Children Do Hard Time for Their Parents’ Crimes:
Very often, children of prisoners suffer the impact of their parents' imprisonment; they pay daily for the price of their parents’ prison term. Someone said that the children serve 6 times t
heir parents’ term in prison. Their parents only suffer denial of their liberty and other pains that go with it. A man in Uganda’s prison is assured of at least one meal a day, but his/her child is not sure whether he/she will get what to eat, many times the children have to work for the food. But the question will always be, what crime did they commit?
This week we have received 20 new children of the 45 that we traced recently, one of the new girls Juliet 10 years, was defiled when she was eight years by her uncle, and the family members decided to conceal the matter and she was told never to tell anyone.
Juliet’s mother and father are in prison serving a 15 year jail term, we were told that Juliet’s dad is a witch doctor hailing from Luwero, one day a child got lost on the village and was found after three days later in his shrine in a malnourished state, its alleged that he intended to sacrifice this child to appease his gods. As a result he was arrested together with his wife the mother of Juliet ,By then Juliet was 4 years old.
Juliet has seven siblings, until yesterday, she was the only one left in school, however, as of now we have also taken on her brother Julius 6 years who has never been in school. One of their Sisters called Fiona 14 years was defiled and impregnated two years ago, as a result she dropped out of school, she was in primary five, she gave birth to a baby boy Jesse 1 year old now. All these children to include Ronald 11 years who dropped out of school and Jesse the baby have been under the care of their grand mother a peasant. The where about of their other 3 siblings is still unknown.
This is just one of the many stories that show how children pay the price, Juliet asked my wife if they will be having porridge at Wells of Hope Academy, and Ellen assured her that they will have all meals. She narrated that last year and this year she would go with out meals at school, because their grand mother could not afford to pay for porridge at school. She would go to school in the morning at 7.30 am and rush home at 5.00pm 2 miles away that is when she would have something to eat; her grand mother would have kept food for her which was cold in most cases.
When she was not at school, she would go digging with the grand mother, fetch firewood from the neighboring bush, and collect water from the well which is at a distance. She also had a role to wash her clothes and the ones of her brother Julius; she would also bathe Julius every day.
When I hear these stories from our children, I cannot believe they are happening here in Uganda, yet over the years we have seen that there very many children like Juliet. It’s sad that many times, these children, invisible in our community are looked on, and nothing is done as they get a punishment for no crime.
We request that you join hands with us and make a difference in the lives of these children. We need funds to complete their school and to run the school; any size of gift can make a huge difference.
Find attached a photo of some of the new children taken on Monday
Juliet’s mother and father are in prison serving a 15 year jail term, we were told that Juliet’s dad is a witch doctor hailing from Luwero, one day a child got lost on the village and was found after three days later in his shrine in a malnourished state, its alleged that he intended to sacrifice this child to appease his gods. As a result he was arrested together with his wife the mother of Juliet ,By then Juliet was 4 years old.
Juliet has seven siblings, until yesterday, she was the only one left in school, however, as of now we have also taken on her brother Julius 6 years who has never been in school. One of their Sisters called Fiona 14 years was defiled and impregnated two years ago, as a result she dropped out of school, she was in primary five, she gave birth to a baby boy Jesse 1 year old now. All these children to include Ronald 11 years who dropped out of school and Jesse the baby have been under the care of their grand mother a peasant. The where about of their other 3 siblings is still unknown.
This is just one of the many stories that show how children pay the price, Juliet asked my wife if they will be having porridge at Wells of Hope Academy, and Ellen assured her that they will have all meals. She narrated that last year and this year she would go with out meals at school, because their grand mother could not afford to pay for porridge at school. She would go to school in the morning at 7.30 am and rush home at 5.00pm 2 miles away that is when she would have something to eat; her grand mother would have kept food for her which was cold in most cases.
When she was not at school, she would go digging with the grand mother, fetch firewood from the neighboring bush, and collect water from the well which is at a distance. She also had a role to wash her clothes and the ones of her brother Julius; she would also bathe Julius every day.
When I hear these stories from our children, I cannot believe they are happening here in Uganda, yet over the years we have seen that there very many children like Juliet. It’s sad that many times, these children, invisible in our community are looked on, and nothing is done as they get a punishment for no crime.
We request that you join hands with us and make a difference in the lives of these children. We need funds to complete their school and to run the school; any size of gift can make a huge difference.
Find attached a photo of some of the new children taken on Monday