Alice Auma was born in 1956. Remaining childless after two marriages, she moved away from her hometown. She eventually converted to Catholicism but, on 25 May 1985, she reportedly went ‘insane’, unable to either hear or speak, later claiming to have been possessed by a spirit, Lakwena. Her father took her to eleven different witches but none alleviated her condition. Alice claimed a spirit called Lakwena then guided her to Paraa National Park, where she disappeared for 40 days and returned a spirit-medium, a traditional ethnic religious role.