Warning: This episode contains references to child sacrifice and is only intended to be heard by adults aged 18 and over. If you are likely to find this distressing, emotionally triggering or challenging,  please consider carefully how you might want to engage with this episode. We’ve provided links for support agencies in the description below. Stay safe. 

For the last episode in this series, I talk to Sam Karugaba. 

Sam is a Ugandan working in the rural areas of Uganda. What does Sam do? For the last 10 years Sam has been rescuing children from being sacrificed. 

In Uganda, and some other countries, traditional beliefs in the power of witchcraft still endure. It is believed that sacrificing young children will bring good fortune and success in life and business.  Children are regularly kidnapped, killed, and their blood, limbs and other organs are used to invoke the power of the spirit world. 

We first join Sam on his phone in the back of a moving van. He’s received information that children are going to be sacrificed. He’s two hours away in a race against time. Sam talks to us for a few minutes then connection then drops. We manage to get hold of Sam a couple of days later to see what happened to the children. 


Kyampisi website https://kyampisi.org/


Emergency and support lines

UK emergency 999 / non-emergency 112, Europe emergency 112, US emergency 911 (A full list of global emergency telephone numbers can be accessed on Wikipedia at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emergency_telephone_numbers) 

Childline 0800 1111

Crimestoppers UK 0800 555111

UK Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline 08000 121 700

Migrant Help 0808 8010 503

Rape Crisis England & Wales 0808 5002222