Father of my children plotted to sacrifice me

“He slapped and kicked me hard. Then, he called me an evil spirit because I had foiled his plans,” Elizabeth Kwagala narrates. “He then instructed me to leave the house with our children and never return.”

The 26-year-old with dyed hair and a white skin, her pale blue eyes keep darting in a bid to gain focus. Kwagala has albinism, a condition which affects the production of melanin, the pigment that colours skin, hair and eyes.

Speaking in a calm and collected tone while wiping tears, Kwagala recalls how her ex-lover hatched up a plan to sell her off to men interested in killing her. She believes that they wanted to sacrifice her as some communities believe that body parts of albinos bring good luck and wealth.

Background
The story dates back to 2010 when Kwagala met and fell in love with Hassan Sebbi, a businessman. They met at the Old Taxi Park downtown, Kampala, where she plied her trade as a waitress for her foster mother.

Kwagala’s biological parents dumped her on the streets when she was only two months old. An old woman whom she refers to as Jajja (grandmother) picked her from the streets of Butaleja District and raised her. Unfortunately, Jajja passed on when Kwagala was in Primary Four. Her daughter then took up the responsibility of looking after Kwagala until when she completed her Senior Four at Luzinga Senior Secondary School in Kamuli District.

This was short-lived because Jajja’s daughter relocated to the US but could not take Kwagala along because of limited finances. The vacist had to fend for herself.

“I was shattered. Jajja and her daughter were my only family. They had raised me with a lot of love and care,” she says. “After bidding farewell to her, I walked to the Old Taxi Park looking for a job. I went to several people who all declined except one woman who owned a small make-shift restaurant. She not only employed me as a waitress but also gave me accommodation at her home. She became my new foster mother.”

How she met the father of her children
One day, while on duty Kwagala met Sebbi.
“I was looking for customers interested in having lunch when I bumped into Hassan Sebbi. He told me that he was hungry and asked that I take him to the restaurant. We went. I served him posho and beans,” she says. The tall, light-skinned man henceforth became a regular client, something which made Kwagala suspicious. He would often leave money behind for her to spend on personal requirements. After about two months of the frequent visits, Kwagala’s foster mother brought it to her attention that Sebbi was interested in her and that she should move into his house in Bweyogerere, a suburb in the outskirts of Kampala.

“At first, I took it for a joke. Later, he came to the restaurant and poured out his heart saying he loved and cared about me. I knew he was serious. He said, “Elizabeth, I want you to become my wife. I’m not a player like young boys out there who keep chasing after different girls. I will be a good husband and father to our children,” she says.
A few days later, her heart yielded and she packed her belongings. She moved in with Sebbi. One month later, she conceived and gave birth in December, 2010 to their now five-year-old daughter.

“He was very affectionate towards me and our child. He took good care of us,” Kwagala recounts.
In January, 2014, the couple welcomed a son. Sebbi continued to provide for his family to the extent that he bought his wife a car to ease her movements.

Things fall apart
In July, 2014, Kwagala began smelling a rat when the father of her then two children began bringing strange looking men to the house.

“The tall, huge and dark skinned men would come in different clusters and speak to my husband a language I did not understand,” she says. “And what puzzled mewas the way my husband introduced me to them. He would often say, “Meet Elizabeth, the woman I live with.” He would never introduce her as the mother of his children.

On one unsuspecting Thursday afternoon when the couple was home, two male visitors arrived in tinted cars.
Kwagala ushered the guests into the living room. She then called her husband from the bedroom to keep them entertained while she fixed them something to eat. Meanwhile, Kwagala could hear the ongoing conversation from the living room as the three men projected their voices from time to time.

“That was how I heard them conspiring to kill me. I remember one of the two men telling Sebbi, “Now if we kill her, won’t her relatives look for her?” Sebbi responded, “She has no one else in this world apart from me,” Kwagala recalls.

Some of the other statements she also recalls the men making include, “Sebbi, how much should we pay you?, Where should we kill her from?, How much do you think she is worth?...”

Upon hearing these proclamations, Kwagala’s body froze with fear. However, having had prior knowledge of how albinos are often targeted for sacrifice, she put two and two together. Instantly, she picked her two children who were sleeping on the kitchen floor and quietly sneaked towards the gate. Her plans of escaping were shattered when she found the gate locked with three padlocks.

“I remember falling down to my knees with the children and sobbing out of fear of being heard. I knew that I was finished,” she says.

After about five minutes, Kwagala tiptoed back to house and looked for a place to hide. She tried the bedroom where she saw two pangas and a huge travel bag on the bed. This made her more frightened and she went to hide in the kitchen store (it had a door and lock) with her two children.

“I do not remember for how many hours I was in there. I only remember it getting late and Sebbi and the three men started looking for me everywhere in the house. They shouted out my name, convincing me to come out but I refused,” she says.

Man gets a beating
When they failed to find her, the two men turned to Sebbi and started beating and accusing him of foiling their plans of getting rich. They eventually left the house, leaving Sebbi moaning in pain. Kwagala later came out of hiding with the mentality that she could at least deal with only him.

“He looked scared when he saw me. He asked me where I had gone and when I replied that I had hidden in the store after hearing their plans, he refuted it saying it was impossible since they had searched the place,” she says, adding, “he slapped and kicked me hard before calling me an evil spirit. He then demanded that I leave his house immediately with the children after claiming that they were not his.”

She tried objecting but after realising how serious and bitter Sebbi was, Kwagala obliged. Little did he know that she was also three weeks pregnant.

“I only carried my children and Shs5,000 in my hand. I went to the Old Taxi Park looking for my foster mother, unfortunately I was informed she had passed away. I then started moving aimlessly.”

Kwagala ended up at Kibuli Mosque. She found there a Turkish man who was kind enough to give her Shs300,000 to buy food and get a house to rent. She rented a house in Kyebando, a Kampala suburb. A few days later, he gave her an addition of Shs1.5m which she used to buy a merchandise container to establish a boutique business in Wandegeya, a Kampala suburb. This was November last year.

Unfortunately, the container was confiscated by KCCA in a move that was intended to do away with stalls in Kampala. Kwagala went back to scratch since her means of survival had been cut. The Turkish man who had twice helped her had also left the country. She resorted to begging and, looking for a job in vain.
“Employers seemed afraid of giving me a job claiming that albinos were outcasts who should not mingle with others,” she says.

Despite this, there were always Good Samaritans coming to Kwagala’s rescue such as Connie Nalugwa, a presenter at Radio Simba who helped solicit money for her to deliver her third child, a girl who was born in April.
Kwagala, who is now lives in Kireka, a Kampala suburb, says life is now a gamble as the father of her children relocated to a place she does not know and his known phone numbers are off. What’s even worse is that whenever she goes to his relatives and friends for help, they chase her away. With no work or anyone else to turn to, Kwagala is just alone. Her only treasure in this world is her three children.

Reporting to authorities
John Mugerwa, the officer-in-charge of the Child Protection Unit at Kira Police Station, says, “Kwagala visited the police station after being referred by Centre for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP). When we were starting to follow up the case, she told us that she was receiving help from CEDOVIP and indeed it was what one of the staff in the organisation told us. So, we let them help her.”

The case was registered under file number: 47/01/05/2015 for the offence of child neglect.
CEDOVIP declined to comment on the issue as the organisation does not disclose cases of the survivors of domestic violence.

*To help Elizabeth Kwagala: You can reach her on: 0755840237.*

The statistics
The international Federation for the Red Cross and Crescent Societies, the world’s largest humanitarian network, states that atleast 10,000 albinos in East Africa have been displaced or have gone into hiding. Even in the very rare cases when they do manage to survive and actually make something of themselves, it’s hard to live knowing that people want to make cures from their organs. It is even worse for albino women. They often get assaulted in the belief that intercourse with them can cure diseases, including HIV/Aids. Some children have been sold by their parents to butchers while others have been betrayed by brothers, sisters or spouses.

According to a 2006 Bio Med Central (BMC) Public Health report, Tanzania currently has the highest rate of killing anywhere in Eastern Africa with one in 1,400 affected. This compares with one in 20,000 in Western countries. A set of albino parts including all limbs, genitals, ears, tongue and nose can sell for $75,000 (about Shs250 million).The Salif Keita Global Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by Salif Keita, a Malian musician and singer who has albinism brings media attention to the global plight of people with albinism.

Advice to fellow albinos...
Live your life normally. Study, work, get married and have your children. Do not isolate yourself. Mingle with others.
In case someone is threatening your life, hiding is not the solution. Report to any trusted authorities such as the police and local council leaders. But most important, always surround yourself with people so that you’re not an easy target to the killers.

Learn to stand up for yourself. Whether it is at school, home or community. Do not accept to be bullied.
Judah Ssebyanzi, Executive Director of Uganda Albinos Association