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Single father of disabled girl who was defiled, impregnated seeks help
Mr Fred Isabirye does chores at his home in Muwemba Ward, Northern Division, Kamuli Municipality on July 31, 2024. PHOTO/SAM CALEB OPIO
Single father of a14-year-old girl with disability who was impregnated after allegedly being repeatedly defiled, is seeking help to take care of the looming complexities that await him.
Brenda* (not her real name), a resident of Muwemba Ward, Northern Division in Kamuli Municipality, suffers epileptic seizures and memory loss, vaguely recalls “being bypassed a group of boys, a blackout, waking up wet, tired and with pain in her private parts.”
She later started feeling nausea, excessive headaches and when it dawned on her that she had conceived, she contemplated terminating the pregnancy. However, she has now embraced her new identity as an expectant teenage mother.
“When I went for treatment, a soft-spoken health worker took a closer look at me, lured me to take a medical checkup which revealed I was three months pregnant, and the thought of aborting crept in,” Brenda said on July 31.
Brenda’s father, Mr Fred Isabirye, who is raising her as a single father, thinks randy men or drug addicts prowling the neighbourhood are responsible for the pregnancy. “I take care of her, including washing her clothes, cooking and doing almost everything,” he says.
Adding: “My dilemma is when the time for delivery reaches and the burden of keeping the baby while also doing my work. That is why I pray that any organisation or person comes to my rescue.”
When Isabirye learnt of his daughter’s pregnancy, he filed a case of “defilement by an unknown suspect” at Kamuli Central Police Station under case file number SD49/26/07/2024.
Brenda, however, has no kind words for men in general.
“During the day, they look at you as useless, ugly, and unworthy, but when darkness falls, they become wild like beasts and eat anything that comes their way; so, we need extra care against them,” she says.
She adds that initially, she could not keep the pregnancy, but a medical worker counseled her to keep it, and now relishes delivering the baby and being referred to as “Mama Kisakye” (Kisakye’s mother) or “Mama Mukisa” (Mukisa’s mother).
Her confidant who asked to only be identified as Nambi says Brenda’s prospects of being a mother scared her because she is unable to support herself, relies on her father for chores and all her needs.
Abisagi Kitimbo, a parasocial worker at Kamuli General Hospital, said when she spotted Brenda, she suspected she could be pregnant and lured her to do a pregnancy test which turned positive.
Kitimbo says the task now is to enroll Brenda for antenatal care and pray that she does not get epileptic seizures so often to affect her pregnancy or a blackout during delivery.
“She is the highest risk mother, but God is always on their side; so, we need to closely watch over her,” Kitimbo said.
