Children in Uganda, specifically in farming communities that surround the capital Kampala, are being taken and used in ritual sacrifices. People pay witch doctors to murder children with the belief that their death will bring the buyer wealth, luck, health and/or prosperity. “They have a belief that when you sacrifice a child you get wealth, and there are people who are willing to buy these children for a price,” said Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga at Kyampisi Childcare Ministries church in a BBC News interview.
“So they have become a commodity of exchange, child sacrifice has become a commercial business.”
One tragic case of child sacrifice is of a boy named Stephen who went missing from his village, near the capital, for 24 hours. He was eventually found by his grandmother, Tepenensi, strewn across the reeds on the side of the road near her home. He had been beheaded. BBC News reported that Tepenensi had pointed out to the reporter the spot where his body had been, clutching her sole picture of her grandson. Sobbing, she told the reporter that although the local witch doctor had admitted to sacrificing Stephen, the police were reluctant to pursue the case. “They offered me money to keep quiet,” she said. “I refused the offer.”
The head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice Police Task Force, Commissioner Bignoa Moses, told BBC reporters that the police are doing all they can to tackle the problem. “Sometimes, they accuse us of these things because we make no arrests, but we are limited. If we get information that someone is involved in criminal activities like human sacrifice, we shall go and investigate, and if it can be proven we will take him to court, but sometimes the cases are not proven.”
There have been countless cases like Stephen’s. Another BBC report speaks of one 9-year-old boy named Allan who suffered horrific injuries during his experience in a sacrifice ritual. He has bone missing from his skull and damage to a part of his brain after a machete sliced through his head and neck in an attempt to behead him. He was also castrated by the witch doctor before unceremoniously being dumped in the grass near his village home. It was a month before Allan woke from a coma at Kampala’s main hospital. Allan was able to identify his attackers, including a man named Awali, but the police say Allan’s eyewitness account is unreliable. Allan’s father, Semwanga, sold his home to pay for Allan’s medical treatment and they now live in the slums near the capital.
In order to gain more knowledge on this horrific business, the BBC reporters posed as local businessmen, requesting a witch doctor that could bring prosperity for their construction company. They were introduced to Allan’s attacker Awali and were invited into his home. In the courtyard, Awali and his helpers wrestled a goat to the ground and slit its throat. “This animal has been sacrificed to bring luck to us all,” Awali explained. He then demanded a fee of $390 for the ritual and asked them to return in a few days.
At their next meeting, Awali spoke of “the most powerful spell — the sacrifice of a child” and boasted that he had sacrificed children many times before and knew what he was doing. “There are two ways of doing this,” he told the BBC reporters. “We can bury the child alive on your construction site, or we cut them in different places and put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine. If it’s a male, the whole head is cut off, as well as his genitals. We will dig a hole at your construction site, and also bury the feet and the hands and put them all together in the hole.” After the meeting, they withdrew from the negotiations. They handed their notes to the local police, but Awali is still a free man. Local people told them that Awali continues to be involved with child sacrifice.
It is difficult to understand how people could be involved in such a horrific thing as child sacrifice, but this is by no means a new occurrence. Human sacrificing has been present for centuries in various cultures all over the world and is often associated with Black Magic. Black Magic is a term used for the belief of a type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or spirits and is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure or cause misfortune or destruction. It is said to be used mostly for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences or human life. The child sacrifices in Uganda have reportedly been done, by the participants of the ritual, in the name of Black Magic. According to a witch doctor in Kampala, “the blood, heart and other body parts of the murdered children would be placed under the mystical tree of the village from where the spirit’s voices would speak to the people.” The witch doctor said the participants would capture other people’s children and bring their parts to him on average three times a week.
Mr. Angela, a former witch doctor who has now repented his ways, told BBC reporters about how he entered this gruesome business. He explained that he had first been initiated as a witch doctor at a ceremony in Kenya where a boy of about 13-years-old was sacrificed. “The child was cut with a knife on the neck and the entire length from the neck down was ripped open, and then the open part was put on me,” he said. When he returned to Uganda, he was told by those who had initiated him to kill his own son, age 10.
“I deceived my wife and made sure that everyone else had gone away and I was with my child alone,” he said. “Once he was placed down on the ground, I used a big knife and brought it down like a guillotine.” After this sacrifice was complete, he officially became a witch doctor.
I understand and respect that there are billions of people on our planet with their own unique cultures and way of thinking. Just because one group of people’s point of view or way of life is different than mine does not mean that they are bad people, inferior or that their views are wrong.
But this is something that just defies all ideas of basic humanity. Murdering innocent children, be it due to religion or spiritual belief or for any reason at all, is just completely disgusting and utterly wrong. I don’t think I will ever be able to understand how some people think this is OK.
What’s even more distressing is that the police aren’t doing a thing to stop the murders. I understand that it may take a lot of evidence to form a case against the accused, but in some cases the evidence is almost painfully obvious or there are even outright confessions and yet nothing is done.
Just when I start to regain hope in humanity something like this is brought to my attention. I am reminded that we live in a tragic world where selfishness and greed are triumphing, and moral values, basic aspects of humanity are being lost. I know murders happen every day and I know that they will continue, but that doesn’t mean we should roll over and accept it.
Perhaps with pressure on the Ugandan government by international organizations such as Amnesty International, the UN or by foreign governments, this crime against these children can be stopped.
Paola Crespo can be reached at pollycrespo@hotmail.com.