He beat me to near-death, then fled

Pauline Adong lies in agony in the female ward of Pentecostal Assemblies Hospital in Lira.

Her skeletal frame is covered by threadbare, dirty, old linen. The fresh wound on her backside is dressed with plaster and cotton.

 

At her bedside, there is no juice or even a bottle of water for the patient. Her eight-month-old son, only dressed in a shirt, smiles at his mother, oblivious of her pain.

 

Adong holds back tears as she gathers strength to raise her head to talk to her visitors.

 

“My husband was never violent. For the four years we had been together, he had never even slapped me. Maybe when he did this to me, he was just looking for a way out of our marriage. I have always been an obedient and submissive wife. 

 

“So I think when he realised that he had no excuse to get rid of me, he decided to beat me so brutally,” says Adong, amid tears.

 

Among’s misery began in 2004, when her first husband was killed by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels. In 2007, she was remarried to her brother-in-law, Jimmy Engola, under the cultural practice of widow inheritance.

 

With four children from her previous marriage, she bore her fifth child, a boy, during her four-year marriage to Engola. But Adong’s new marriage was never a bed of roses. Her husband is a drunkard.

 

The fateful day

 

The events that led to her admission in hospital began on September 8, at her home in Akuriluba village, Acan Pii Akalo parish. Her husband returned home at around 3:00pm. As usual, he was drunk. Adong welcomed Engola and served him tea.

 

Shortly after, she asked him to permit her to sell the family’s only goat, because she needed money to clear school fees for her daughter. Engola seemed to grant her request. But no sooner had she untethered the goat from the backyard, than Engola stood up in fury. 

 

Engola is a big man. So with his well-built physique, he snatched the goat from Adong, held it by its legs and used it to flog her continually.

 

The physical assault was directed at Adong’s backside. 

 

The pain was so unbearable that she passed out. She has no recollection of how long the assault lasted and what prompted Engola to stop, but when she regained her consciousness, she realised that she had sustained deep wounds on her backside. 

 

Engola had fled as soon as Adong collapsed and has never returned home. He is wanted by the Police to answer assault charges, but no one knows his whereabouts.

 

Among regained consciousness three days later and was taken to Lira  Hospital, where she was admitted for a month and discharged. 

 

Still too weak, she returned to her marital home with no one to take care of her, except her 10-year old son. 

 

Rescued

 

Adong’s wounds had become septic due to lack of care. One day, the Kole district chairperson, Peter Ocen Akalo and Caesar Alajo, a district councillor, heard about her plight and came to her rescue. They took her back to the hospital, where she is presently receiving treatment. She was operated on and is recuperating. 

 

Adong describes her husband as a philanderer. Despite this, she says, she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life.

“I tried to do everything the exact way he wanted,” Adong narrates from her hospital bed. 

 

Her aunt, Florence Acen, is taking care of her at the hospital. Adong’s three children also stay with her at the hospital. 

For now, this is their temporary home, until their mother is discharged. Akalo and Alajo, are footing the hospital bills.

 

Expert Opinion

 

According to the Family Protection Unit of Kole Central Police Station, at least 100 serious cases of physical violence were recorded between January and June this year. Most of the gender-based violence cases in communities go unreported and are not reflected in the crime records.

 

This is according to an analysis by a non-governmental organisation, Issis-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange (WICCE), which has completed a study on sexual and gender-based violence in Lango region.

 

“Most of the assault cases reported to the Police are against women. Men are also assaulted, but do not report because of stigma from fellow men and the society. Most women who report these cases do not follow them up because they fear reprisals at home,” says Ruth Ojambo Ochieng, the executive director of Issis-WICCE.

 

Ojambo recommends that communities collectively engage in an effort to denounce norms and ways that promote violence against women.

 

“Communities need to drop patriarchal ways that position women as subjects to men. This should be a collective movement that respects the bodily integrity of women. This will eventually help reduce violence,” she says.

 

Catherine Awor, the acting coordinator of Women Peace Initiatives Uganda, says Gender-Based Violence(GBV) has reduced over the years. However, sexual and GBV remain a challenge in Lango sub-region and has taken a trend of domestic violence, often leading to death.

 

Alex Oremu, the Lira district chairperson, says the Peace Recovery and Development Programme has failed to address the psycho-social needs of the communities.

 

“People cannot fully participate when their mental wellbeing is not catered for,” Oremu said, adding that the cultural practices and norms that still position women as the weaker gender has also been a big problem. 

 

“The clan system needs to be engaged, so that they are part of the process of identifying ways of reducing this violence,” says Oremu.