Little Girl Kept in Pigsty: Close to Worst Stepmother?

Hi, 
Happy to have you visit  with us.

Been thinking of the many things that go on around us,  how we learn about them, learn from them; uphold the good and still fight against the evil that surrounds us.

The evil in the news from  Bulo-Katooke village, Uganda on the 27th August 2013 was the horrible 'worse-than boarding-school'  stepmother and her husband (non-father) who were keeping their daughter in a pigsty! Much worse story than Cinderella. At least in the fairy story, the young girl got to sit in the warm ashes indoors but not out with the animals!

What could possess a person to make a child stay and eat in a pigsty to the point that they are emaciated and paralysed? What fortuitous luck that the neighbours took notice and reported the case to good samaritans (Justice and Peace Society) who acted and called the police in.  It is a miracle that this little girl was not eaten up or killed by the pigs. The two non-parents are in jail now, facing charges of torturing a child.

The little girl is being tended by her mother in hospital, who no doubt will have to explain to the world and to the little girl when she gets better, what could have forced her to abandon her dear child to these non-parents recently?  I sympathize with her very much, but what excuse will this mother give for leaving her little girl with these people?  That she had no money? No food? That she had married another man and he had asked her to take her now growing daughter away? She will need to explain to the little girl and say sorry  to her little daughter; again and again and again.

This mother will also have to forgive herself many times over. She will have to spend a lot of money to treat the little girl and to rehabilitate her from this excessive trauma. When i think of this poor little girl, I am quite upset that she lives in the Ugandan society where very little is known about the consequences of separation of parent and child and where it is done so casually. Both among the highly educated and the less educated. The rich, and the poor. Abandoning children to strangers seems to be the norm,  but it is wrong.

I hope the court case is well handled and justice is done. I hope many parents learn from this sad event to be wiser and  that this makes more people bolder to report  and stand against the abuse of children everywhere. We can start by doing the very best to stay in the same home with  children under your care and supporting mothers and fathers to do so.

 One newspaper is quoted as saying "Police asked mothers to always make sure that they stay with their children and desist from dumping them just to anybody".

Think twice about taking your child to anyone, a stepmother or a busy teacher, administrator or matron or housemaster or housemistress. Live with your own child; eat whatever little you have together or whatever much but  "Desist from dumping them just to anybody" as the police in Bulo-Katooke warned.

Read more about the story in The New Vision newspaper at;

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/646581-couple-remanded-for-feeding-child-in-pig-sty.html

Till then,

Keep your child with you, not in boarding school.

Norah

Welcome to our blog on boarding schools. A good afternoon to everyone out there.It is a warm sunny afternoon in Kampala, Uganda where i live. Below is a lovely picture of the country side in Uganda

I hope you are sincerely well and that you are not considering to take your child to any boarding school whatever everyone else may tell you and however much trouble the little children (and big ones too) are to you.Children are supposed to make noise. It is absolutely normal. Of course the noise should be regulated and it is better to listen to music than noise. But who said every child is a Handel?

Children are little people just growing up; exploring and trying to make sense of the world around them, with very little experience and knowledge to go by. They need to be with their parents or loving guardians to help them negotiate these early years (if they are lucky to have caring ones). I have just visited a blog that confirms my thoughts on boarding schools. Very little upside and very many lows. It is really amazing how many of us continue to push our heads under the sand as regards boarding school and its harmful effects on the soul and body.  Remember how many people disagreed (understatement) with Sinead O'Connor, God bless her soul, when she tried to tell the world about the horrible things happening to children in the Irish Catholic Church and boarding school system? Well a lot of bad things are happening to children in schools, especially in boarding schools.  We need a wake up call from more voices like Sinead. A few other people think the way we do here at ihateboardingschool.blogspot.com ; Does Boarding School Screw You up for Life? By Broadsideblog. Please do something for your child. Dont send him to boarding school..

We have sent most of them off this Week

This is the week.
When most homes in the green pearl empty of children
When the joyful songs and chants of children in the village fade
As we send them all off to boarding school

This is the time
 Taxis fill up to the brim with little souls and thin mattresses
Carried off far and away from loving home and friends
Parents breaking little hearts time and again
Sending them to stranger parents in boarding school

This is the month.
When mothers and fathers return to silent houses
Echoing with the sound of long gone voices
of the children who have gone off to boarding school

These are the beds.
Now empty of little bodies
Gone to gain an allegedly better education
and to start to lose their ground and rootings
As they go to boarding schools