About Lieutenant Hotshot
‘Lieutenant Hotshot – The Story of an Invisible Child’ is the searing and powerful story of a child soldier’s struggle to claw himself back from the abyss of evil, to which he has been exposed. It is a story which will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
Child abuse is a serious topic and something which demands serious action. The exploitation of children and the abusive treatment and brainwashing to which they are subjected in their training as child soldiers in organisations such as Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, is one of the most serious forms of child abuse in our world today. ‘Lieutenant Hotshot, The Story of an Invisible Child’ is dedicated to all those child soldiers who have not been fortunate enough to escape and tell their own story.
How Lieutenant Hotshot was born
As all good characters should, Lieutenant Hotshot (Modetse) came to life and told his own story. The seeds of his story came when I watched a Ross Kemp programme on television relating to ‘glue kids’ in Kenya. I was very moved by the clip which showed Ross speaking to street children who eked out meagre lives on the rubbish tips of Nairobi and escaped the hardship by sniffing glue. One of the most heart breaking parts was that of a mother forcing a glue bottle over the mouth and nose of her toddler who looked barely two years old. I thus set out to write a story about street children and in particular that of the ‘glue kids’ of Kenya. However, Modetse and his little sister Thandi had other plans and as I neared the end of Chapter 1 in my first draft they took on lives of their own. The story now developed into one about a child solider and his young sister rather than that of glue kids. Modetse was abducted into the harsh life of the Lord’s Resistance Army of Joseph Kony and the setting became Uganda, a country ravaged by Kony’s army, where many children were abducted from villages and forced to become child soldiers. The story gained energy as it continued with Modetse’s descent into evil and his exposure to the terrible brainwashing and ritual of the LRA. Later Modetse would have to try and claw his way to back to sanity and free himself from this evil and guilt which he had suffered during his time as a child solider.
In order to make sure that the story was authentic I undertook a great deal of research into the world of child soldiers and in particular that of the LRA. I read academic articles, every book and autobiography I could find on the subject and watched endless clips on YouTube as well as films such as ‘Johnny Mad Dog’ and ‘Blood Diamond’. It was one clip on YouTube where a young child solider of about Modetse’s age was speaking to a reporter in a rehabilitation centre for child soldiers in Sierra Leone about his experiences that the redemption part of the novel really took hold. The young boy was relating how his regiment used to be told to chop off the hands and feet of the enemies because ‘it is the feet that do the walking and the hands that do the working’. By removing these they were taking away the ability of the ‘enemy’ to work against them. It was the glint of sheer enjoyment which shone blatantly from his eyes as he remembered these past events which really struck me. It was obvious that given the slightest chance, he would be back working as child soldier immersed in savagery and killing and enjoying it. In order to combat the level of evil he had experienced and to truly rehabilitate him, a redemption experience was necessary.
It is a powerful and moving story which clearly shows the workings of the Stockholm Syndrome and the power of the supernatural.
Child abuse is a serious topic and something which demands serious action. The exploitation of children and the abusive treatment and brainwashing to which they are subjected in their training as child soldiers in organisations such as Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, is one of the most serious forms of child abuse in our world today. ‘Lieutenant Hotshot, The Story of an Invisible Child’ is dedicated to all those child soldiers who have not been fortunate enough to escape and tell their own story.
How Lieutenant Hotshot was born
As all good characters should, Lieutenant Hotshot (Modetse) came to life and told his own story. The seeds of his story came when I watched a Ross Kemp programme on television relating to ‘glue kids’ in Kenya. I was very moved by the clip which showed Ross speaking to street children who eked out meagre lives on the rubbish tips of Nairobi and escaped the hardship by sniffing glue. One of the most heart breaking parts was that of a mother forcing a glue bottle over the mouth and nose of her toddler who looked barely two years old. I thus set out to write a story about street children and in particular that of the ‘glue kids’ of Kenya. However, Modetse and his little sister Thandi had other plans and as I neared the end of Chapter 1 in my first draft they took on lives of their own. The story now developed into one about a child solider and his young sister rather than that of glue kids. Modetse was abducted into the harsh life of the Lord’s Resistance Army of Joseph Kony and the setting became Uganda, a country ravaged by Kony’s army, where many children were abducted from villages and forced to become child soldiers. The story gained energy as it continued with Modetse’s descent into evil and his exposure to the terrible brainwashing and ritual of the LRA. Later Modetse would have to try and claw his way to back to sanity and free himself from this evil and guilt which he had suffered during his time as a child solider.
In order to make sure that the story was authentic I undertook a great deal of research into the world of child soldiers and in particular that of the LRA. I read academic articles, every book and autobiography I could find on the subject and watched endless clips on YouTube as well as films such as ‘Johnny Mad Dog’ and ‘Blood Diamond’. It was one clip on YouTube where a young child solider of about Modetse’s age was speaking to a reporter in a rehabilitation centre for child soldiers in Sierra Leone about his experiences that the redemption part of the novel really took hold. The young boy was relating how his regiment used to be told to chop off the hands and feet of the enemies because ‘it is the feet that do the walking and the hands that do the working’. By removing these they were taking away the ability of the ‘enemy’ to work against them. It was the glint of sheer enjoyment which shone blatantly from his eyes as he remembered these past events which really struck me. It was obvious that given the slightest chance, he would be back working as child soldier immersed in savagery and killing and enjoying it. In order to combat the level of evil he had experienced and to truly rehabilitate him, a redemption experience was necessary.
It is a powerful and moving story which clearly shows the workings of the Stockholm Syndrome and the power of the supernatural.