Tragic accident robs family of four children
Feb 02, 2007
WHAT does a mother do? How does a father grieve for four children killed on the spot in a motor accident?
By Harriette Onyalla
WHAT does a mother do? How does a father grieve for four children killed on the spot in a motor accident?
At St. Luke’s church, Ntinda in Kampala on Thursday, agony hung in the small church like a dark cloak as women wept and men kept dubbing at their eyes during the funeral service of Fiona Musimenta (9), Bridget Kiconco (11), Apollo Mukasa (12) and Grace Tumusiime (24), who perished in a car accident.
The church was packed to capacity and so were the tents outside. Tuesday, January 29 began with the excitement of escorting Mukasa to join St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Kyabiruha in Mbarara for senior one. Mukasa was Dr. Josephine Ahikire’s nephew. But the journey ended just in Maya on the Kampala – Masaka road.
Ahikire, of Makerere University department of Gender Studies, the mother of Fiona and Bridget, survived the accident. Grace who was like a mother to the children, was Patrick Tumwebaze’s cousin, who was like a mother to the children. She had graduated from Makerere University last year and was supposed to begin work next week.
Josephine Ahikire:
Ahikire survived the accident along with their youngest child Martina Busingye. She narrates: “My daughters woke up very early that morning. This was unlike them because we usually struggle to get them out of bed, even though they have been acting mature since the year began.
“I was supposed to attend a meeting at Mbarara University that same day so we left early. After Nabbingo I saw a trailer move out of the lane to overtake a fleet of vehicles. My driver also noticed and rushed to park at the edge of the road to leave way for the trailer.
“But it came directly at us. I said my last prayer. I knew none of us would survive. Within seconds, the trailer hit us. After a few moments I realised I was still alive. I looked behind and saw my children smashed and flattened like chapati. I opened the door and got out of the vehicle. Then I called my husband.
“As I stood there, I realised that Martina who was hanging on the window was alive and conscious. I picked her from the wreckage. Luckily, Police came quickly. They decided that we should rush Martina to hospital. But I thought she was also going to die.â€
Patrick Tumwebaze:
“I was in office. I had just told my wife not to call but send messages about the progress of their journey because I was going into a meeting. That is what we always do when one of us is travelling. When she called, all I heard was ‘accident, all the children are dead’. I hang up! She was shouting. I could not believe but I knew I had to rush there.
“My colleagues tried to dissuade me from driving but I drove off. On the way, I saw my wife in the Police vehicle and called her on phone since they were at high speed. She told me to continue.
“When I reached the accident scene, I wondered how my wife and daughter had survived. The vehicle, even the engine had been squeezed flat like a chapati. I saw what looked like the remains of an airbag where my wife was sitting. Maybe it is what saved her.
“All the bodies were flattened. Grace and Bridget had been flung out of the car. As I walked along the road, I picked a piece of skull, it was for Bridget and I put it next to her. Getting the other bodies from the wreckage was not easy.
“By now, my office colleagues had arrived and we discovered Apollo’s body was missing. We checked in the nearby ditch and everywhere. It was only after we removed the driver’s body that we found it underneath.â€
BRIDGET:
She studied at Hillside Primary School, Naalya with her sister Fiona. She always spoke her mind and was dubbed ‘spokesperson’. The two girls were very popular at school because they made friends quickly.
They were also very good at swimming and Bridget always emerged first in the school swimming competitions.
The evening before, she told her father: “You will not miss us because you will always have our picture,†as she pointed at a family portrait on the sitting room wall. It was a culture for the family to pray together before bedtime.
The children were buried on Thursday at Kiwologoma in Gayaza, Wakiso district.
Over 20 nuns from Mbarara attended the funeral. They are the ones who mothered Dr. Ahikire and sent her to school.
Ahikire sang at the funeral service, amazing the mourners. Her voice rose, then faltered - an indication of a mother’s tragic pain. But we can all be comforted that pain is weakness leaving the body.
WHAT does a mother do? How does a father grieve for four children killed on the spot in a motor accident?
At St. Luke’s church, Ntinda in Kampala on Thursday, agony hung in the small church like a dark cloak as women wept and men kept dubbing at their eyes during the funeral service of Fiona Musimenta (9), Bridget Kiconco (11), Apollo Mukasa (12) and Grace Tumusiime (24), who perished in a car accident.
The church was packed to capacity and so were the tents outside. Tuesday, January 29 began with the excitement of escorting Mukasa to join St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Kyabiruha in Mbarara for senior one. Mukasa was Dr. Josephine Ahikire’s nephew. But the journey ended just in Maya on the Kampala – Masaka road.
Ahikire, of Makerere University department of Gender Studies, the mother of Fiona and Bridget, survived the accident. Grace who was like a mother to the children, was Patrick Tumwebaze’s cousin, who was like a mother to the children. She had graduated from Makerere University last year and was supposed to begin work next week.
Josephine Ahikire:
Ahikire survived the accident along with their youngest child Martina Busingye. She narrates: “My daughters woke up very early that morning. This was unlike them because we usually struggle to get them out of bed, even though they have been acting mature since the year began.
“I was supposed to attend a meeting at Mbarara University that same day so we left early. After Nabbingo I saw a trailer move out of the lane to overtake a fleet of vehicles. My driver also noticed and rushed to park at the edge of the road to leave way for the trailer.
“But it came directly at us. I said my last prayer. I knew none of us would survive. Within seconds, the trailer hit us. After a few moments I realised I was still alive. I looked behind and saw my children smashed and flattened like chapati. I opened the door and got out of the vehicle. Then I called my husband.
“As I stood there, I realised that Martina who was hanging on the window was alive and conscious. I picked her from the wreckage. Luckily, Police came quickly. They decided that we should rush Martina to hospital. But I thought she was also going to die.â€
Patrick Tumwebaze:
“I was in office. I had just told my wife not to call but send messages about the progress of their journey because I was going into a meeting. That is what we always do when one of us is travelling. When she called, all I heard was ‘accident, all the children are dead’. I hang up! She was shouting. I could not believe but I knew I had to rush there.
“My colleagues tried to dissuade me from driving but I drove off. On the way, I saw my wife in the Police vehicle and called her on phone since they were at high speed. She told me to continue.
“When I reached the accident scene, I wondered how my wife and daughter had survived. The vehicle, even the engine had been squeezed flat like a chapati. I saw what looked like the remains of an airbag where my wife was sitting. Maybe it is what saved her.
“All the bodies were flattened. Grace and Bridget had been flung out of the car. As I walked along the road, I picked a piece of skull, it was for Bridget and I put it next to her. Getting the other bodies from the wreckage was not easy.
“By now, my office colleagues had arrived and we discovered Apollo’s body was missing. We checked in the nearby ditch and everywhere. It was only after we removed the driver’s body that we found it underneath.â€
BRIDGET:
She studied at Hillside Primary School, Naalya with her sister Fiona. She always spoke her mind and was dubbed ‘spokesperson’. The two girls were very popular at school because they made friends quickly.
They were also very good at swimming and Bridget always emerged first in the school swimming competitions.
The evening before, she told her father: “You will not miss us because you will always have our picture,†as she pointed at a family portrait on the sitting room wall. It was a culture for the family to pray together before bedtime.
The children were buried on Thursday at Kiwologoma in Gayaza, Wakiso district.
Over 20 nuns from Mbarara attended the funeral. They are the ones who mothered Dr. Ahikire and sent her to school.
Ahikire sang at the funeral service, amazing the mourners. Her voice rose, then faltered - an indication of a mother’s tragic pain. But we can all be comforted that pain is weakness leaving the body.