Meet Baby Flower from Mpigi, a district in Central Uganda. She is Totya Platform’s youngest user who is now 2 years old, Flower’s parents are separated so she lives with her mom while her 2 elder siblings live with her father. This is her story;
In an Effort to escape physical and emotional abuse [violence], Flower’s mother, Eva separated with her husband (Flower’s father) in July 2020, she later met and got involved with a new man; Elvis. Among other things Elvis provided her with shelter and capital to start a small ‘charcoal-selling’ business to earn money to look after herself and her daughter, all was well for a while until October 2020.
As Flower’s mother had gone to buy some necessities from a nearby shop leaving Flower at home with her boyfriend; Elvis took advantage of Eva’s absence and defiled Flower who at the time was just 18 months old. Flower’s mother returned, to find her daughter wailing and tried to enquire of the girl what was upsetting her, her boyfriend whom she had entrusted with the child was nowhere to be seen, later it was learned that he had run after hearing approaching footsteps.
On searching Flower’s body for any injuries that might be causing the crying, she discovered blood stains on the child’s clothing and her body around her private parts, In fear and panic she decided to rush Flower to a nearby clinic where she was advised to go to the Government Health Centre III which has better services.
Upon inspection the health workers at the Health Centre discovered that Flower had been sexually abused, one of the health workers; a trained para-social worker with Totya Platform, started the process of rendering support to the child (and her mother), from the results of the medical check-up done, it was discovered that penetration into Flower’s private parts had occurred and with this conclusion, the case was reported to the Police in Buwama which started investigations into the crime.
Five months later the perpetrator; Elvis, was finally arrested by the Police following investigations. All through the investigations, search for and eventual arrest of Elvis, Buwama Police worked with Totya Platform who rendered any assistance that would aid in these investigations, with the aim of; a speedy delivery of justice to little Flower, the survivor. Elvis was charged and found guilty of ‘Aggravated defilement’ in a Court.
Totya Platform continues to provide psycho-social support to little Flower who is now 2 years old. We hope that despite the horrifying experience, she can grow up to be a valuable member of our community with the right kind of support.
Totya Plaform continues to provide psycho-social, medical expense and legal expense support to girls like Flower to date.
Disclaimer: All the names in this story have been changed to protect the identity of the survivor. We encourage survivors to share their stories through/on the Totya Platform and pledge to always protect their identity