Documentary on White “Missionary” in Uganda Sparks Backlash

American streaming service HBO received major backlash on social media over the weekend after they released the trailer for one of their upcoming documentaries titled, “White Complex: Called By God. Then Called A Killer.”

The documentary takes a look at the story of Renee Bach, an American woman, with no medical training, who moved to Southeast Uganda in 2009 to open a “clinic” for children, leading to hundreds of deaths.

“A 3-part HBO Original Documentary that examines the story of a young missionary, what it means to help, and the intersection of religion, race, and power…,” read their caption to go along with the video that they posted on YouTube and their social media accounts.

Immediately after, multiple people commented and reposted them, sharing their anger over their portrayal of Bach. Many claimed that they were diminishing the horrific acts she committed during her stay in Uganda.

X user, @evangelionreads commented, “@HBODocs, are you unwell? Because unless this documentary is helping the victims and their families put that lady in jail, you are complicit in profiting from their pain and murder. But for you, it’s okay because of “good intentions.”  #SaviorComplexHBO Vile and disgusting.”

“Or you could listen to the @bastardspod podcast episode about her, which talks about the way she killed kids by doing her own medical procedures with no training and goes into the PR campaign from her family that probably resulted in this documentary,” @Kimmylea4 said.

Another user, @zindzijade, had this to say, “White people will literally murder our children and then have documentaries made about them as “well-intentioned”. If she was killing white children, would this framing exist? I’d say HBO should be ashamed of itself, but clearly, they do not care.”

At 18 years old, Bach founded a non-profit organisation known as Serving His Children (SHC) in Jinja, Uganda, which focused on “preventative care and treatment for kids suffering malnutrition.”

However, a civil lawsuit was brought against Bach after she was accused of being involved in the deaths of multiple children who were being seen at the center from 2009 to 2014.

A Ugandan women’s group, Women’s Pro Bono Initiative (WPI), which was representing two mothers whose children died while under her care, found that neither Bach nor anyone who worked at the centre had any formal medical training, which led to the deaths of at least 105 children. The group also alleged that she even took children out of local hospitals and transferred them to the SHC “treatment centre.”

According to their lawsuit, Bach was also ordered by Ugandan officials in 2015 to stop treating kids and shut down her facility. However she did not and instead changed their registration from “medical clinic” to “rehab center.”

People also debated whether the intention of the documentary was to discuss white saviorism or “the belief that white people are here to save, help, teach, and protect their non-white counterparts.”

From the trailer, some said that the original message seems lost in trying to make it seem like she meant no harm and was just trying to do good.

“Big fan of the HBO Documentaries team — but I am deeply skeptical of giving this woman any voice. A doc about her evils? Yes. A doc where she gets to defend herself? Nah,” @samwhiteout wrote.

From @PrisicillaK, “The critical question would be: Is white saviorism an acceptable defense for the death of 100s babies? Evidently, not. I hope the documentary does not perpetuate mainstream colonial saviorish sentiments as justification for murder.”

“I honestly don’t know what to say about, AOT, the use of “good intentions” as a framing in the #SaviorComplexHBO. Because she did/could not do this in her home country. And those framing her actions this way would NEVER let anyone without medical training treat their own kids,” @folukeifejola commented.

The first part of the documentary is set to release on September 26^th.