Certainly, they could confess occasions when they stole simple items like necklaces, mobile phones, cigarettes, money from careless people. Gahima told his friends many years later that he will never forget his first day in the ghetto. Late in the night, some old boys who called themselves Jungle men attacked the ghetto. Everybody was asleep except Gahima. They reached the ghetto equipped with sticks and knifes. They ordered them to give them money or else they were killed. Habineza had a 2-litre tin full of liquid pepper. Immediately, he flashed it into the face of a huge boy who was holding a touch. He fell on his back and screamed and cried out in pain. In a second, they had pounced on him. They hit him on the head and he died right away. This caused a serious and dangerous fight between the junior and the senior street children. The corridor was closed at the end which made it hard for Gahima and his hosts to escape danger. Gahima suffered a deep cut during the fight that lasted for nearly thirty minutes. The commotion attracted the local defence personnel to the place. When they recognized the security men, both the hosts and jungle men ran away. Suddenly, the defence officers fired in the air for about five minutes. The gunshots left Gahima unconscious. It was his first time to hear a gunshot. The police carried out unplanned thorough check of all the houses in Jyamena that morning. In an operation which local newspapers described as ‘successful’ the police recovered twenty one guns and one hundred and one bullets. At the scene, they only managed to grab Gahima and hurriedly took him to Muhima Police station, where they locked him up until ten o’clock. The blood stains and a deep cut in his chest were evidence to the police that the poor boy was without doubt one of the thugs. They gave him several strokes of the cane and hit him on the head with the batons. The police insisted that he tells them the hideouts and names of his friends. He mentioned the names of his hosts when they were questioning him. What saved him this time was the termly report which he had in his pocket. When the police checked him they found a report form for the previous term and advised him to always report to police whenever he gets a problem. “Young man we are releasing you this time because we are convinced you are innocent. Next time, when you get problems report to the nearest police,” said the police officer from the Criminal Investigation Department. Ends
