{UAH} Ugandan woman's agony as granddaughter 'sold' to Americans | News24

Kampala - The first time Jaja, a Ugandan woman, saw her one-year-old granddaughter, she was in the arms of an American man who she was told had "bought" the child.

The toddler was sitting with the man and his wife, eating biscuits and drinking juice, as they sought legal guardianship over her in Uganda's High Court.

"I was in great pain," the girl's 47-year-old grandmother said. "I was sure, since they had bought the child, there was no way we would get her back."

Although informal adoption is common across Africa, less educated people sometimes use the term "bought" when they see white foreigners with African children, because of the assumption that their wealth has helped them to adopt the child.

It can take years to formally adopt a child in poor countries with cumbersome, overburdened legal systems.

In Uganda, foreigners can secure legal guardianship in a matter of weeks, sometimes before the child's birth parents realise what has happened.

Uganda's parliament is poised to debate tighter legislation that would ban legal guardianships in the East African country where families are regularly bribed, tricked or coerced into allowing their children to be adopted overseas.

http://m.news24.com/news24/Africa/News/Ugandan-womans-agony-as-granddaughter-sold-to-Americans-20150529

Brian M. Kwesiga

President and CEO,

Ugandan North American Association - UNAA

972.415.6372 | www.unaa.org | "United We Stand"