Child Sacrifice in Uganda - The Reemergence of An Ancient Practice

Uncovering the business of child sacrifice in Uganda

A BBC investigation has discovered that many cases of child sacrifice in Uganda are not being followed up by the police and little is being done to protect potential victims.

According to a major report released by the charity Jubilee Campaign, around 900 Ugandan children have fallen victim to the practice.

The ritual, which some believe brings wealth and good health, was almost unheard of in the country until around three years ago, but it has re-emerged, seemingly alongside a boom in the country's economy.

As Chris Rogers reports, the villages and farming communities that surround Uganda's capital, Kampala, are gripped by fear.


In Joseph Campbell's 'Masks of God: Vol 2 - Oriental Mythology', he covers how planting/farming for food led to a new mythological motif of death and rebirth (for example, the wheat plant dies and you take its seeds, bury it and so it is 'reborn'). This led to the practice of human sacrifice in many parts of the world as the idea of killing a human and spreading pieces of their bodies on fields was an offering to promote a good harvest (the above is a variation of that). Examples of this ancient primitive practice surviving into modern times includes the Hindu practice of Sati (wives burning themselves on their dead husbands cremation bed) and the mass royal burial tombs of Ur (where sacrificing the kings court with his death - or even the king himself in some cultures, every 4 or 11 years - became a custom all over the ancient agricultural world).

There is a more comprehensive explanation (in part) here. The following is one quote which illustrates some of the genesis of the Ugandan practice:

In the hunting cultures, when a sacrifice is made, it is, as it were, a gift or bribe to the deity that is being invited to do something for us or to give us something. But when a figure is sacrificed in the planting cultures, that figure itself is the god. The person who dies is buried and become food. (Joseph Campbell, the Power Of Myth, With Bill Moyers)

Since the Ugandan method is for money without the worship of the child as a human incarnation of a god, it seems that this is a practice of 'hunters magic' of a gift offered for future benefit. The way this scam works is simple. The people are superstitious thinking an archaic, distorted practice might actually help. In the meantime life goes on and people who already have money can make money with greater ease than anyone else. Since only the relatively rich can afford the sacrifice its like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Also, there is an element of fear in defying the old ways and the 'witch doctor', or more accurately, murdering scam artist (in case he takes revenge with his 'magic').