Heart of Fire by Senait Mehari. From Child Soldier to Soul Singer.
This book which will touch your heart. A true story which could only make you realise how lucky most of us and our children are.
Transalted to English from German, with straightforward text. I got this from my local librbary and couldnt put it down.
A 'child from a suitcase' - that's how Senait Mehari's story begins. An unwanted baby, her mother packs her inside a suitcase, puts the case in the wardrobe and goes away. Born in 1974 to an Ethiopian mother and an Eritrean father, Senait was abandoned by her parents as a baby and spent her early years in a state orphanage before being returned to her father. As the onset of the War of Liberation threatened the family, Senait's father made the shocking decision to 'give' Senait and two of her stepsisters to the guerrilla troops of the ELF (Eritrean Liberation Front). Senaits uncle arranged an adventurous escape to Sudan. The girls lived in Khartoum for four years, but were then summoned to Germany by their father where he was living as an asylum seeker. At the age of thirty, Senait feels compelled to speak. Despite all the tortures and cruelties, "Heart of Fire" is the moving testimony of a woman who is determined to succeed in life