They didn’t ask my creed

Even though waging a war against my God.

They didn’t ask my village

Even though waging a war against my tongue.

I have breasts

That was all they asked.

They didn’t ask about my dreams

Even though I was taken from my school.

They didn’t ask about my crush

Though that would have been my grave.

I am a lost girl

Is anyone looking for me?

We are the lost girls

Will we once again be forgotten?

Like those blasted into smithereens or

Those butchered daily while the nation looks on.

We are not some cheap disposable tissue papers

Born to be tortured into submission.

We are not animals

For man to do with as he pleases.

While you watch

We are raped, brainwashed and blamed.

While you watch

We get passed around and tossed away.

We are the lost girls

Soon you’d be late and in this cave

We shall soon lose hope

Spawning children of the devil.

And while you watch

Our devil children shall return

To vanquish your own children.

We are the lost girls

Is anyone looking for us?

It was 'good morning' the usual way
sounded just the same
full of energy
of life's promises
nothing could be guessed on that 14th day 2014.

You downed your cup of tea
your piece of yam
you kept some
knowing tomorrow was yet to come
you smiled your see-you-later smile.

Evening came
you did not return
a day passed, days
months
Today 14th April 2015 makes it a year.

The yam has grown moulds
like the waiting in our hearts and longing in our eyes
as we reach for a flicker of possibility
buried under the silence that surrounds your disappearance
we refuse the moulds to cover it...

Today we light a candle
not in memory my sisters - no
we light this candle to stand with you
we light this candle to keep the flicker brighter
we light this candle to evoke spirits of resilience and justice.

(My heart goes out to each single girl,
to each single parent of these girls and
their entire families.)

* Hilda Twongyeirwe is Executive Director, Uganda Women Writers Association - FEMRITE.