Elizabeth Kwagala with her three children at home. Photo by ESTHER OLUKA
In Summary
SURVIVOR. Elizabeth Kwagala, 26, discovered that the father of her three children was plotting to have her killed when he brought strange-looking men into their home. When his plans failed, he resorted to beating Kwagala and eventually kicked her out of the house. She shares her story with Esther Oluka.
“He slapped and kicked me hard. Then, he called me an evil spirit because I had foiled his plans,” Elizabeth Kwagala narrates. “He then instructed me to leave the house with our children and never return.”
The 26-year-old with dyed hair and a white skin, her pale blue eyes keep darting in a bid to gain focus. Kwagala has albinism, a condition which affects the production of melanin, the pigment that colours skin, hair and eyes.
Speaking in a calm and collected tone while wiping tears, Kwagala recalls how her ex-lover hatched up a plan to sell her off to men interested in killing her. She believes that they wanted to sacrifice her as some communities believe that body parts of albinos bring good luck and wealth.
Background
The story dates back to 2010 when Kwagala met and fell in love with Hassan Sebbi, a businessman. They met at the Old Taxi Park downtown, Kampala, where she plied her trade as a waitress for her foster mother.
Kwagala’s biological parents dumped her on the streets when she was only two months old. An old woman whom she refers to as Jajja (grandmother) picked her from the streets of Butaleja District and raised her. Unfortunately, Jajja passed on when Kwagala was in Primary Four. Her daughter then took up the responsibility of looking after Kwagala until when she completed her Senior Four at Luzinga Senior Secondary School in Kamuli District.
This was short-lived because Jajja’s daughter relocated to the US but could not take Kwagala along because of limited finances. The vacist had to fend for herself.
“I was shattered. Jajja and her daughter were my only family. They had raised me with a lot of love and care,” she says. “After bidding farewell to her, I walked to the Old Taxi Park looking for a job. I went to several people who all declined except one woman who owned a small make-shift restaurant. She not only employed me as a waitress but also gave me accommodation at her home. She became my new foster mother.”
How she met the father of her children
One day, while on duty Kwagala met Sebbi.
“I was looking for customers interested in having lunch when I bumped into Hassan Sebbi. He told me that he was hungry and asked that I take him to the restaurant. We went. I served him posho and beans,” she says. The tall, light-skinned man henceforth became a regular client, something which made Kwagala suspicious. He would often leave money behind for her to spend on personal requirements. After about two months of the frequent visits, Kwagala’s foster mother brought it to her attention that Sebbi was interested in her and that she should move into his house in Bweyogerere, a suburb in the outskirts of Kampala.
“At first, I took it for a joke. Later, he came to the restaurant and poured out his heart saying he loved and cared about me. I knew he was serious. He said, “Elizabeth, I want you to become my wife. I’m not a player like young boys out there who keep chasing after different girls. I will be a good husband and father to our children,” she says.
A few days later, her heart yielded and she packed her belongings. She moved in with Sebbi. One month later, she conceived and gave birth in December, 2010 to their now five-year-old daughter.
“He was very affectionate towards me and our child. He took good care of us,” Kwagala recounts.
In January, 2014, the couple welcomed a son. Sebbi continued to provide for his family to the extent that he bought his wife a car to ease her movements.
Things fall apart
In July, 2014, Kwagala began smelling a rat when the father of her then two children began bringing strange looking men to the house.
“The tall, huge and dark skinned men would come in different clusters and speak to my husband a language I did not understand,” she says. “And what puzzled mewas the way my husband introduced me to them. He would often say, “Meet Elizabeth, the woman I live with.” He would never introduce her as the mother of his children.
On one unsuspecting Thursday afternoon when the couple was home, two male visitors arrived in tinted cars.
Kwagala ushered the guests into the living room. She then called her husband from the bedroom to keep them entertained while she fixed them something to eat. Meanwhile, Kwagala could hear the ongoing conversation from the living room as the three men projected their voices from time to time.
“That was how I heard them conspiring to kill me. I remember one of the two men telling Sebbi, “Now if we kill her, won’t her relatives look for her?” Sebbi responded, “She has no one else in this world apart from me,” Kwagala recalls.
Some of the other statements she also recalls the men making include, “Sebbi, how much should we pay you?, Where should we kill her from?, How much do you think she is worth?…”
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