Rachel Kabejja
11 November 2009
Enoch Ssebanga, the poster boy of torture who died last week, was finally laid to rest on Sunday at his ancestral home in Katulaga-Maya off Kampala-Masaka Road.
A month ago, doctors at International Hospital Namuwongo, had given Ssebanga only 28 days to live because his blood count could no longer contain the tough chemotherapy treatment he had been undergoing since the year begun. From October 8 when the announcement was made, Ssebanga died on November 4 like the doctors had said.
Praises
Speaker after speaker poured praises on Ssebanga's amiable character, generosity, sense of humour and genius. "Even when the cancer medication disrupted his studies, he was always first or second in class at Bethel Covenant College and the administration looked at him as first grade material," said Mr Rashid Luswa, the director of the school and one of his guardians.
Rev. Kefa Sempangi, the chief guardian, took a moment to thank the press which broke the story of Ssebanga's torture as well as his aunt, Ms Viola Nababi, who played an important role in tipping off the Police. Rev. Sempangi went ahead to describe Ssebanga as somebody who lived in fear of any older person in the initial stages of his adoption. "The trauma he went through was too much that he feared any older person. It wasn't until two Japanese therapists took him through therapy for three weeks that the fear ended," he said.
A fellow student, Faith Millah, described Ssebanga as a strong Christian and a person addicted to prayer. The whereabouts of his father remain unknown and not a word was said about him, not even from the family members. One of the messages of the day was the fact that Ssebanga had forgiven his parents for everything they put him through, said Rev Sempangi.
"He came to me after hearing a sermon I gave about forgiveness and said: "Although forgiveness is very hard, I choose to forgive my parents." We celebrate Sebanga's life because he helped the government wake up to the brutality children were going through at the hands of their parents. May his soul rest in eternal peace.
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