When I was 20 years old and interning at Raising Up Hope for Uganda (RUHU), a young woman brought her baby to the children's home and said that she would return for him after she was finished working. It soon became clear to us that she wasn’t coming back. I had heard stories of women abandoning their babies at RUHU, or even leaving them to die in gutters and piles of trash, but as her baby cried in my arms, this felt real. Along with severe attachment issues, this baby also had typhoid fever, malaria, and a bloated belly and thin hair (signs of malnourishment). He stayed at RUHU for the next month and although I so badly wanted to be angry at his mother for leaving him, I also knew that it had not been an easy decision for her to make. I hung onto hope that she would eventually return and, sure enough, early one morning she was found outside the gate of the children’s home. Drunk, hysterical, and in her pajamas, she explained to RUHU’s administrators, social workers, and me that she had escaped an abusive relationship, been living on the streets and, like many of the other young women, began survival sex work as a means to take care of herself and her baby. After she realized that her work was putting her baby’s safety at risk, she brought him to us. In an effort to help her get back on her feet and provide a safe and stable home for herself and her child, RUHU provided her with support. However, after a few months in the organization’s care, she ran away with her baby. In the couple of years that followed, she has returned to and run away from RUHU a handful of times, has had another baby, has buried that baby, and has contracted HIV. The last time she ran away was about a year ago and we haven't heard from her since.
This story is unfortunate, but not unique. During the slum outreach program in Kisenyi that Patrick, the director of RUHU, facilitates on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I noticed that many of the beneficiaries were boys and young men, but the program lacked attendance from girls and young women. When I asked Patrick where they were, he said that they were sleeping because they had to work at night. I also learned that girls and young women that are living in the slums, sex workers or not, are highly susceptible to sexual abuse.
After recognizing a very specific need within the young female population, RUHU has decided to establish a female empowerment program called Muwala Mulungi, which translates from Luganda to “beautiful girls” in English. This program provides education and access-oriented services to girls and young women in the slums of Kisenyi. The program will provide for their most basic needs: shelter, food, clothing, women’s health products, so that they can focus on the journey towards self-actualization without worrying about where their next meal is going to come from. Although RUHU provides options for education, many of the young women that solicit RUHU's services are either too old for school, have children to nurture, or are not interested in education. By offering a variety of options to develop skills, such as trade schools, apprenticeships, or employment, RUHU can help empower these young women and enable them to take control of their futures in a sustainable way. The program will also encourage empowered and independent lifestyles through mentoring and psycho-social support. By offering social support combined with access to educational and professional opportunities, we will be able to empower a new generation of women to see their maximum potential.
This story is unfortunate, but not unique. During the slum outreach program in Kisenyi that Patrick, the director of RUHU, facilitates on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I noticed that many of the beneficiaries were boys and young men, but the program lacked attendance from girls and young women. When I asked Patrick where they were, he said that they were sleeping because they had to work at night. I also learned that girls and young women that are living in the slums, sex workers or not, are highly susceptible to sexual abuse.
After recognizing a very specific need within the young female population, RUHU has decided to establish a female empowerment program called Muwala Mulungi, which translates from Luganda to “beautiful girls” in English. This program provides education and access-oriented services to girls and young women in the slums of Kisenyi. The program will provide for their most basic needs: shelter, food, clothing, women’s health products, so that they can focus on the journey towards self-actualization without worrying about where their next meal is going to come from. Although RUHU provides options for education, many of the young women that solicit RUHU's services are either too old for school, have children to nurture, or are not interested in education. By offering a variety of options to develop skills, such as trade schools, apprenticeships, or employment, RUHU can help empower these young women and enable them to take control of their futures in a sustainable way. The program will also encourage empowered and independent lifestyles through mentoring and psycho-social support. By offering social support combined with access to educational and professional opportunities, we will be able to empower a new generation of women to see their maximum potential.