By Donald Kiirya

BORN with multiple disorders, 16-year-old Rehema Kutesa has not known a life without pain. Kutesa has never seen her parents or any relatives. She was rescued from a garbage skip on a street in Jinja town by one Paullina Namusubo 65, whom she refers to as Jjajja (grandmother). Namusubo took on Kutesa and raised her as her own child.

Kutesa is currently in Primary Four at Main Street Primary School in Jinja. She loves attending school despite her multiple disorders, which make it hard for her to interact freely with other children. She is also always stigmatised by fellow pupils.

She has a wound under her right foot that gives her difficulties while walking. Her feet are also curved and bent inwards. She passes urine through a catheter connected from her body to a urine bag and has a swollen head. Despite all these problems, Kutesa is intelligent, obedient and always helps her grandmother with domestic chores.

She says she always wakes up early to do some domestic work before walking to school in her black and white uniform.

Kutesa’s grandmother operates a small grocery business at home, but she says she can no longer afford to meet her needs, including buying her gloves and clothes.

“Recently, the school sent me for a broom and a toilet roll, but my grandmother had no money,” Kutesa says. She says she is always uncomfortable in class due to the nasty smell from pus that oozes out of the wound at her lower abdomen, where the catheter joins her body. She always smells of urine, which causes other pupils to distance themselves from her.

Medical sources say a catheter is supposed to be changed after a week, but sometimes Kutesa uses it for about three weeks due to lack of money. This causes the wound to become septic, which causes her pain.

Kutesa would love to meet her parents. One time she asked her grandmother where they were. She was told that they passed away. But the truth is, Namusubo does not know Kutesa’s parents or any of her relatives.

Namusubo says she picked Kutesa from a garbage skip on Kirinya Road in Jinja town, where she had been dumped after delivery in 1994. “I used to operate a small catering business in the area. One morning as I was going to my place of work, I heard a baby crying in the nearby skip,” Namusubo says.

She says she was hesitant at first, but felt sympathy when the baby’s cries intensified after about 10 minutes.

“I walked to the skip and saw a newly born beautiful baby girl, who was naked despite the morning cold,” she says. Namusobo immediately removed the baby from the skip, wrapped her in a piece of cloth and proceeded to her place of work.

“That was the beginning of suffering in my home. I did not know that the baby had multiple disorders,” Namusubo says. After observing the baby, Namusobo discovered that it had a wound under its right foot, a big boil in its back and a swollen head.

After three months, she took the baby to Jinja Hospital, where the boil was operated on. Unfortunately, the baby’s neural system was damaged during the operation, leading to another big problem of frequent urination.

“She started smelling. Whenever I took her to my place of work, my customers would run away because of the nasty smell. At one time I had to close my business to look after her,” Namusubo says.

When she took Kutesa back to Jinja Hospital after she developed the urine problem, she was diagnosed with a neurogenic problem (dysfunction of the urinary bladder) and was introduced to a catheter and a urine bag.

Doctors later referred her to Mulago Hospital after recommending that she needed a neural surgery.

“I wish the Government or any Good Samaritan could take her up and look after her. Kutesa’s problems keep on increasing, yet I am poor. I can no longer afford her medical bills,” Namusubo says.

She says they have been to several hospitals — Rubaga, Kamuli, Mbale, Buluuba, Nyenga and Mulago — all in vain.

“ I have now left everything to God,” she says. Doctors in Mulago said Kutesa needs to be scanned before undergoing an operation to correct her urinary bladder problem. Namusubo says this operation could cost over sh2m, which she does not have.

She adds that Kutesa cannot walk like a normal person due to her bent feet. In 2006, Kutesa joined Narambhai Primary School, a UPE school in Jinja town, but left the school while in Primary Three due to stigma.

A ray of hope
On June 15, 2009, Jinja Network for the Marginalised Child and Youth (JINNET), an advocacy organisation, launched a child rights radio programme, titled Twegele ghalala N’abato (let’s learn together with children) on Kiira FM.

The programme, aired every Sunday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm, aims to promote children’s rights and fight abuse. Phoebe Kwagala, JINNET’s social worker, says they introduced a helpline on 0776131414 and it was through this that they got in touch with Kutesa.

“One day, I received a beep on the helpline and I returned the call, only to find Kutesa on the line,” Kwagala says. Kutesa used a neighbour’s mobile phone to beep on the helpline.

“She said ‘Halo’ ninze Rehema Kutesa nnina ebizibu bingi era ndi mulwaire munambe (hello, I am Rehema Kutesa, I have many problems and I am sick, please help me).

Kwagala noted down Kutesa’s complaints and location of her home and later visited her. Kwagala found Kutesa out of school. Although JINNET does not pay fees for their children, she pleaded with the management of Main Street Primary school to take on Kutesa as they solicit for support from various individuals and organisations. In January, Kutesa was enrolled in the school.

Kwagala calls upon Good Samaritans and charities to help Kutesa raise money for the operation.
Anyone wishing to help Kutesa can call +256776 131414 or email: jinnet03@yahoo.co.uk