Silenced

Dedication

For Namanda Gaita.

Thank you for your love, your patience, and the light you bring into a room just by being in it.

SILENCED

Written by Steve

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the copyright holder, except for brief quotations used in reviews or criticism.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Lwanda, Kasaana, Lwanda Girls' Secondary School and all the people in this book do not exist. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

First Edition 2026

A note before you read. This novel is about the sexual abuse of a child by an adult in her home, and about the people who failed to protect her. It does not describe the abuse. It does show fear, coercion, grief and a single act of violence. If this story touches something in your own life, you are not alone and it was never your fault. In Uganda, the Child Helpline is 116 (free). You can also tell a teacher, a health worker, a police Child and Family Protection Unit, or any adult you trust, and keep telling until somebody listens.