerful entries to be
published in the book.
Samenua Sesher, Director of decibel, said: "The anthology is an
exciting collection of the authors' journeys and experiences of fleeing
persecution, or seeking new lives and opportunities in another country.
The stories are important in today's multicultural Britain,
illustrating how our country is ever changing, and how these kinds of
experiences add to the diversity and collective history of our
society."
*From There to Here is published by Penguin in paperback on November 29, priced at £8.99. To order a copy, visit www.penguin.co.uk.
Click here to read more about the MF's project, Write to Life