Cancer Finally Fells

Fighting Ssebanga

Rachel Kabejja

5 November 2009

Enock Ssebanga, who became a poster-boy for child abuse when he was discovered, tortured and emaciated in a dog's kennel, a decade ago, is dead. He was 21.

One of his guardians, Mr Rashid Luswa, said Ssebanga died at 11am yesterday after a long battle with leukaemia.

Ssebanga, then aged 12, came to national prominence in August 2000 when the Police, acting on a tip-off from neighbours, discovered what was left of the boy at his parents' home in Kawempe, a city suburb.

His skeletal features were a grim testimony of both human cruelty and perseverance. His left arm had been broken in a beating and his body was covered in so many sores, the car seat had to be peppered with cushions as he was driven to Mulago Hospital.

Ssebanga's case was not out of the ordinary; a Foundation for Human Rights Report from that year lists several children who were physically and emotionally abused by their parents and guardians. Yet the photo of an emaciated Ssebanga that was published, and the dog life he had been subjected to, captured the nation's mood and helped draw attention to child abuse.

Rev. Kefa Sempangi, who runs the African Foundation charity, soon adopted Ssebanga and oversaw his recuperation.

He put him back into school, first at Rookmaker Primary School in Mukono and later at Bethel Junior School where he finished primary school. In an interview with Daily Monitor earlier this year, Ssebanga, who was in senior two at Bethel Covenant College, spoke positively about his future dreams and appeared in fairly good health.

Yet hope was slowly turning back into tragedy. Two years ago, Ssebanga was diagnosed with leukaemia, a cancer that destroys the body's blood-forming tissues, including bone marrow and the lymphatic system.

Three weeks ago, when this author met him in Hope Ward at International Hospital in Namuwongo, Ssebanga lay helplessly gasping for breath, had cough and his eyes were sunken.

He complained of pain around his hips and said the doctors had found him to be anaemic but his spirits remained high and he cracked jokes about how he hated the medicine but liked the young female doctor who was seeing him.

Positive living

Ssebanga was later readmitted to Bethel Children's home in Namulanda along Entebbe Road.

Yesterday he got his wish to leave hospital but it was in a body bag and he was headed for the mortuary at Mulago, not home.

The cancerous cells in his body had finally done what his parents had tried and failed to do - kill his body - but nothing could ever kill the spirit of this boy from Kyebando.

The burial will take place on Monday at 2PM at Katulaga-Maya, off the Kampala-Masaka Road. The whereabouts of his father Charles Kayongo and stepmother Regina Nabakooza who were both sentenced to 18 years in jail for his torture were not known by press time.

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