HHF-Africa

Meet Richard Jumba.  Prior to April 2009, Richard Jumba was a fisherman on Lake Victoria.  He was a successful man, with his own boat and equipment.  He was able to provide well for his wife, Prossy Nalwoga, and their two small children: Brian Segawa, a boy of 5 who is disabled, and Mellisa Nassali, a girl of 2.

But then Richard Jumba was accused of a crime he did not commit.

Richard's half-brother committed the crime of selling property that he did not own, but had disappeared before he could be caught.  The people bringing the charge thought that if Richard was suffering, the brother would come back.  They told the local Magistrate that Richard committed the crimes of his brother and asked the Magistrate to hold Richard Jumba on remand for 1 ½ weeks so that they could bring forth the evidence and witnesses.  Richard was sent to Kasangati Prison.

11 months later, there was no sign of the accusers, no sign of the evidence, no sign of the brother, and Richard Jumba had slipped through the cracks of the Ugandan legal system and was still remanded in prison.  Without powerful friends or the money to bring the case to trial, he had lost hope that his case would ever be heard.  Richard has a heart condition and had resigned himself to dying in prison as he had seen others die.

"I used to admire the dogs walking past the prison because they had freedom". 
~ Richard Jumba

Today, Richard Jumba has a new life. 

On 28 February 2010, Humanity Healing Foundation President Christopher Buck, HHF-Africa Director of Africa Operations David Lubaale and HHF-Africa Board member Tony Waiswa toured the Kasangati Prison to meet with the officials about the Prison Initiatives being developed for Uganda, speak with the inmates, and distribute soap and bread as a gesture of goodwill - a luxury not provided.  In particular, they discussed the situation of individuals being held in prison on remand while evidence and/or charges were being prepared with Richard Jumba as an example.

As a result of the Humanity Healing Foundation's visit, the local magistrate reopened and reviewed the case and determined that Richard's civil rights were being violated.  The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence and Richard Jumba became a free man.

Humanity Healing Foundation is developing a series of initiatives to address Human Rights issues in sub-Saharan Africa, including issues relating to prisons.  HHF-Africa is building a working partnership with The Public Defender Association of Uganda to identify abuses of the system of remanding, the detention of suspects before trial and sentencing.  The goal is to change both public acceptance of the system and the legal procedures involved:  to place the burden of proof on the accuser to prove someone guilty instead of on the accused to having to prove one's innocence.  This is the first step on the road to social justice.

What does the future hold for Richard Jumba?  In the near term, just enjoying his wife and children, and the feeling of not being surrounded by walls.  His accusers have gone into hiding because now that his case is dismissed, Richard Jumba can pursue a case of wrongful imprisonment against them.  Farther out will come the difficult task of rebuilding a life shattered by a cultural attitude that accepts the taking advantage of the legal system's policy of remanding for personal gain.  For HHF-Africa, Richard Jumba is a symbol of Hope for all those unjustly accused and lost in the legal system:  that they are not forgotten and that there are people who care.

by Christopher Buck

"Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light." 
~ Norman B. Rice

It didn't look very impressive.  No watch towers.  No high walls.  No imposing barred doors clanging shut behind you with a peal of impending doom.

Just a simple beige building with a burgundy metal roof.  Seemed a little unimpressive.  I looked down the side at the compound behind and saw a simple barbed wire fence.  I was surprised.  "How do they keep people from slipping through the fence?", I wondered.  The answer turned out to be simple.  First, the prisoners are rarely let out of the cells.  Second, if you get to close to the fence, you are shot.  Life doesn't have much value in a Ugandan prison.

My recent trip to Uganda had many objectives for such a short time.  We had come to Kasangati Prison for two:  to get a better understanding of the challenges HHF and HHF-A will face working with Human Rights and Prison Initiatives in Uganda and to distribute bread and soap to the inmates as a gesture of goodwill.  Soap is rarely given to the prisoners, bread never.

We met with the Warden, who I found to be open and honest about conditions at the prison and the penal system of Uganda.  I learned about the difficult situation he faced trying to provide the minimum of basic Human Rights in an overcrowded system with a budget barely large enough to insure the lights stay on and that there is food for the inmates.  At the very top of his list were manual toilets to improve sanitation and cut down on disease.  Currently, each group cell has an open Jerry can that is dumped once a day.  Other items on his "wish list" were:

• Better fencing so prisoners could spend more time outside of their cells.
• Medical supplies.  They have a nurse, but no medicine or supplies.  Their only option is to send the inmate to the hospital at Luzira Maximum National Prison if the situation is life-threatening, but, as he pointed out, they have no supplies either.
• Better organized inmate tracking in the legal system so that he knows when an inmate has served his time and can be released.  Prisoners often serve beyond their sentences.
• Educational assistance for inmates so that when they are released, they have a better chance of finding work and reintegrating themselves back into society and not just end up back in prison.
• A vehicle for transporting prisoners to their trials.  Currently, inmates are hired out by the prison in work gangs.  The money earned is supposed to pay for their transportation to trial, but if they are not hired or have not earned enough, prisoners miss their trials.  As a result, they can be held indefinitely without a trial and formal sentence handed down.  I will write more about this in the next blog.
• Their own bore-hole for water.  They currently are on city water, but when that goes down, inmates receive no water.
• Blankets (yes, it does get cold in Uganda - at least relatively) and bedding for female inmates.
• Feminine hygiene products for the female inmates.
• A better system for female inmates with small children.  Currently, if no family steps forward to care for the child during the mother's incarceration, the child will stay with the mother in her cell - hardly a safe healthy environment for an infant or toddler.

After the meeting, which I have to admit left me a little daunted, we headed out into the compound.  The prisoners were squatting in lines before their cells.  After David Lubaale, the Director of Africa Operations, addressed them in Luganda, we began to pass out the bars of soap.  Many faces shown with gratitude at this simple human kindness, but many of the eyes I saw were dead and I knew that the inmate had given up hope and was just waiting to die.  While the soap offered the luxury of a chance to be clean, plain bread was something the inmates never saw, and only the one's with dead eyes did not cheer. 
The inmates eat something called posho, which is essentially low-grade corn flour and water cooked in a giant pot.  Some inmates ate their bread furiously as if in fear of losing it, while others ate so slowly, you knew that they were thoroughly savoring every crumb.  I was told later that many turned down the daily meal of posho after having the bread in mild protest to the food they receive there.  In case you are wondering, it tastes as good as it looks in the picture.

After the bread distribution, I was asked by the warden to share a message of encouragement with the prisoners.  I have been told that my best speeches are short ones, so with David translating, I shared a brief message.

I told them that HHF believes that no matter what we are on the outside, that inside we are all one humanity.  I told them to remember that while it was correct that people serve time in prison when they commit crimes, they were still human beings.   I told them that they were not forgotten, and that there were people outside the walls that cared.  And I told them what I expected in thanks for the soap and bread:  that one day they would meet someone in need of a kindness and to remember this day and pay my kindness forward.

Afterwards, the inmates were returned to the cells (approximately 40 per cell) and we were able to speak directly with individuals through the bars of the doors.  We also toured the rest of the facilities, seeing the kitchen were the posho (which smells foul, by the way) and the official women's compound, which is empty as there are no funds to finish and roof it.  The women are currently placed in one cell at the end of the men's cells (causing more crowding with the men) and kept isolated from them.

To say that my visit to Kasangati Prison was an eye-opening experience is a serious understatement.  Humanity Healing Foundation and HHF - Africa believe in the rehabilitation, reconciliation and reintegration of former inmates back into society as productive members.  We see this not only as a means to lift individuals, but as an essential public safety issue.  Our initiatives in Uganda will have no existing structure to build on.  We will have to create it.

Our mission to the prison did result in one incredible sign of Hope.  In the next blog, I will share with you the story of Richard Jumba and how HHF-A will be developing the Prison Initiatives in Uganda.





Find more photos like this on Humanity Healing Network

 

Who We Are

We are a group of souls willing to help others in the various conditions of life. WE believe in the sacracy of life in all levels, and that is our duty to help each other, no matter where we are.

Our Vision

We want to provide an outreach for many prisoners that are in dire a need of support in many levels,

Types Of Activity

We are developing an Christian advocacy agency, to help with legal aid, for innocents.
We have campaigns to gather resources to provide the minimum material medical assistance inside those facilities.
A prayer group structure, to give spiritual nurture to those in the despair situation of imprisonment
In the near future we hope to develop a pen pal program as well, with Christian mentors to help support spiritual development.

Location

Uganda Prisons (small facilities around Kampala Area)

About Our Prison Ministry

We are a non denomination non profit organization.

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Please pray for our Ministry, our volunteers and the opening of opportunities to help more souls.
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