Child abuse higher among boys - new report

Child abuse is more prevalent in boys than girls, a new study has revealed.
The report by the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect and Save Our Families Africa(SOFA) , by a child rights advocacy group, conducted in Busoga and Kampala, wakiso districts showed that boys are more vulnerable (81.2 per cent) than girls (68.3 per cent).

“It was revealed that boys are more vulnerable to physical abuse because they are regarded as more stubborn. Also, boys are viewed as threats to mostly step mothers that fear that they are the heirs to the property,” said Save Our Families Africa(SOFA) and Mr Marlon Agaba, the senior programme officer Information and Policy Advocacy at ANPPCAN.

With the exception of sexual abuse which the study observed as under reported, the research also discovered that girls are safer from abuse because of a culture that encourages them to be groomed in a self-protective manner.

“Girls remained more vulnerable to sexual abuse at 90percent. In addition, the vulnerability increased with increase in age of the girls. Also absurd, was that 90 per cent of the disabled and 80per cent orphaned children reported to ever being abused. SOFA also noticed that the main perpetuators of child abuse are biological parents at 41 per cent. These were followed by neighbours at 19 per cent; siblings at 14 per cent step parents at 11per cent and teachers at 9.3 per cent.

“This confirms that most child abuse cases are committed at home,” Mr Kasolo Alton Peter of SOFA said.
The survey also highlighted that abuse is not reported until it becomes extreme. “We encourage everyone to take the responsibility of reporting abuse before it becomes too late.

Man deserts woman for bearing him five pairs of twins

Man deserts woman for bearing him five pairs of twins

Any woman will go to extra lengths to bear at least a child; others even sneak into hospitals and steal babies. But for Sumayiya Nakanwagi her joy has turned into a nightmare after her husband deserted her for bearing a record five sets of twins, saying it was a bad omen.


In 2002 I met my husband, Jamir Batte while I was doing business, buying matooke from Mbarara and selling it in Kampala, Busega and Nateete.

A short while after we met business was not going well for him so I had to take care of us. I bought him a bodaboda so he could earn some money.

In 2003 we agreed to have our first child and the following year I gave birth to twins; Wasswa and Nakato.

We were so excited and our love grew stronger by the day. In 2007 I gave birth again - to a set of twins, Wasswa and Kato.

In 2010 I again gave birth to another set; Wasswa and Nakato. However Nakato left us just as she was making two years.

In 2012 I gave birth to another set of twins; Wasswa and Kato, and so did I in 2014 when I bore Babirye and Kato, though the latter died during labour.

In 2012 though, when I was heavy with the fourth set of twins we started having misunderstandings with my husband who would take whatever little money I earned.

Sumayiya with the man who deserted her after the couple was blessed with five sets of twins

One time my mother fell ill so I travelled to Mbarara and sent a lorry of matooke to my husband to sell so I could get money to treat her.

However that was the last I heard of him. After selling the matooke, he packed all his belongings, sold all the plots of land I had and lied to me that thugs had broken into the home and taken everything.

However neighbours tipped me that he had packed everything and left.

When I demanded from him what he had taken he reacted like a wounded animal. He said the twins were a bad omen and therefore he could no longer stay with me. And that was the last I heard of him; he left me, broken, broke, and later homeless.

Strangely his relatives were in total support of him saying I was a cursed woman who only gave birth to twins, something they had never witnessed in their clan.

I would not have cared about him leaving, but the man stole everything I had; he left me penniless and with no capital to run business.

Strange illness...and the sixth set of twins

Following his departure I developed a strange illness and was told I had to see a traditional healer. I met a man, Charles Ssebusolo, who treated me. He told me that my husband had left me two months pregnant but the pregnancy would not develop because I had been bewitched.

He told me I had to sleep with a man if the pregnancy was to progess, and that he was the only one who would do it. In my desperate state, panic and confusion, I yielded and slept with him.

He however cautioned me that the pregnancy was for my husband and not his. Nine months after he 'treated' me I gave birth to another set of twins, Babirye and Kato. However Kato later died.

Things turned for the worse when Ssebusolo's elder children turned against me and hounded me out of the house he had given me to stay in, so I went back to a life of misery.

Family history

My maternal grandmother, Bitaminsi, also gave birth to a set of four twins. My mother, Babirye Nangoma, is also a twin though she never bore twins. I could have inherited my grandmother's genes therefore I have no regrets about it.

I tell my children apart my coding them for example Wasswa Mukulu, Wasswa Mutono, Wasswa Bbiri, Nakato Mukulu, and Kato Mukulu.

Challenges

Because I am now unemployed I survive by well-wishers who buy me food. I have always had issues with neighbours wherever I have rented. Landlords always complain that we fill up their latrines and always evict me from their premises. Currently I and my children use the public toilets in Wakaliga market.

The only property to my name now is an unfinished house and since I have no income I cannot do much about it. My elder children are in primary three but I have failed to send them back to school because of fees.

I order to protect my children I dress them in similar clothes for easy identification. A woman once tried to steal three of them but she was easily caught because residents recognised their 'uniform'.

Runaway husband tormenting me

Recently there have been instances where people have called using anonymous numbers, claiming they have been sent to bring money for upkeep.

I once went to meet one such person after he called but when I got to the meeting point there was no one and the phone had been switched off.

I suspect my husband is the one behind all this. He once tried to kill me by torching the house after stealing from me. I put all that behind me and moved on; all I want is to raise my children. I do not understand what he wants from me.