The Monster is real: GBV has no respect of persons…

Do something to STOP it

"…..I was dosing seated on a bed breast-feeding one of the twins, when i felt a sharp slap on the head, opened my eyes and it was my husband , I thought he was slapping me because he always beats me whenever he is drank, But then I noticed blood was oozing from my head that is when I realized that he was cutting me with a Panga, he cut my right ear , cut the twin I was carrying in my right hand from head through to her stomach and then my hand, he moved on to the other twin and did the same, He went a ahead and hacked to death the four year old girl who was sleeping with me in the same bedroom and then he run away………."
Florence Nabaterega from Mityana in Uganda, narrates the ghastly incidences of the night her husband cut off her hands , ear and killed three of their children over a bar challenge against his ability to father the twins she had just had a few months back
The mother of nine now lives with one ear, half hands without palms, six children, helpless. She literally survives on the mercy of her children who baby seat her, right from feeding , dressing and cleaning her up…….
The Father of her children, her husband, Ssalongo (father of the twins) turned into a murder monster over what one would call idle bar challenge. Her husband had been told a few days back during his routine bar drinks that he was not man enough to father twins; he planned for days to commit the gruesome evil…
But it was not the first time her husband was being violent only that this time it escalated to murder…. She had accepted the abuse for over twenty years , may be had resigned saying it is the worst he would go, shouting insults and slapping her every time he would come back home drunk…..
May be if someone had talked to her husband about the dangers of domestic violence, he could have talked to someone else about the manhood challenge before contemplating murder, and by chance he would have had second thoughts and reconsider his actions. May be if Florence knew her rights, she would have stood up against gender based domestic violence before escalating to murder instead of getting to terms with routine battering.
For over twenty years of routine violence, someone in that community must have noticed the abuse, the religious leaders, elders, local authorities and several other people-But may be they just ignored, after all it was not the first time and maybe she was not the only one battered…..
The Gender based violence against women and girls start with the obvious easily ignorable acts such as verbal insults, a slap and neglect, slowly it grows into a monster you never expected… you don’t have to wait for the worst ... sometimes you may end up with no chance to narrate your ordeal..Florence at least survived with no hands but her three children never made it… Can you imagine the trauma the other six children are living with…..How about the first night after their three siblings were hacked to death by their own father how they went through that night…. You and Me can do something to prevent the escalation of this vice
Florence is just one of the so many victims of gender based violence because her case got media publicity otherwise several victims are hurting in silence the pangs of violence. Statistics from the Uganda Bureau of Statistcs indicate a 56% of women between the age of 15-49 have at least experienced some sort of gender based violence since the age of 15 in Uganda.
I know The constitution of the republic of Uganda has operational provisions against Gender based violence such as; The Domestic Violence Act 2010 along with the regulations 2011.The Penal Code Act Cap 59 The Children Act Cap 59, among several other Laws, but who knows about these laws, for hat benefit are they to society when no one is interpreting them to the communities….
The government has also put in place policies and Frameworks to fight and prevent gender based Violence, these include the Uganda Gender Policy 2007.The National Referral Pathway for prevention and response to gender based violence cases in uganda2013, plus several other policies and frameworks- this all sounds good but not helping until these policies and frameworks get out the boardrooms and hotel conference halls to the world suffering in ignorance
These good legal frameworks against the vice seem to remain in shelves, since several victims and perpetrators know little or nothing about them. The lack of access to information and low political will to enforce the laws is one area to blame for the continued and escalating levels of domestic violence
Credit:NTV-Uganda picture,

STIGMA KILLED MORE PEOPLE THAN HIV/AIDS

A tribute to my big brother-Moses Lugolole

When people talk about HIV/AIDS after 2010, it is sounds like it is just some kind of sickness where one just has to take a test, be sure of the status and then start taking medication consistently and that is all- you live a positive life-
But the HIV/AIDS I know is not the one of knowing your status and taking medication to live a positive life there after-
It is the HIV/AIDS that meant one person being assumed or proved to be Positive meant the entire family, neighbors friends clan...name it carrying an equal burden of the Cross of the disease through STIGMA...
My story with that painful HIV/AIDS AND STIGMA. ....
When I was in primary seven 13 years of age it was really a tough time
My big brother RIP Moses who was around 23 years of age then..was linked to HIV/AIDS through a wild village rumor- for his relationship with a young widow whose husband had been rumored to have died of AIDS
I suffered a lot of pain for the rumor but I never shared my pain with any one
I hurt at the thought of mother RIP having a child infected with HIV/AIDS and how she takes sleepless nights hurting and not forgetting how she stands the so many scornful statements from the village people- Moses was the brightest,handsome, hard-working and respected boy of his time- the admiration of the village-I lived with that pain day and night
I had the deep pain of my other brothers and sisters imagining their big brother would die thin and painful- how they go through the village scorn- it was too much to imagine- but I never talked to any one about it-
I suffered the desparacy I used to imagine my father lived with for having a son, his biggest boy "infected" that was the common verb for such people at that time
NOW THE MOTHER OF OF MOTHER OF PAIN IS HERE
The thought of My big brother Moses knowing that he is dying any time, I would hurt at how he manages his days of direct and stealthy scorn from the village people
I hurt at the imagination that he would never truly sleep well but dreaming about his Grave
I hurt at the imagination that he was waiting for the time he would slowly go thin and lifeless because that was HIV/AIDS at that time-it was a lot of silent pain I lived with
The Village people didn't care about any those feelings-
The Parents and young girls would openly have alerts against Moses lest they would bump into him and somehow may be Rape them!! At the village Water-Well, people would openly scorn at me or do it in loud whispers
Moses had a son....when he put on weight- one of our neighbors told me " the way your baby is growing fat is the way kids with HIV/AIDS get fat"- it was such a sharp pain i felt-
the baby boy was looked at with scorn by the villagers- one time he fell sick of malaria and one woman told me in the face " you are wasting time, the boy is going to die in whichever way" Did some people even care that i was just a child to be told such!- the boy was I think one year by then'- He is still with us and negative
Now the Mother of Pain came from my science teacher at school...
We had a skit on HIV/AIDS that time in schools it was blended with late
Philly LUTAYA 's song on HIV/AIDS fighting stigma-
And i was playing the part of the Main wife who got AIDS after her husband went to the city and got into relationship with a city woman-that time looking so civilised was enough to be qualified to be candidate for the killer disease.
After the days rehearsal_we went back to class and my teacher told me Openely before other pupils "Nankwanga you're already a candidate of HIV/AIDS since your big brother is dying of AIDS any time"- I felt a sharp pain in my already hurting heart- I wished I wasn't born in my family to take such pain- every time I saw children laughing and playing- I envied them for I magined they didn't have the pain I had - i couldn't share the pain i was going through with My family because I knew they were already hurting
My brother didn't die until after 7 years- when he resigned to village scorn and turned alcoholic-
I always imagine Moses wasn't HIV/AIDS Positive but the village diagnosed him stigmatized him and killed him-
I didn't hear of anyone at home saying he was tested and diagnosed positive -my mother was a medic and she used to treat him with first line Malaria treatment and he would respond immediately
STIGMA KILLED PEOPLE MORE THAN HIV/AIDS its self

RIP my big Brother Moses Lugolole

REFUGE INFLUX BREAKING UGANDA

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

The United Nations High Commission for Refuges UNHCR says South Sudan’s refugee crisis is now the world’s fastest growing putting Uganda and region in critical need of help

Eight months after fresh violence erupted in South Sudan, a famine produced by the vicious combination of fighting and drought is now driving the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis.

Total displacement from South Sudan into the surrounding region is now 1.6 million people. The rate of new displacement is alarming, representing an impossible burden on a region that is significantly poorer and which is fast running short of resources to cope.

Refugees are fleeing into Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Central African Republic with almost half crossing into Uganda at a rate of 2,000 new arrivals daily. The influx peaked in February at more than 6,000 in a single day, In March, at more than 5,000 with the current daily average of over 2,800 arrivals.

The facilities in northern Uganda set up to deal with the newly arriving refugees from South Sudan are becoming overwhelmed with the recent rains making matters worse.

Today’s situation in Uganda is proving to be the first and major test of commitments made at last September’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York, including a key commitment to apply a game-changing approach to refugee situations worldwide - known as the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF).

Uganda is a frontline state for this new approach. Along with 5 other countries it has agreed to champion the CRRF by taking actions to integrate humanitarian efforts with developmental ones. These include providing land to refugees, including refugees in national development plans, and allowing them to access job markets.

These efforts are at grave risk of failing unless there is urgent and large-scale additional support. At present funding for South Sudanese refugees in the region is at just 8 per cent out of the required US$781.8 million. UNHCR’s own funding appeal for Uganda is short by more than a quarter of a billion dollars (US$267 million).