When Florence Namuyiga’s Muslim husband asked her why their seven-year-old son was singing Christian songs, she remained silent.
Namuyiga, a 27-year-old mother of three in central Uganda’s Lwebitati village, Kitumbi Parish in Mubende District, had been secretly attending church services with her two- and five-year-old sons since putting her faith in Christ. She had not chanced taking her eldest son until recently.
‘That evening, while back at home, my son began singing some of the Christian songs that were sung in the church,’ she said.
‘My husband began questioning me where the son picked such kinds of songs, but I kept quiet. He then turned to our son, who narrated what he saw in church of both men and women worshipping together in one big hall. Thereafter we went to bed with no communication with my husband.’
Her husband, 34-year-old Abudalah Nsubuga, told her she had to go to Friday mosque prayers.
‘I refused,’ she said. ‘He started beating me up with sticks and kicks. When I fell down, he left me and went to the mosque. I began bleeding with serious injury on my left arm. That evening he did not come to the house but slept in the house of one of my co-wives.’
Early the next morning he showed up at their home.
‘He arrived and pronounced [ritual Islamic] words of divorce and threatened to kill me if I remained in the homestead together with my two sons,’ she said. ‘There and then I left the homestead, leaving all my belongings behind.’
She and her three sons sought refuge at an undisclosed site.
‘I have been supporting my three children by washing peoples’ clothing around the village,’ Namuyiga said. ‘Indeed life is quite difficult for me and the children. I have realised that following Jesus is not easy. Sometimes I spend sleepless nights thinking on my future and that of my small kids, especially their school fees.’
Her husband, who has two other wives, divorced her after eight years of marriage.
She had put her faith in Christ after attending an evangelistic meeting organised by the church.
Uganda’s Constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another.
