A 47-year-old farmer returned to his ancestral home that day to find no sign of life, only note. His two daughters had used pen, pencil and red colouring to write it carefully before leaving.

"...GOOD BYE FOREVER," reads note seen by this reporter. Second message, on small scrap of paper, reads: "GOODBYE FOREVER. GOD'S BLESS YOU AND GUIDE YOU."

George had come straight from Lira City, where he worked as security guard at district headquarters, to Okole Primary School to check on his daughters, who were in Primary Five and Primary Four.

The school told him the girls had been absent for some time and it could not account for them.

"I asked the head teacher if my daughters were sent home because of school fees since I had not paid anything, but the head teacher said they could not do such a thing," he said.

He had hoped to find them at home, where he usually left them while on duty. Instead, he found note.

Girls are now aged 13 and 11. To protect them, details that could easily identify them, including village and clan, have been withheld.

A life already shaken

George and his wife, Monica, separated in January 2016 after their relationship turned sour. She returned to her home area in Ayer Sub-county and later remarried in neighbouring Alito Sub-county, both in Kole District. Since then, his two daughters have been his only family.

Lira District Local Government employed him as security guard from 2022 until July 17, 2026, when his contract expired. Girls had stayed at his ancestral home.

The 2023 case

George says family's troubles began in December 2023, when his daughters, then aged 8 and 10, were allegedly defiled by relative. He reported matter at Kole Central Police Station, and suspect was arrested on charges of aggravated defilement under SD reference 22/29/12/2023. Police investigated but later released him.

This publication has withheld man's name because he was never formally charged in court of law.

"They said the suspect was innocent, alleging that I was the one who had been sleeping with my daughters," George told this publication on November 5, 2026. "They did that because they simply wanted to kill the case."

"Anybody can take custody"

After girls disappeared, Mr Geoffrey Alepo, LC1 chairman of Omuku Cell, wrote George "to whom it may concern" letter to help him trace them.

"I played my role by giving him a letter to look for the children. I also advised him to go to the school where the children were studying so that they could also support him in the hunt for the children," Mr Alepo said.

George says Kole Central Police took no action. "The police told me that anybody can take custody of any child," he said.

At North Kyoga regional police headquarters in Lira City, he says no one attended to him.

"I overheard police officers saying that they could not enter my case because I am troublesome," he said.

Only officer authorised to state police's official position is North Kyoga regional police spokesperson, Superintendent of Police Patrick Jimmy Okema.

He had not responded by time of publication. WhatsApp message sent to his known number on November 6, 2026 shows as read, but he did not reply to it or return our call.

School's view

Mr Alfred Opio, head teacher of Okole Primary School, said he was yet to establish whether children's father came to school as he claims.

"What I know about that man is that he is very violent. One day, he returned a child to school while beating her saying that the school authorities had sent her back home very late. If the children left behind a note, it means he has not been really a good father," he said by phone on Saturday, November 7, 2026.

George did not deny disciplining his children but insisted it was in their best interest. "I have been so nice to my children. As a father, I could not just sit and watch them go astray," he said.

Still searching

George does not know where his daughters are. Unconfirmed rumours suggest younger girl may be staying somewhere in Ayer Sub-county, while elder is working as maid in Aboke Township, near Aboke Health Centre IV, Kole District.