Friday, September 28, 2012

30 Miles: 30 Victims of Child Sacrifice: PART THREE: MILES 7, 8 and 9


Mile 7: Name: Sula, N.; Age: unknown; From: Small town outside of Kampala:  Date of Attack: 25th November 2002.   Sula lived with his family in a small town outside of Kampala, and studied at the local school. Sula regularly helped his mother, Mrs. Nahkenyo in the, and his neighbors considered him a friendly child.  On the November 25th, 2002, Sula was sent on an errand by his mother to go and collect milk from their cow. As she started to prepare lunch for the family later that day, Sula’s mother noticed that he had still not returned. Mrs. Nahkenyo became alarmed at his absence, as it was most unlike him not to return from a task.  She alerted her neighbors who organized a search party to look for him. The next day Sula’s mother went to the local police and the local radio broadcast an appeal for him but he still could not be found.  Four days later, Mrs. Nahkenyo was called to her son’s school. On arrival she witnessed a horrific sight. The head of her dead son had been left on the desk at school where he used to sit. Accompanying it was a note, which stated simply that the boy had not been pure enough to be used in the ritual sacrifice but that he had been killed anyway. Sula’s body has never been found and Mrs. Nahkenyo lives without closure, constantly tormented by dreams of her son’s body being returned to her so that she can bury it properly with her son’s head.  Mrs. Nahkenyo believes that the local police and government authorities did not prioritize the case or give it proper and serious attention. Although a local witchdoctor, Luamba, was arrested, he was released and the case has never been taken to the court. Mrs. Nahkenyo is convinced that Luamba is responsible for her son’s abduction and murder and is suspicious that the witchdoctor was freed because he bribed the police to drop the case. Mrs. Nahkenyo has reached the conclusion that she will never attain justice for the murder of her son and reluctantly will accept compensation from the government. She does not think the police will ever arrest anyone for the crime and that Luamba will never face a trial because of the pay-off to the police. 

Mile 8 and 9: Name: Nakalema Immaculate, N.; Age: 13 years old and Name: Nuru, N.; Age: 9 years old; From: Near Kyampisi; Date of Attack: 2nd January 2003
In a small village near to Kyampisi, 90 km North of Kampala, the tightly knit community was genuinely shocked when four children were sacrificed by a witchdoctor in a single day.  People who are familiar with the group say that everyone in the locality appears to be as one large family and that a tragedy for one person is a tragedy for the whole community.  On 2nd January 2003, grief engulfed this small community, as everyone in the village mourned the dead children. For Topi and George Nakibinge the experience was highly traumatic as one of their daughters was among the dead. The sight of one of their daughters was so terrible that they returned home in distress. Later they returned to the site of the dead children to recover their daughter only to discover that not one, but two of their daughters had been killed on the same day.  Immaculate was 13 years old and her sister, Nuru 9 years old when they became victims of Child Sacrifice. They are buried together behind their family home where Topi and George visit their graves. The witchdoctor allegedly guilty of these murders was arrested but as yet the case has not reached the courts and it remains to be seen whether he will be convicted and incarcerated for his crimes.

Important Note: These stories are excerpts of a full report on child sacrifice in Uganda by the Jubilee Campaign and Kyampisi Childcare Ministries which can be accessed here: http://www.jubileecampaign.co.uk/child-sacrifice-report  On this page you can also sign a petition to end child sacrifice.  If you live in the UK, please don’t hesitate to browse here for more information on how to engage and support the End Child Sacrifice Campaign.

For more information about Rose's Journey please see: http://narrowroadintl.org/Narrow_Road__Roses_Journey.html  

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