The economic hustle has left many parents with limited time to engage their children. Parents leave their homes in the dark and return in the dark. In some cases, children live on the ‘care’ of older siblings or relatives.
Because of the trust parents have in children’s elder siblings or relatives, it becomes difficult children to reveal the heinous assaults and abuses they are facing in the hands of siblings and relatives.
One particular example is, Adeline Mahoro, who alleges that she was sexually abused by her elder brother from the age of seven till she was almost 13. Maharo who is now in her mid-20s says she could not report because her father who was an account liked his only son very much and he often told people that he was going to be his heir. Mahoro has a lot of anger about her elder brother who was killed nearly eight years ago.
Despite her age, memories of being sexually abused by her elder for close to six years remain fresh in her mind. Born at Nyabikoni in Kabaale District, Mahoro alleges that her brother who was more than twice her age, started engaging her in sexual intercourse when she was only seven years old.
With all the pain she was enduring, she says she could never not reveal to her parents. This was because her father often described girls as ‘non’-children.
“My brother was in secondary school. He took advantage because my father and mother loved him so much. He was being regarded as the most holy child. Our father had made it clear that the boy was the only child,” Mahoro revealed at conference organized by Reach a Hand Uganda.
Mahoro adds that she kept hoping that one time her parents would notice the sexual abuses she was being subjected too, but this was in vain. The parents were always engaged with work. The father was an accountant at Uganda Revenue Authority while her mother was a businesswoman.
The parents hardly spent time with their children as they were always on the move. The father’s workstation was Kampala or Kasese. The mother too could go to Kampala or Mbarara to purchase merchandise.
She was fully handed over to brother’s misdeeds because the parents’ ever busy schedule. Even when she was being hurt, parents could not notice because they were hardly home. Whenever they were home, they could be pampering their only boy child since all their other children were girls.
“My brother started abusing me when I was 7 years old. He would make sure that everyone wasn’t at home. Sometimes he would assign other children chores that kept them busy and outside the house. He would then summon or drag me into his bedroom and sleep on,” Mahoro said.
Mahoro got relieved when he was over 12 years. This was after she crossed to Rwanda to leave with her aunt. She would refuse coming back for holidays though she never told her aunt why she hesitated returning home. She says the aunt was close to her father. This made her believe that her father would know through her aunt and would never allow her to return home.
“Whenever my brother would sleep on me, I would see white things coming from his private but I did not know what it was. I came to know that it was sperms after I shared my story to a boy who was a close friend to me,” Mahoro says.
Though Mahoro’s elder brother who had graduated at Uganda Christian University in Information Technology –IT in 2009 died following Juba clashes about seven years ago, she does not feel concerned that her brother actually died.
Mahoro says parents can only control or protect their children from being sexually abused by attending to them in order to understand their challenges bust also through sharing information that empowers them to report any sexual abuses.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recent study on Early and Unintended Pregnancies (EUP) in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region shows girls are being sexually abused by teachers, siblings, relatives and other community members. EUP findings show seven out of 10 girls aged 15 to 19 years having been pregnant.
For the last three years, Uganda police force’s Criminal Investigations Directorate –CID led by AIGP Grace Akullo, has been registering more than 200 cases of incent every year. The girls and boys are defiled by their siblings, parents and relatives.