Mary, thirteen-years-old, has been living with her two brothers, aged eleven and nine, in a two-roomed incomplete structure in Mbale where their parents abandoned them 7 years ago when they left for Kenya. The kids have been eking out a living from casual labour, washing clothes and digging for people–schooling has been put off for the time being. They have a grandfather, too old and ill even to support himself. The only Aunt they know, wants nothing to do with them. This is another case of children left to fend for themselves and insecure in their own community.
All this time Mary has been struggling to look after her brothers by herself. Their lives were disrupted when Mary was raped by the boda-boda rider whom she had hired. She had given him the bicycle their parents left and asked him to use it as boda-boda, as a business carrying people or ferrying goods. When she went to demand for the money he had made, he raped her. He is currently in prison serving a sentence. For Mary and her siblings, justice may have been done, but their problems have just begun.
The community have become extremely hostile to Mary whom they accuse of getting their relative arrested. The implication is children who suffer crime are treated as criminals. They have had to leave home as they know it and that is how they ended up at the Haven, MIFUMI’s Shelter in Tororo. Brought there by the Probation Officer. Apparently, their parents also left them two small pieces of land, but it is in the names of the Local Council Chairman, why it is not clear. Now, driven from home, they cannot even access the only other asset they have. But their biggest fear is being separated. All they have is each other, but no one wants to foster three children. One of the officials in the community has offered to foster Mary, but she does not want to be separated from her brothers.
This story is familiar in our society today and I suspect will not surprise many of you readers. At MIFUMI we see many such cases of abandoned children whose lives are turned upside down when their parents leave home. The girls are exposed to sexual abuse and face a hostile community when they seek help from the authorities. The need for assistance is at the forefront of their situation, justice is not even in their thoughts. How can we, as a community, begin to pay attention to the lives and needs of such children?
I welcome your comments.
The names in this story have been changed.