Mauda's fate On a dark winter night in 1954 three young women stood at the edge of the water. Two of them had already been on the island a couple of days, while eighteen year old Mauda had just arrived. None of them knew how to swim. Although they lived around the lake and made a living from it, most people in this part of Uganda still don't know how to swim.
Left to die Mauda was probably the one suffering the most. She could still feel the excruciating pain of her oversized belly even though her seven month old baby was no longer inside. She had lost it hours earlier after receiving repeated beatings from her father and her older brother. Her mistake had been conceiving this baby out of wedlock. As local custom dictated, she was abandoned on the island to die so that the family would not have to bear the shame any longer. Her only hope was that some impoverished man from another village lacking sufficient means for a dowry would rescue her and take her as his wife.
Mutual fate The three young women had committed the same sin and were therefore destined to suffer the same fate. Standing at the water's edge, they had decided to jump in and thus avoid many days of further suffering. On the count of three two of them jumped. Mauda had a last minute change of heart. Something inside of her was telling her that this was not the end. And so she stood there and watched as her new found friends sank into the dark depths of lake Bunyoni. Seeing a future Three days passed without food or water, and Mauda's hopes were fading fast. Then on the third night she heard a sound in the dark. She was not alone on the island any longer. In between the tall grass she made out the figure of the man who was to become her future husband.
