{UAH} THE ACHOLI VIOLENCE, AND THIS IS JUST A SUMARY OF A STUDY THAT I DO NOT EVEN WISH TO POST DUE TO ITS BEING TOO GRAFFIC FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION

 

Summary

 

Edna, a 29-year old woman who fled her rural village for Lira town in 2004, recounted to Human Rights Watch[1]:

 

There were 12 people in the house on the day it was burned down [by the Lord’s Resistance Army]. Those of us closer to the door survived. I lay on my stomach and protected my heart. My head got burned, and I lost my sight. I don’t hear well. I have lost my senses and sometimes don’t understand what people are saying. Soldiers found Edna and she was hospitalized for six months. She then moved to a camp in Lira district. She filled out the forms to register as a person with a disability, but did not receive any special assistance. She supports her family by begging.

 

Edna’s two daughters have different fathers. The father of her first child, now six years old, was killed by the Lord’s Resistance Army. The second child’s father, ashamed of being associated with a blind woman, would “just come at night, have sex, and leave in the morning.” After she became pregnant, he abandoned her. Edna went to police to file a complaint of child neglect, but since she did not know the man’s whereabouts, the police said they could do nothing.

 

When she went to a clinic for prenatal care for her second child, Edna learned that she was HIV-positive. Her six-year-old daughter now regularly leads her to the hospital to collect her antiretroviral drugs. Angela is a 20-year-old woman who was born with a physical disability that leaves her unable to walk. During the war, she had to be carried to a camp for internally displaced people because she could not run. She still lives in that camp in Amuru district.

 

“My husband beat me seriously. He beat me intentionally many times, when he came home drunk. He beat me because of my disability. He said to others that I was useless, could not make love or cook.” Angela went to a local government official who advised her to stay with her husband. Four months passed and she was repeatedly beaten. Finally, she left.

 

In the week prior to our interview, Angela was raped three times when a man broke into her house, where the door lock was broken. The man came at night, so she was unable to recognize him. Until our interview, she had not told anyone, including her mother, about the incidents. Angela feared future attacks.[2] She said, “I was thinking of bringing a panga [machete] to bed with me in case he comes again. I fear that if I report, then I will need to know my HIV status. I want to check my HIV status at a health center but I do not have transport to town. The hospital is far and my [hand-crank] bicycle is broken. Others in the community will say that it’s my fault and that I run around with men.”

 

***

 

Erica, a deaf woman who fled from her rural village to Lira town, could not communicate with her nurses effectively while trying to give birth. She was not aware that she was having twins and stopped pushing after the birth of the first child. “[The nurse] was very rude to me, and she didn’t know sign language. She couldn’t even tell me to push. She wasn’t guiding me. One of my children died.”  I fear that if I report, then I will need to know my HIV status. I want to check my HIV status at a health center but I do not have transport to town. The hospital is far and my [hand-crank] bicycle is broken. Others in the community will say that it’s my fault and that I run around with men.”

 

***

 

Erica, a deaf woman who fled from her rural village to Lira town, could not communicate with her nurses effectively while trying to give birth. She was not aware that she was having twins and stopped pushing after the birth of the first child. “[The nurse] was very rude to me, and she didn’t know sign language. She couldn’t even tell me to push. She wasn’t guiding me. One of my children died.”

 

Erica too was a victim of domestic violence, beaten regularly by her husband, but he has since stopped. Her neighbors steal things from her, do not return money that they have borrowed, and call her derogatory names. “The neighbors beat my children. When they played with the children of neighbors, they were told to go away. They said, ‘You’ll spread deafness to my family.’”

 

 

 

And on and on it so goes !!!!!!

 

 

EM

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"

 

 

 

 

---

[1] The names of the women interviewed for the report have been changed to protect their security and respect confidentiality. They have been assigned a pseudonym consisting of a randomly chosen first name.

[2] With Angela’s permission, Human Rights Watch researchers contacted nongovernmental organizations working in the camp and on HIV in her district to request improved security, outreach, and voluntary counseling and testing.