I watched helplessly as my eye melted in my hands

Aug 04, 2013

After staring at me for minutes without answering my greeting, Moses Ahimbisibwe, 32, finally sighed heavily then seemed to realise for the first time that I was talking to him. It was obvious he is still traumatised by what he went through after an acid attack in 2011. He quickly composed himself,

SUNDAY VISION

Moses Ahimbisibwe has survived two attempts on his life, but the last one robbed him of his eye and livelihood. He shares his story with Gladys Kalibbala.

After staring at me for minutes without answering my greeting, Moses Ahimbisibwe, 32, finally sighed heavily then seemed to realise for the first time that I was talking to him. It was obvious he is still traumatised by what he went through after an acid attack in 2011. He quickly composed himself,  responded and later confessed to suffering mood swings. I developed goose pimples all over my body as we went through with the interview.

At one point, thinking that one eye was only damaged, I asked whether it could see anything. He opened the empty socket and I stared inside it without uttering a word. Before the acid attack, he dealt in transporting various goods to Burundi, Congo and Tanzania. His business was  situated on Nakivubo Road.

His story

I joined this business in 2009 working for several businessmen. After a while, I managed to start my own business. This did not go well with my former  employers due to the high competition. This, however, did not deter my progress, although we would have conflicts now and then.

Around the beginning of 2010, a woman, who had a kiosk near my home, gave me a soda, which is suspected to have contained crushed bottles and I almost died. I had been in the field that day and on my return, I bought a soda from her, which she delivered already opened. As I was rushed off to hospital, the woman took off and was never seen again. I suspect this was done by my competitors but could not pin any one since the Police needed concrete evidence.

A few months later, a trailer I had loaded with various goods, ready to go to Burundi, was vandalised and goods worth sh20m went missing. We used to pack goods worth sh500m or more for each route. When the owner of the goods reported the matter to the Police, I was picked by the then Wembley and detained in Kireka (Uganda Police’s rapid response unit) where I almost died of torture.

A man I met there hanged himself in the toilet after he told us he could no longer stand the torture we were experiencing. I, however, survived and later went back to work.

The fateful day

It was December 20, 2011 around 1:00pm, as I was travelling in a break down truck after towing my vehicle to a garage for service. We had just turned off Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road, on a deserted road near a washing bay, when I heard someone on a boda boda calling out my name. I knew him as we come from the same village Kibiito, Mujunju in Kabarole district.

When I turned to see the person calling, he opened a kaveera (polythene bag) as the boda boda he had used slowed down. This gave me chance to turn my face quickly towards the driver’s side. Unfortunately, another one was ready for me on the other side and threw all the contents at my face, hurting the driver slightly.

At first, the liquid felt cold, but before long, I felt a burning sensation all over my body. Like a mad person, I ran out of the break down truck towards the washing bay. The men working there, who had seen the incident, poured a lot of water on me.

By the time Good Samaritans rushed me to Mulago Hospital, I was naked as all the clothes had turned to ash together with the sh1m someone had just paid me that morning. I was in a coma for three days and my relatives tell me they never expected me to recover.

After gaining consciousness, the Police visited to get my statement and arrests of suspects were made. They were held in Police cells briefly and let out on bail while I fought for my life in hospital.

My eye melts out

Later on, after I had started moving around on my own in a side room, my wife, who was my caretaker, had gone back home to check on the children. The left eye had been badly damaged and could not see properly, but at least it was still in its socket. That evening, as I stretched my hand to close the window I felt a sharp pain pierce through it.

Later, a liquid which I noticed to be pus, started running down my cheek. I snatched a face towel from my bed and wiped the pus away. When another sharp pain occurred, the eye started coming out. I tried to hold it in place with the face towel as heavy pus pushed it further out of the socket.

All this happened so fast before I could call a doctor. When I could not help it any more, I placed my hands in position to hold the eye as it came tumbling out of the eye socket. It started melting in my hand as I watched helplessly, but never threw it away as it was still precious to me. Unfortunately, it turned to pus which had an awful smell. I lay back on the bed and cried.

The following day, doctors cleaned the empty socket and gave me some painkillers. The incident affected me so much that I never wanted anymore visitors at my bedside and those who insisted never saw my face as I would turn towards the wall.

Turning point

One day, a group of acid victims visited me with a friend who had received an artificial eye after an operation in South Africa. She had also suffered an acid attack around Kampala. After convincing me to look at her, I was doubtful as the eye looked normal until she removed it from its socket and cleaned it before putting it back.

After this, I acquired an artificial eye at one of the local hospitals,  but unfortunately, it only lasted one month. Doctors explained that some tissues in the sockets were damaged and could not hold it in place. I was advised to go for an operation from professionals in India at approximately sh50m. Unless Good Samaritans come to my aid, there is no way I can raise this sum.

I await justice

As I look for money for the operation, my business is no more. My competitors took over the area where I was operating from, pushing my boys out of business, yet I still have vehicles which could operate and help me receive treatment. I appeal to the director of physical planning in Kampala City Council Authority to avail me a space so that my business can continue in order to care for my family.

Although I am not working, I need over sh600,000 monthly for drugs such as strong pain killers and creams to apply on the badly damaged skin, which is still painful. The most urgent items I need are four pressure garments at a cost of sh150,000 each. These help in preventing the scars from swelling and I need that number to allow me change since owning only one will lead to infections and odour.

I was forced to learn a trick of putting on tight shirts that squeeze the irritating scars, so that I do not scratch them. Regrettably, some organisations which pretend to help acid victims are not helpful as many of the founders are not acid victims, but people looking for survival.

Currently, there is little hope for justice as I was told to produce a witness. My only witness is the driver of the truck who cannot  identify these people as it happened so fast! The Police seems not to know what to do as people like me suffer!

Acid attacks reduced by 80%

Acid attacks are not new in Uganda and had become a notorious crime in the early 2000s. Back then, the biggest problem was the ease with which anyone could access the acid.

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba has confirmed that acid is easily available in shops which sell chemical products for schools  laboratories and petrol stations.

“Most of the general acid cases in Uganda are a result of love wrangles between young women and men. When a girl rejects a man, the man gets money, goes to a nearby petrol station and buys acid. Acid is easily available and it is sold cheaply. Other issues which lead people to burn others are revenge, property conflicts, family wrangles and business rivalry,” she says.

More recently however, there are fewer cases of such attacks being reported. According to Enock Kusasira, the Mulago Hospital spokesperson, there are a few acid victims in the hospital burns unit, but the number of victims has decreased by 80%. “The unit has registered a decline in the number of acid victims. It seems the Police did a lot of sensitisation,” he says.

Steps taken

Nabakooba says that earlier this year, the Police put in place strict restriction on the sale of acid to individuals. “Everyone who sells acid is supposed to have a license and before they accept money from the buyer, they should have a look at the person’s identity card. They are supposed to ask where and how the acid will be used,” she said.

She adds that when the person takes the acid, as a seller, you are supposed to follow up with them. Keep their contacts so that when the Police needs information, they can call that person. It is not clear whether these new guidelines are being followed, but they should go a long way in dissuading those who intend to use acid to maim and even kill others.

Several victims of acid attacks have found counselling and companionship with organisations that provide support to acid victims.

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