Real Stories from Bukeka | part 1

Since being in Uganda, I've had the privilege to have many people share their story with me and hear many stories of other people in the community of Bukeka. And so I want to begin sharing some of those with you. These stories, and the lives some of these people live hardly seem real, and I'm usually left feeling speechless, heart broken, and like I'm the most spoiled person in the world. It makes me wonder what am I really doing in life when there are these people that find themselves in such terrible situations, when we sit at home in all the luxury and surround ourselves with a happy family and trustworthy friends. 

You wonder how these things are even real. Sometimes we hear such stories but don't really know if they actually happen.  And here I see them happen before my very eyes everyday. 

I'm unsure of what this particular girls name is, so we shall have a nameless story.

Not long ago there was this family in Bukeka, in which it so happened that the parents had become separated and the children went with one or the other. There was one of the girls that lived with her father, at the time was about 15. She didn't have the means to go to school and life with her dad was not great. He would abuse her, overwork her, not appreciate her, and make her feel like her life was wasted and she was worth nothing. So she calls her mom to see if she can come stay with her. Her mom tells her the best I can do for you is find you a husband. That's all you are worth right now.

But the girl doesn't want to get married, she knows shes young, but yet has no schooling. She decided to leave Bukeka all together. Goes to Kampala to find a job. She took a job being a house maid for a family. Only to find out they wouldn't pay her. So she works all this time not getting any wages. 

Meanwhile back home her mom has been scheming up a plan for her. The mother had borrowed some money from a man telling him that she would pay it back. But probably knowing that she never would. So she takes a different route. She told the man I have a daughter in Kampala who I will give to you instead. So he says ok, that's fine. 

One day her mother calls her daughter and tells her that her father has passed away and she needs to come home for burial and to take care of things. So she comes home, and immediately upon her arrival home, her mother and this other man come to greet her and the mother says to the man, here, this is my girl I was telling you about. The girl had know idea what was going on. She comes home for her fathers funeral but had no idea that her mother would kick her out the the house and force her to stay with an older man she didn't know or love. And that her mother had sold her to him! 

Its now been a month since she's been living with this man. She is 16 years old. She has no where else to go and no family that wants her. She is raped everyday and forced into acts we couldn't even begin to imagine. She's not legally married, the man paid the mother for her and that's enough.

Today this girl came to the school compound today and shared her story through tears to the pastors, telling them that she can't go back. She's hurting, but yet has no where else to go or stay.  

So what do you do when you hear stories like that, what can you do for these people who are being, hurt, disowned, abused, and being told they're worthless? How do you react? How should we respond? 

This is not an uncommon situation for Bukeka. This village is as immoral as they come.