You know the phrase "The truth is stranger than fiction"? Thats exactly what this is, If this story hadn't been so widely reported in Uganda news I would not have believed it myself. Its a long story but read on, let us know what you think.... This story has been taken from the Sunday Vsion newspaper in Uganda * sh = Ugandan shillings, approx 3000 - £1 * Mayembe = demon spirit
“My daughter barks like a dog, and she cannot sleep. She tells me (that) she gets nightmares in which a man and a woman are asking for human blood and telling her to leave their school"
KITEBI Primary School in Rubaga division has lately been the scene of mysterious happenings. Is this a demonic attack or just mass hysteria? Elizabeth Namazzi and Carol Kasujja investigate
THE young mother is desperate. She has been in this state since her only child, Nanyonjo Najjiwa started barking like a dog. Her voice dripping with emotion, she describes how her daughter, a P6 pupil at Kitebi Primary School, has been unable to sleep since a bizarre incident happened at her school. “My daughter barks like a dog,” she says, “and she cannot sleep. She tells me (that) she gets nightmares in which a man and a woman are asking for human blood and telling her to leave their school. Yesterday she woke up crying that an old woman was walking with her while beating her.”
She explains that the little girl does not want to eat although, surprisingly, she is very powerful. To Fatuma Najjuko and other parents with children at that primary school, this strange thing can attributed to nothing other than demons. Located in Rubaga division, Kitebi Kindergarten and Primary School started recording cases like Nanyonjo’s three years ago. But according the school’s matron, Edith Namusisi, this year’s attack has been the worst case.
Bizarre attacks
It all began in February, shortly after the term opened for the new school year. According to Sarah Namutebi, the school’s deputy headmistress, she was in her office when she heard that one of the P7 girls had been attacked by evil spirits. “She was shaking and shouting, claiming one of our teachers, Naomi Wandera, had concealed charms somewhere on the compound. She attracted other pupils’ attention and many of them became hysterical.”
One by one, pupils started acting peculiarly and speaking in strange voices. They would fall down while shaking violently and crying. Many could not eat or talk. Having witnessed this weird and frightening behaviour before, the school authorities and unaffected pupils had a good idea of what was happening. Another demonic attack had just been unleashed on them.
At the climax of the bizarre attacks early this month, 30 pupils had been affected by the evil spirits.
One of the parents, Hajara Ssenyonga, laments that her son, Abraham Ssali was one of the affected pupils. “My child was attacked by evil spirits,” she narrates, “and he could not recognise me when I picked him from school. He was calling for someone called Naomi Wandera to come and give him blood,” she says.
Najjiwa narrates that “I feel weak when I am about to get possessed. I get a headache and lose my sight. I feel like someone is holding my neck so as to stop me from talking. I can’t to sleep at night and prefer to be left alone. I never wanted to be with my family members.”
Henry Ssensuwa, another pupil, also says that he was attacked when he attempted to help some demon-possessed girls.
To check the rate at which the students were being attacked, the school was closed for one week and a Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meeting was convened to discuss the incident.
“It is Teacher Naomi who sent the demons. She was once our headmaster’s wife but the headmaster threw her out for another teacher"
Mass hysteria?
A few, however, think that there are no evil spirits in the school. These believe that what is happening is either a case of mass hysteria or anxiety. One parent, who preferred anonymity, revealed that he had taken her daughter to Mulago hospital for a medical check-up. “I was called to pick my daughter. Teachers told me she was violent and her eyes were closed. I took her to Mulago where doctors told me she had hysteria and gave her medication. She has never disturbed us again,” the parent testified.
A medical doctor, Mawejje Bakojja, confirms the diagnosis of doctors at Mulago hospital. “It is mass hysteria and anxiety,” Bakojja affirms, “so those pupils just need counselling. Parents should give their children time to rest. Give them lots of drinks and food to eat so they get some energy,” he advises.
The mass hysteria theory suggests that when one person is affected by hysteria, the people around that person have a high chance of being affected the hysteria. According to the internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia, mass hysteria is also referred to as a “collective obsessional behaviour,” which it defines as “the manifestation of the same or similar hysterical symptoms by more than one person”.
One of the common manifestation of mass hysteria is, according to Wikipedia “when a group of people believe they are suffering from a similar disease or ailment”. This, according to medical doctors like Bakojja, might be the case with the pupils of Kitebi.
Superstitious people Ugandans are generally a superstitious lot and the parents, teachers and pupils of Kitebi are no different. Most are convinced the pupils were attacked by evil spirits locally referred to as mayembe. As Ssenyonga says, his son’s request for blood is a sure sign that “those are demons”. Whenever talk of demonic or evil spirit attack is rife in an area, people rush to search for solutions from anyone or anything who they think can get rid of the evil spirits. The religious turn to God while the secular turn to traditional medicinemen/women or witchdoctors who they believe have the powers to get rid of the offending spirits.
Ssenyonga falls in the latter category. “I have to take my son to a witchdoctor for healing,” he says. The school’s headteacher, Godfrey Ssenfuma also falls in this category, for, as Hadija Nnalongo, a mother to Shakira Nakato, a P7 pupil, says, he undertook special measures to protect his students from the attacks. “My daughter told me that the headmaster slaughtered a cow last month and smeared its blood on every pupil’s ankles,” Nnalongo reveals.
She further narrates that parents collected sh4m to pay for the services of Mama Fina, a famous traditional medicinewoman from Katwe in Kampala. She’s also the head of traditional healers in Uganda and her fans believe she has special powers that can evict demons from the school.
Finger pointing
Even more interesting is the fact that some, including pupils, claim to know who sent the mayembe to the school. Most people Sunday Vision talked to are convinced that one of the teachers, Naomi Wandera, who also happens to be Ssenfuma’s ex-lover, sent the mayembe to spite him.
“It is Teacher Naomi who sent the mayembe. She was once our headmaster’s wife but the headmaster threw her out for another teacher. They attacked my friends and they started speaking in tongues,” swore Zakai Nabitaka, a P7 pupil who stayed at school when her parents delayed to pick her up. She believes the demons did not attack her because she had a rosary and had started fasting.
The pupil’s testimony is backed by one P6 teacher. “I believe that Naomi is behind those demons because she was once involved with the headmaster, but he left her for another teacher,” the teacher says.
To spite her replacement and win back the headmaster’s love, Naomi’s accusers insist, she sought the services of a witchdoctor. “When this failed, she decided to plant charms in the school so that the headmaster leaves the school,” the P6 teacher claims.  |
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