I WAS RAPED BY OUR HOUSE MAID: A UNIVERSITY STUDENT REVEALS.
By: Abubakar Sematimba
A video clip of the abused baby by Jolly Tumuhirwe a 22 year old Ugandan maid that took the world by surprise after being circulated on social media, has reminded me of a similar story where a University student reveals how he was raped on several occasions by a house maid.
While seated next to me at our University Canteen, a friend of mine disclosed to me how a maid raped him and the memories are still fresh as if the incident took place yesterday.
According to Jay not his real name, a maid could impose her self on him while his mum was away for work.
You know kids do not tell lies; Jay reveled to his mum how a maid could temper with his genitals, and then orders him to 'do it'.
When a mother interpreted what his baby revealed, she decided to do away with a maid.
Asked if the mother reported the incident to the police, Jay said she did not for reasons best known by her.
May be if there was any other witness beside Jay the abused baby, or an installed house CCTV camera, it would have been easy to implicate the illicit maid.
'My mum was a nurse and a bread winner for our family, my father had passed on some years back, it could be so difficult for my Mum to leave her nursing work and embark on a case she could not win,' Jay narrates to me.
She could not win the case because of time, limited evidence and the corrupt society we are living in.
To report a case on Police you have to 'see' an officer on duty, if you want your case to be followed up. Remember even a Local Council Chairperson to write for you a letter, which you have to take to police station for a criminal to be apprehended, s/he will ask for money.
Because that is how s/he survives, no salary from the community or Government s/he serves, they worked pro-bono, and resort to crime, thus it becomes very difficult for these local leaders not to be corrupt.
In a similar incident a woman took her baby to a clinic with oral thrush on his lips, the doctor examined the baby and asked the mum if she has a maid.
The doctor suspected that the sores on baby's lips 'oral thrush' could be any infection including sexually transmitted diseases like Candida and so on.
He advised the mother to bring the maid for medical check up and the results was positive; a maid had candidosis a fungal infection (mycosis) that affects human body parts including genitals.
It is alleged that in the absence of a baby's parents a maid could forcefully order a baby to go down her panties, thus causing a baby to get infected by Candida.
In her speech, Uganda Minister of state for Gender and Culture Hon. Lukia Isanga Nakadaama , on the first day of the sixteen days of 'We Can' a campaign, aimed at ending the violence against women and children organized by We Can Alliance, in collaboration with Uganda Police, urged community to come out without fear or favor and report criminals.
The Minister also appealed to the community to have a social responsibility, where by every body becomes vigilant to react and report criminals who are inflicting dubious acts on the law abiding citizens of the country women and children in particular.
Honorable Nakadama cited incident narrated to her, where a maid in one of the localities on the out skirts of the city, Kampala, pulled the genitals of a baby boy accusing him of passing urine in his panties.
'Such heartless people have to be reported to the Police without fear, taken to courts of law and let them face what they deserve, jail a furious minister said.
The minister also urged community to treat maids as human beings because they are also workers like any body else.
On this note she cited a story where a maid was not allowed to feed on the same food like her bosses, she could only be allowed to share with a dog.
'How could you deny a maid human food and give her pet's food, how many plates of food can you consume at a go', a furious minister asked.
These people 'maid' we have to be mindful of them, they are human beings, they are our helpers, we entrust them with our children when we are not around, we must not mistreat them, mistreating them we are doing it on our own peril.
let us give them food, medicine and cloths if we can, the minister advised a gathering of mostly women who gathered at Rail way Garden a park situated in the city center.
About the Writer: Abubakar Sematimba is a Journalist and Teacher, founder of Blessedly-Ugandan, a Campaign aimed at promoting home made products and services.
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