Wednesday Weirdness UPDATE

Welcome to Wednesday Weirdness, a recurring theme where we post something truly weird and wacky in adoption or child welfare. This time a Ugandan woman and orphan are stuck in the US.

“A 32-year-old-Ugandan woman and an eight-year-old orphan are still stranded in the US, four months after they were reportedly abandoned by a charity – African Children’s Charities (ACC) – that sponsored their trip there.

The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development said it was processing return air tickets for Joan Nakibuuka and Mohammad Luwasi after New Vision broke the news about their plight last month.

However, the ministry halted the process (of securing the two return air tickets) after their “agent” reportedly claimed that Nakibuuka had “happily settled in a pastor’s home and that she is not willing to return to Uganda”.

The charity sponsored Nakibuuka and Luwasi to the US in May 2014 to enable Luwasi undergo a corrective surgery for a severe deformity in his back.

The surgical procedure was carried out on Luwasi free of charge by doctors at the University of Arizona Medical Center in June 2014.

The charity, according to Nakibuuka, then sought for an American citizen to adopt Luwasi after the operation.

‘Not willing to return’

The ACC president, Vikki Kattman, according to Nakibuuka, kicked her and Luwasi out of her house after she blocked the charity through police and the Ugandan embassy in the US from giving Luwasi up for adoption in August 2014.

The commissioner for youth in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Mondo Kyateeka, told New Vision that they had established that Nakibuuka could have first consented to the deal to adopt Luwasi, but disagreed with Kattman after she was given little money.

“Our agent has told us the lady [Nakibuuka] is not willing to come back,” Mondo said.

He said their “agent” works with a renowned international children’s organisation (name withheld).[Why is the name withheld?]

But Nakibuuka has dismissed the reports that she is “happily settled” in a pastor’s home in Arizona, saying the ministry could have spoken to people working for ACC.

Nakibuuka said she was called by a lady who reportedly “interrogated” her over the issue and that she promised to call back, but has never done so.

“Be careful with people from that organisation and they are telling lies to the Government in Uganda,” Nakibuuka said.

“Remember they forged adoption papers for Luwasi and took them to his grandmother to sign when we were still in the hospital.

“If it was possible for me to leave today, I would not hesitate. If I was not suffering here and my children suffering in Uganda I would not have contacted you [New Vision]”.

Uganda’s ambassador to the US, Oliver Wonekha, said Luwasi was rescued from the charity by the embassy’s consular officer, Stilson Muhwezi, in Arizona in August last year.

Muhwezi also dismissed reports that Nakibuuka could have consented to the deal to get Luwasi adopted, but later disagreed with charity over money.

“It’s clear Nakibuuka didn’t know about the deal and her intention was to come back to Uganda after the surgery,” Muhwezi said.

Asked why the embassy has not processed return air tickets for the two, he said: “We need supplementary funding and permission from the foreign affairs ministry.”

The head of anti-human trafficking in the internal affairs ministry, Moses Binoga, said he is still investigating if the charity is legally registered to operate an orphanage in Uganda.

The charity’s director in Uganda, Umar Semwogerere, asked New Vision to get permission from Arizona where the organisation has its headquarters so as to visit its offices in Uganda.”

Ugandan woman, orphan still stranded in US[New Vision 1/19/15 by  Pascal Kwesiga]

Update:”With hands across her chest, 63-year-old Agatha Namusisi listens in shock as the contents of an affidavit she signed giving an American NGO “sole” powers over her grandson are read out. 

Clad in a gomesi, Namusisi shifts uneasily in her seat as the coordinator of the counter human trafficking national task force, Moses Binoga, continues to read out the contents of the affidavit.

“I didn’t give the organization [African Children’s Charities] sole powers over my grandson [Mohammad Luwasi]. I allowed them to stay with him so he could complete his treatment and Joan Nakibuuka was supposed to remain his caretaker,” she says.

Binoga, the Mpigi district probation officer, Annet Nabuuma and the head of the district police’s criminal intelligence and investigations directorate, Rose Natukunda, went to Namusisi’s home in Kwaba village in Mpigi district on Tuesday.

Their visit came as investigations into circumstances under which Luwasi ended up under the care of Nakibuuka and an American charity continue.

Namusisi explained that Luwasi developed a severe deformity in his spine due to an underdose treatment she administered to him after he was placed under her care after the death of his mother.

“I was weak and I could not always take him [Luwasi] to hospital as doctors had recommended,” she added.

Moved by Luwasi’s condition, Nakibuuka, who was a friend to Namusisi picked the boy from her grandmother in 2010 so she could assist him to get treated.

Medics at Mulago Hospital in Kampala recommended an operation on Luwasi to correct the deformity.

The New Vision newspaper published a story of Luwasi’s plight on July 28, 2010. The African Children’s Charities (ACC) contacted Nakibuuka after reading about Luwasi’s plight in New Vision

The charity solicited for funds from the American people and bought air tickets for Nakibuuka and Luwasi to travel to the US to enable the latter undergo an operation in May 2014.

The surgical procedure was performed on Luwasi free of charge by doctors at the University of Arizona Medical Center in June 2014.

However, a disagreement erupted between Nakibuuka and the ACC’s president, Vikki Kattman, after the charity reportedly started running adverts in the media seeking an adoptive parent for Luwasi as he recovered.

The Uganda embassy in the US, the US State Department and police returned Luwasi to Nakibuuka in August 2014.

Nabuuma said a man who identified himself as one of ACC’s officials called her to report that Nakibuuka had snatched Luwasi from the charity before he could complete his treatment.

‘I can take him to school’

Nabuuma and local council officials prepared Namusisi an affidavit in which she reportedly gave ACC sole powers over her grandson and stripped Nakibuuka of responsibility over him.

“They [ACC] told us they needed the affidavit from his grandmother urgently to get him [Luwasi] from Nakibuuka so that he can complete his treatment. The charity was working with their Ugandan manager, Umar Semwogerere, and we thought it was important to help the boy complete treatment,” she said.

But Namusisi, who said she cannot read and write English, claims she did not understand that she was stripping Nakibuuka of powers over Luwasi when she signed the affidavit.

“She [Nakibuuka] has done a lot and I appreciate her for everything she has done to correct Luwasi’s condition. I didn’t understand some of the contents of the affidavit,” she added.

Namusisi asked the government to forgive her for what may have gone wrong as Nakibuuka strived to save Luwasi’s life and called for assistance to get her [Nakibuuka] and Luwasi back to Uganda.

“I can look after my grandson because I am already taking care of two of my grandchildren. I can take him to school,” she said.

Nakibuuka said she and Luwasi currently reside in Tucson, Arizona at the home of a law student, Dominick Lucien, who reportedly helped her to contact the Ugandan embassy and the US police.

On his part, Binoga asked Namusisi not to sign any more documents that may be brought to her for signing to help Luwasi and Nakibuuka.

He said he will coordinate the ministries responsible to have Nakibuuka and Luwasi flown back to Uganda. “

Woman denies giving grandson to NGO for adoption[New Vision 2/5/15 by  Pascal Kwesiga]