Ukeme's Story

           His name is Ukeme and we all thought that he was senile well until today. When I arrived here the first thing i noticed was how many mad people they had here and just how dehumanizing the symptoms of their illnesses were. Ukeme however was different from the lot he was always extra quiet, when he stared at you it was like he could see right through your soul and just like Solomon Northrop from 12 years a slave he's eye's always held so much pain. We all stayed clear of Ukeme except for Edith who would say "my fine friend" whenever she saw him and then in those rare moments Ukeme would smile and a dashing smile it would be.
          
           Over time, that "quiet  mad  man" as I used to call him started to look.sane he started to look better and healthier. Did I mention that in the state of he's senility he looked disturbingly anorexic so putting on a few pounds was a really really good thing. Well until I saw him again two weeks ago reeking of rotten flesh with his left hand hidden in his shirt away from public glare and my first thought was oh no! this man is back to being mad again he probably slept at a dump site or something. Until last Sunday when I saw him walk by and I saw his hands the one he tried to hide.

           They were black, gangrenous, mangled and dead! the whole left hand had been eaten by gangrene it was the most disturbing thing I had ever seen, the more I thought of it the more I knew that something was amiss and so, I became obsessed with knowing this man's story. Today I did, Ukeme was never mad but he's father is. For the past 16 year's of he's life  he's suffered untold abuse physical, psychological and mental in the hands of the very man who brought him to this world.

           Last year, he was taken to a herbalist's den by his father to be cured of his so called madness as well as witchcraft. There, he suffered mutilations, starvation and beatings until he managed to escape but after that he was never  the same again. That experience , took away his believe in humanity and so he chose to become mute, last month he had malaria and since be heard that malaria can be cured by moringa he took some of the leaves from his father's compound and because he's son used his precious moringa, he's abusive father did what any possessed lunatic would do. He had thugs beat up his son with chains and pestles and put his left hand in raw acid for hours!

          Ukeme will never use his left hand again, he will never do a lot of things. I leave this place come Friday and Ukeme's story has taught me that sometimes the mad man is not mad it is the people that call him mad that are mad.