“The doctor told me that I had delivered an intersex baby and after explaining to me what this meant, he advised me to take it to Mulago National Referral Hospital for surgery. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I did not know whether my child would survive,’’ Shamira Namaganda recalls.

It was joy when 24-year-old Namaganda and her husband Ibrahim Waiswa, residents of Buyengo village, Tome Sub-county in Buvuma District, welcomed their baby girl, Mercy Namayanja on April 4, 2015.
Namaganda delivered by cesarean section at Kawolo Hospital in Buikwe District and both parents were eager to meet their bundle of joy. Although this joy was short-lived, the couple purposed to stay together and look after their child.

Research
According to August 2015 survey by the Support Initiative for People with Congenital Disorders (SIPD), an intersex health and rights organisation, Uganda does not have a laboratory to perform chromosomal tests for children to help determine sex and genital reshaping surgeries are often flawed.
It indicated that a few surgeries have been attempted to alter ambiguous genitalia in infancy but most of these have been unsuccessful and the intersex children have ended up developing physical characteristics of the opposite sex at puberty.

Stigma
Namaganda says she is currently in fear of her child being ridiculed because of her condition.
“When I am bathing her, I make sure that no one sees her private parts because I do not want her to become a laughing stock. Some of my neighbours know about her condition and I worry that they will spread the news to other people who will make my child feel out of place,’’ Namaganda says adding that her friends have advised her to take the child to a traditional healer because they believe she was bewitched while still pregnant. Read more via Daily Monitor