Remembering the July 11th World Cup bombings

For Jovan Ssebaggala, 21, and his elder brother Joel, a government land valuer, the story started out well but the rest, as they say, is history. The duo arrived early to secure front seats. Fireworks marked the start of the game; then the vuvuzelas took over.

At half-time, a few miles across town, a deadly explosion carried out by Somali Islamist militants ripped through an Ethiopian restaurant. But the news never reached the fans at the rugby club. There was not much social media use as is now.

With three minutes of normal time remaining in the game, there was a loud blast. Jovan thought “fireworks” but instinctively jumped out of his seat towards the screen.

The next time he saw his brother, it was on the front page of The New Vision the following morning. Joel was lying on his back, with his hand on his stomach, dead. So was the story for hundreds of other families.