The past month has been exciting for me
as it’s been all about first time experiences. This is the first time I’ve ever
been a guest blogger - thanks to Charlie for accommodating me. My guest
appearance is courtesy of the first ever Authors’ Blog Blitz organized to help
promote and support indie authors like me and Charlie.
I’m still trying to get used to the title “author” as its only been a month since I published my first book I Woke Up In China. I’m totally an accidental author, I was never fond of writing, it was something I did because I had to hand in an essay at university. So when I got the idea to write a book it took me by total surprise but I didn’t have much time to dwell on it or come up with all sorts of reasons why I shouldn’t write it, for I had an all powerful motivation. I wanted to speak to and for the millions of childhood sexual abuse victims.
I’m still trying to get used to the title “author” as its only been a month since I published my first book I Woke Up In China. I’m totally an accidental author, I was never fond of writing, it was something I did because I had to hand in an essay at university. So when I got the idea to write a book it took me by total surprise but I didn’t have much time to dwell on it or come up with all sorts of reasons why I shouldn’t write it, for I had an all powerful motivation. I wanted to speak to and for the millions of childhood sexual abuse victims.
I couldn’t see any other way to achieve
my goal but to write. I felt a book was the ideal medium to showcase what
happens to a person that experienced childhood sexual abuse as she (using
myself as an example) makes her way in life. I depict what goes on in her head
and body, her relationships, how she sees the world and how the world sees her.
I also illustrate how she heals from the trauma, that it isn’t a life sentence
as many are led to believe.
Why should anyone read this book?
When cases like the Jimmy Saville or
Josef Fritzl come out there is a major uproar, we are mortified! We wonder how
it is possible that it could have gone on for so long, why didn’t anyone speak
out. Our outrage disappears as the media moves on to the next big story. We
continue to think it only happens to other people and it is uncommon. The WHO (World Health Organisation) estimated
hundreds of millions of children were sexually abused in 2002 alone (this I
believe is an under estimate as most victims of sexual abuse don’t talk about
it or when they do it is to close friends and family). The fact is it happens
to us all, directly or indirectly, we know people at school, work and within
our social network that are victims of childhood sexual abuse. When I started speaking about
my experience of childhood sexual abuse with friends so many of them told me of
their own or of their mothers’ or/and friends’ experience. Thus I believe it is
our duty to understand this pandemic social malady, and question it, if we are
to eradicate it. My book I Woke Up In China aims to provide an insight
on the impact of childhood sexual abuse on the victim and bystanders.
What can readers expect from this book?
I know many people are put off reading
books about childhood sexual abuse because they think it will be gloomy. Lets
face it, it is a horrifying topic, there is no denying it. However, I Woke
Up In China is about living a normal life in spite of trauma and over
coming it. As life is about joy, love, challenges, failure, success, adventures
and pain, these are all present in the book; by nature I have a cheerful and
optimistic disposition so it is heavy on both.
Book
Synopsis
For Kehinde Komolafe, success in her
career and the accumulation of material objects can’t cover up the fact she
feels lost and adrift. No matter how hard she tries, no matter how full she
fills her life’s cup, she always feels as if something’s missing. A trip to
China for business gives her the most unexpected idea: Kehinde is going to move
to Beijing.
What at first seems like a grand adventure turns
out to be exactly that—only not solely of the globetrotting variety Kehinde
expected. In a different land and different culture, Kehinde must finally look
deep inside herself and find the truth hidden there, the reason she has been
unhappy all of these years despite all she has accomplished. Sexually
abused as a child, it is her journey halfway across the world that gives her
the courage to stand up, face it, and heal.
Inspired by the World Health Organization’s findings
that estimate one hundred and fifty million girls and seventy-three million
boys under the age of eighteen experienced sexual violence of varying degrees
in the year 2002 alone, Kehinde selflessly shares her story with you. Her thoughts
and feelings are a beacon to fellow victims, a reminder that not only can life
go on, and that what they experienced is in their past but that their future is
as bright as they care to make it.
Author’s Bio
Kehinde Komolafe considers herself to be a woman of many places.
Born in Nigeria, she has spent most of her life living in the UK, though she
acquired a Spanish “self” from living in Spain for three years and truly became
an adult and gained “full consciousness” living in China. On
her quest to have very tough conversations with herself she took up writing a
journal. But after discovering that there were literally hundreds of millions of
people all over the world who, like her, experienced childhood sexual abuse,
she was compelled to go beyond journaling in order to speak to and for
these millions of victims. Kehinde’s day job is running a communication skills consultancy in
China. IWokeUpInChina is her first book.
Book available both in paperback and Kindle on all Amazon sites: www.amazon.co.uk
Website: www.jinsvision.comFacebook: https://www.
Book available both in paperback and Kindle on all Amazon sites: www.amazon.co.uk
Website: www.jinsvision.comFacebook: https://www.
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