Helping to repair indelible scars of acid violence

Jalia Ssekamatte is dedicated to helping acid victims get treatment and restore livelihoods. Photo by Godfrey Lugaaju

What you need to know:

  • Compassionate. When her friend fell victim to an acid attack, Jalia Ssekamatte Mpagi awakened to the reality of life after acid violence. Now she devotes most of her waking hours to ensuring that acid survivors get the treatment and support they need.

At the office reception is a display of baskets and bags on the floor and shelves. At about 10am on a Friday, one woman has already come in with craft items she has made. “More of us will be coming in today,” she assures me.
As I marvel at the beautifully woven baskets, a tall medium sized woman who appears to be in her mid-40s walks down the stairs towards me. I doubt she is the person I am supposed to meet. The veil on her head does not add up with the name I have been given. I ask just to be sure, “Are you Justine?”

Nodding in my direction with a smile, she responds, “Justine Mpagi is my paper (maiden) name. I had it before I got married and did not want to change but now I am a Hajjat who must veil.”
Jalia Justine Ssekamatte Mpagi lets me into her office and on her desk is a pile of files where she keeps record of the acid victims she works with, sticky notes on when to visit who in hospital and home, and a small banner with the slogan ‘Unveiling the scars’.

Her work with acid victims
In 2011, Ssekamate’s friend Hanifah Nakiryowa suffered acid burns. Her eyes, nose and face became distorted. Seeing her friend suffer physical and emotional pain inspired the 46-year-old Ssekamatte to become an activist.

“She was emotionally and physically injured and I felt the desire to help her out of the distressing situation. I tried to fundraise by posting her pictures on Facebook and people responded. I then asked that we start an organisation to help the acid victims because she is a good project manager,” she says.
For the past five years, Ssekamatte has devoted her time and energies to motivating acid burn victims to unveil their scars; to work and earn their own money instead of becoming beggars.

Five months ago, Ssekamatte adopted baby Jovan born to the late Sumaiya Namwanje, an acid victim who was burnt during pregnancy and died shortly after delivery. Born at seven months, weighing only 900 grammes, gasping for breath, unable to feed and without a chance to breastfeed, Jovan was not expected to survive.

His mother all bundled up and burning in the invisible flames of her acid attack was only able to bring the child into the world before she died a month later. The child was delicate and no one was willing to take him because Namwanje’s family was in the village and very poor.

“I was the only person left to take on the responsibility and as part of our mission; we want to give the baby the best any child can get from a family. I am happy to share the story of a once lifeless premature to a bouncing healthy boy he is,” she tells proudly.

Starting humanitarian work
Although Ssekamatte wanted to become a lawyer initially, her desire to help others took over in 1997 when she graduated from Makerere University as a social worker; her second career choice.
Following graduation, she volunteered as a community mobiliser at Uganda Red Cross. She then got a job with Oxfam to work in Gulu empowering single mothers abandoned during the war against Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army.

“There were several single mothers whose husbands had been abducted by the rebels so it was a pleasure working with them and teaching them basic skills such as making crafts and liquid soap from which they earned to sustain their children.”
It was a one -year contract during a time when there was insecurity in the area, so she left the place but continued doing her research.

Another organisation contracted Ssekamatte to do research in government and private primary schools on the rights of children, their nutrition, early pregnancies and school dropouts.
In 2006, she got a job as the regional project coordinator for TB and HIV response in eastern region helping people living with HIV and got more funding from the American Embassy. She resigned in 2011 and continued to do consultancy work.

Following the incident in which her friend Hanifah Nakiryowa was injured with acid, Ssekamatte registered Centre for Rehabilitation of Acid Burns Violence (CERESAV), as a non-governmental organisation with her friend who was able to get sponsorship through fundraising on social media.

“It required me to get a recommendation from the area chairperson, the district security officer and a fee of Shs50,000 to register the organisation. Hanifah, being a victim, recruited members at the hospital while she was on treatment so it was easy to win the victims’ trust in the organisation, which attracted about 47 members then,” she explains.

Helping the survivors
The organisation now has a total of 67 acid victims both men and women. Most of the victims come from eastern Uganda according to Ssekamatte but “we have not established the cause of this,” she says. CERESAV raises funds for acid attack victims on their Facebook page.

“Whenever I get a call on the toll free line, I use my car to transport the victim to hospital. We also visit new victims to support them emotionally and provide them with whatever little we have,” she says.
The survivors are also trained in craft making where they make bags and baskets which are sold in the US. “Some of them are not interested in making crafts but maybe want to start a business. These we emancipate by giving them micro-loans which they pay back with no interest. We then integrate them into society and continue monitoring their progress,” explains Ssekamatte.

Seeking redress
According to her, the process of seeking justice in Uganda is long, tedious and weak so the victims get fed up. Since the acid victims’ organisation has no lawyer, they end up using the government lawyers who are usually overwhelmed with work.
She says, “Most of the acid cases are gender based and target the face. The victims do not get the justice they deserve because they fear perpetrators may end their lives or they get tired of following the bureaucratic process in the judicial system. Very few perpetrators are caught.”

The acid victims lose some body parts especially the eyes and deserve to be categorised as disabled and to this effect, Ssekamatte says, “We took a petition to the Ministry of Gender for the acid victims to be categorised under the disabled people because they currently do not belong anywhere.”

The effort has not yielded any results so far but the organisation has also presented a petition to parliament to pass the acid attack violence bill which they believe will help to punish and deter the perpetrators and reduce the number of cases. “There should be a restriction on who buys and sells acid and a way for perpetrators to pay for what they have done,” she says.

Background

Born to the late Micheal and Yoanina Namugenyi, Ssekamatte is the last born of seven children.
She went to Namugongo Primary School, Nabisunsa Girls’ school and got a government bursary at Makerere University where she attained a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Social Administration. She then did her master’s in Social Sector Planning and Management at Makerere University.

In 1998, she got married to Mohammed Ssekamatte, a Kampala businessman with whom she has four children.
In 1999, Ssekamatte’s husband took her on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, following which, she became a hajjat.
When she is not helping the acid victims, Ssekamatte does consultancy work in research on child rights protection and some small scale farming at her home.