13-year-old boy fends for twin siblings

PARENTING  CHILD ABUSE

Fate can plunge you into responsibility that you would never imagine. While some parents are unable to look after their children and even run away or have to be forced by Police to look after their children, there is a 13-year-old child looking after his 10 months-old twin siblings.

To make ends meet, Shafik Ssekatawa has fought against all odds with fire in his belly and desire in his heart to shelter and feed his twin siblings.

The little boy spends the entire day collecting and selling scrap metals and fetching water earning sh300 from a jerrican of water collected for neighbours to raise money for the three-member family.

"When I get money, I buy for them bread, pineapples and prepare for them black tea as breakfast and lunch. When I fail to get money, we go hungry," Ssekatawa said.

Shafik Ssekatawa's twin siblings

 
Ssekatawa, the firstborn of three, has learnt the value of hard work early in life. His mother left home last year on Christmas eve and she has never returned or surfaced anywhere. His father went to Sudan and nothing is known about him since.

"She left us in this house during Christmas time. It is the neighbours who gave us food that day. When the children fall sick, I ask neighbours to give me medicine.

What is sad, the landlord has asked Ssekatawa to leave the one-roomed bedsitter they have been living in.

"The landlord wants her house so we have nowhere to go. We want help from well-wishers. We also want our mother to come back and be with us," Ssekatawa cried out.

Local leaders are also calling upon the children's relatives to come and rescue them.