Unveiling the Island where Pregnant Girls were sent to die

 Woman reveals how she was rescued

Mauda Kyitaragabirwe got pregnant in pre-independence Uganda, her parents sent her to Punishment Island, with the expectation she would die there.
She was saved and is the only known survivor who escaped the island.

She told BBC: “If you are taken from your home, put on a canoe and taken to an island where no one else lives, would you be scared?”

“I had heard about other girls that had been taken to Punishment Island, but that was way back. I would hear that if a girl got pregnant, she will be thrown there. So, it seems I was also tempted by Satan and got pregnant and I was taken there.

“Back then, you could not fight back. If you fought back, they will beat you up. I stayed on the Island for four nights. But I was very hungry, I was almost dying.

“The pregnancy was still quite early on, after I arrived there I lost it. I never had the baby.

Local men, who cannot afford dowry, come to the island to pick wives.

“By God’s grace, a man came along he was a fisher man and he said that he will take me home with him. I was a bit sceptical. I asked him whether he was tricking me and wanted to throw me into the water. But he said, “No I am taking you home.” So he brought me home.

“He loved me. He really did loved me and looked after me.” He said, “I picked you up from the wilderness, and I am not going to make you suffer any more.”