Lies, lies and more lies.

For a long time the father of Gift has been delaying resettlement saying he wants to find a new wife. Not the best approach to resettlement. However she is now over one year old and plans had to be made. Dad arrived with several family members. He said his sister was to take Gift. She was exceedingly pregnant and apparently due in the next few weeks. Winniefred said she knew the lady and she wasn't his sister. He eventually admitted she was his wife. Had he been hoping to find yet another wife to take Gift? Clearly he got this one pregnant very soon after handing over Gift.

 

Prossy's father has also been giving us the runaround. In the beginning he arrived with his mother - only it wasn't his mother. Winniefred tried to get him to give details of his family but he kept stalling. Last week he admitted he hadn't told his parents about the baby. Winniefred said that if he didn't, she would, as these were Prossy's family. Yesterday he said his mother and Aunt had come to the Office but no-one was there. Not true. The Aunt said that she had lied to him about that as she didn't want to tell his mother about Prossy. Winniefred spoke to his parents and whilst with them put Prossy's father on the phone. Not knowing his parents were listening he continued with his lies. They were very sad at his behaviour. It has been agreed that the Aunt will take the child and the father will pay support. The Grandparents say that they will not admit to their son that they know about the baby until he tells them himself.

Late one evening an abandoned baby was brought in by a Policeman and a Counsellor. I took the details of the story and phone numbers. The next day Winniefred went to the area but discovered a completely different story. The baby had been found with her 4 year old brother. The Counsellor contacted the Police. The boy told them where he lived and they took him home - to a village way out of the other side of Kisoro from where they were found. They left the boy with his father and as the mother had disappeared, agreed a story to tell us. When confronted, it took the Policeman and the Counsellor a while to tell the truth even though they knew Winniefred had been following it up. The Policeman's justification? 'Sometimes it is good to lie for the betterment of a child'. We would have taken in the baby anyway. All they did was waste Winniefred's time.

Winniefred sums it up well. She comes in, sits down, hangs her head, shakes it and says...

'These people, what are they like?'

She deserves a medal.

Four well-fed cuties getting ready for bed.