I have two kids with my uncle

Real life experience

What started as a one-night stand between a niece and her uncle progressed into a full-blown relationship and children, Juliet Kasirye writes

It never occurred to me that I would one day have a romantic relationship with a man I considered my father. He had carried me, treated me as his child and took care of me.

I was orphaned at the age of three years and I was taken to live with my grandparents. Life there was miserable as they could not afford to take care of all my needs. Life got worse after Senior Four when I dropped out of school since my grandparents could no longer afford to pay my fees.

About the same time, my paternal uncle, Richard, returned from the US. He took me out of the deplorable conditions in the village and introduced me to the life I missed.

My uncle also took care of me like a father would his daughter. Gone were the days when I begged for food and wore tattered clothes. I thanked God for sending me a saviour in form of my uncle.

We spent so much time together and we grew closer. Once he had to go out of town for business and he invited me along, saying I would love the adventure. Little did I know that we were going to share a hotel room.

That night he made sexual advances towards me. I feared that if I rejected him, he would send me back to the village and I did not want to live in that misery ever again. I gave in to his advances. From then on, we became almost inseparable.

We spent many nights at hotels because we did not want to be found out. However, our relatives found out about our relationship, confronted me and I silenced them with insults.

Then one morning, Uncle Richard’s wife came from the US. Her first stop was the hotel where we were. She came right to the room where we were and found us in bed.

My aunt later teamed up with Uncle Richard’s relatives to confront us. However, Uncle Richard boldly declared that he loved me. We persevered in the ‘relationship’ for a few years, had two children, but eventually separated.