Mother of seven commits suicide over hunger

Kotido, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A mother of seven children in Loteerei village, Longaroe sub county, Kotido district has committed suicide over starvation due to prevalent drought and biting hunger in the region.

The deceased identified as Mariana Lokwii, aged 28 has been the sole breadwinner for her family after her husband abandoned her over the hunger crisis at home.

URN has learnt the deceased first lost a child of 2 years early this month due to malnutrition and she has been struggling to feed the family.

Daniel Lotyang, the youth councilor representing Longaroe sub-county and a para-social worker, told URN on phone that he found frustrated children screaming while watching over the lifeless body of their mother dangling on a rope inside the grass thatched house.

According to Lotyang, when he tried interacting with the children, they said that yesterday their mother had gone to check if she could get some leafy vegetables for supper but unfortunately all the crops in the garden had been destroyed by wild animals.

Lotyang says when the deceased returned back home, she was stressed up that she never spoke to anyone until she was found dead today morning.

“I believe it is trauma that forced her to commit suicide because the only sorghum and maize she planted in the garden were all destroyed, and you know that has been the only hope in this crisis of hunger,’’ he said.

Lotyang revealed that the deceased has left the six children in a precarious state and therefore he appeals for food assistance from any well-wisher to enable these orphans to survive.

Emmanuel Longok, a neighbor said the husband/father of the deceased disappeared from home a long time ago and nobody knows his whereabouts.

Longok says hunger has forced many parents, mostly men to abandon their families after realizing that they are helpless and there is nothing to offer the family as food. He said hunger has affected mostly mothers with children and the elderly who cannot move to look for food.

Longok says their only hope is now in the little crops they have cultivated because even when the government relief food is brought, it does not reach everyone.

The deceased is set to be buried today. She has left six vulnerable children aged between four and 15 years.

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URN