Jestina Mukoko: At Times I Was Emotional When I Wrote My BookHuman rights activist, Jestina Mukoko, says she decided to write a book about her harrowing experience in the hands of Zimbabwean state security agents in order to expose the traumatic encounter. Mukoko, who was abducted and tortured by members of the country’s feared spy network, the Central Intelligence Organization, for exposing human rights violations in the 2008 general elections, feels relieved after writing the book. The human rights activist says at times she was emotional when she wrote the book, The Abduction and Trial of Jestina Mukoko: The Fight for Human Rights in Zimbabwe. “I needed to do that because that was a traumatic experience and I just needed to offload all that bad vibe that went with that experience and I thought by putting all that in a book it would actually leave my story for the future. No one will tell my story on my behalf. I have told my own story.” Mukoko, who was expected to leave the USA after visiting various universities, held several public meetings with college students. “I had come to speak to students in four colleges. I went to Beloit and University of Wisconsin in the Mid-West. That was my first time to be in the Mid-West. I also went to Colby in Maine. I stayed at Colby as an Oak fellow in 2010. That’s where I got an opportunity for respite after my ordeal in 2008. “I was back at Colby because the seed to write the book was actually sworn at Colby and I had gone back to say that seed had germinated and I wanted to share that joy with them.” Mukoko was abducted in December 2008, and incarcerated until March 2009 when she was finally released on bail. In 2010, she received the U.S. Secretary of State Woman of Courage Award.