18/05/2022
Morale of story: Don’t rush to marry. Do background checks on someone before you commit yourself .
Nothing prepares you sufficiently for the fickleness of life, nothing. When everything is sunny and merry, it's difficult to imagine that one's life can flip over for the worst. Two years ago, everything had nicely fallen in place. My finances were in order. I had firm control over my health and hands. My affairs overall were in perfect synchronisation. I had accumulated an admirable fortune for a guy who had known adversity for the larger part of life. Then I decided I should get married, start a little family of my own and raise children. The future I envisioned was bright and beautiful. You know they say, 'we make plans and the heavens laugh.'
I'm going through the nadir of my life. I lost everything — friends, property, a huge chunk of my time I will never get. I lost my stride, my memory. I am afraid I am losing control of my mind too — I suffer short term memory lapses too often. My troubles began when this woman came into my life. I should have noticed the red flags when we started. How strongly she enforced her desires. How fiercely she made her case. How insistently she made demands — 'I need a car. I need a house for my people. I need these things or we will not be married,' May God help that woman wherever she is.
My strong Christian family encouraged me to find a church girl because they imagined church girls were a safer bet. They were wrong. The woman I had planned on marrying had a son she didn't tell me about. She had a man she didn't tell me about. She insisted on buying a car from a friend of hers. I later found out that she had been withdrawing all car payments I made to him and giving him part of the loot. Weeks to our wedding, I discovered she had been sleeping with my boss. I discovered my land titles missing. I discovered the woman she had introduced me to as her mother wasn't remotely related to her. My bank account, too had been cleaned out.
While official documents claim I was a victim of a violent robbery. I know my skull was cracked by hired hitmen who had decided I was as good as dead. I spent a long time in a coma. And when I gained consciousness, everything was gone. She was gone. My fair-weather friends were gone. I'm all by myself, healing, learning to dream again, hoping to see the light I saw brightly saw two years ago. This too will pass.
Peter Nsubuga, 36
USU 2021
We are resharing story from this day last year. It's been a wild ride for Peter defined by endless hospital trips. Last year, he refused to respond to foreign numbers because he was unstable, genuinely broken and afraid of what could happen. Peter is trying to build his life again; I spoke to him again today. He still needs medical assistance. He needs a hand getting back to his feet too. A call, too, would improve his circumstances.