In response to the abductions and ritual murders of children in Uganda, villages created a simple but highly effective abduction warning system.
When a child goes missing in central Uganda, villagers beat their drums in regular rhythm, which is a signal for rescuers to start searching immediately, while others on motorcycles try to block all exits from the area.
In this way, at least two children were saved this year.
Although the problem of killing children for ritual purposes has been reported in several parts of Uganda, Buikwe, a village on the shores of Lake Victoria, has particularly recently gained notoriety as the witch capital of the country.
One out of three households in Buikwe has its own sanctuaries, reed beds where you can get advice from so-called witch doctors, which, according to the AP agency, is a frightening statistic that explains the prevalence of superstition that threatens the lives of many children and even adults.
They are butchering children
Some sorcerers use parts of the human body to make potions for success in business or love, or to heal people.
In Buikwe, eight children have been abducted and ritually killed this year, with the remains of their butchered bodies dumped in the bushes or on sugarcane plantations, local officials said.
Across Uganda, 2013 children were abducted in 729, according to police, who also said there was a 39 percent increase in crimes against children last year.
"The alert system in Buikwe is the best way to stop child abductions without stigmatizing traditional healers, some of whom are not involved in the murders," said Obed Bjamugiša, from the humanitarian group World Vision, which works with local authorities to prevent murders.
The warning system makes child sacrifice "a concern of all citizens," he added.
Bugs, megaphones...
His group distributed a large number of drums and megaphones that were installed on shop roofs in Buikwe, with more planned.
Residents of Buikvi have formed warning committees, which work closely with civil groups and the police.
Children are encouraged to return home from school in groups, said one member of the committee, who described the ritual killings as a phenomenon based on "primitive beliefs" about preserving health.
Even fathers, he added, are sometimes suspected of involvement in the disappearance of their own children.
When it comes to abductions, boys are more vulnerable than girls, because their ears are not pierced.
For the most serious illnesses or problems, witch doctors look for children's bodies that have no skin blemishes, scars or piercings, local leaders and villagers say.
Recently, however, even girls with pierced ears have been abducted and killed, which is why, as Bjamugiša states, piercings have become an unreliable preventive measure of protection.
Some were saved
A tearful mother, Juliet Nabirje, described to AP how her ex-boyfriend kidnapped her four-year-old son one January evening, telling her to "forget about the child because he will never see him again."
The man, a homeless stray, has a history of criminal behavior and authorities believe the boy is in grave danger, so they launched a public campaign to find the child, which resulted in him being found.
In another case, a boy was rescued just before his captors began to cut off his head. After that, he underwent an operation to reconnect his neck nerves, Bjamugiša said.
Some families, however, were not so lucky.
The remains of a six-year-old girl were found scattered on a plantation earlier this month. The rescue team arrived days too late, in part because the girl's family did not immediately report her missing, local leaders said.
When the village leader led the rescue team to the place where the girl's remains were, the rescuers attacked him and accused him of killing the child and destroyed his house and tried to burn him alive.
All this, according to local leaders, indicates that the situation has become too tense and that one should be even more vigilant and strengthen efforts to protect children.
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