At last we are in Busia County, North
Teso Sub County, Angorai Division, Katakwa Location. This is home to the Teso.
They have very fertile land and are a very hard working people. They are
farmers and their main cash crop presently is Tobacco. Majority of the Teso
people are found in Uganda and they have a king who is referred to as Emormor.
As mentioned earlier they are still very in touch with their African ways. This
has led to very serious violation of the children and women rights in this
community.
My visit to this community was very
humbling as I found very friendly people but was also shocked by the information
I was getting. I was here to launch the girl power program with assistance from
the director of H- WAY (Heal the Women and Youth) a community based
organization that we partnered with on the ground. They use sports as a tool
for change and development.
Several issues emerged from this visit.
First, there are very many cases of rape, incest and sexual harassment. Girls
as young as the age 7 are being defiled by their relatives who should be
protecting them. Most of these cases are not reported and for the few that are
reported only one is completed and the offender persecuted. The parents and
government administrators are highly compromised.
Secondly there are several girls, who
have gone back to school and are performing despite the predicaments that faced
them. We have girls who have given birth. We applaud these young mothers who
have a strong will to make a change in their lives. They really need a lot of
guidance, support, and encouragement. We
also have victims of rape and incest who
are in school bravely dealing with stigma, are working hard in school despite
all this.
Thirdly is that most girls in secondary
schools are sexually active. This has resulted in very many severe cases of
sexually transmitted infections. These girls are ignorant and are not
practicing safe sex. There are also cases of HIV positive children who need
proper care and medication. The number of HIV positive students is not big.
Fourth is high poverty levels have resulted
in young girls falling for bodaboda riders (Motorbike riders) who cheat and
have sex with them then leave them. This has greatly contributed to these girls
dropping out of school due to early pregnancy. On the other hand young boys are
also dropping out of school to be bodaboda riders and make quick easy money.
Fifth is a high rate of girls dropping
out of school due to lack of school fee, early pregnancies, early marriages,
and poverty. In some cases the parents prefer to educate the boys and not the girls.
The other issue is a high rate of
absenteeism for girls in school especially when they are on their menstrual
period. This is because they do not have sanitary towels.
There are also several child headed
households and this affect their education. There are several causes for this,
one the parents are diseased, secondly the parents have moved to town to look
for jobs, on the other hand its grandparents who are left in the home and they
are too old to fend for the children.
The girls of this community are very
talented and they play sports. This is home to both handball and football
national teams. The community also actively participates in sports as noted by
the CBO H-WAY.
There is need for us to come up with a
boys program in this area that will support the girls directly. We cannot
address some of these problems successfully if we do not involve our brothers.
Lastly is that in order for us to make
a change in this community we need to address the community as a whole. We need
to talk to the mothers, fathers, girls and the leadership. We need to see
change in women by women for women. Just as we say you can silence one girl but
a nation of girls can’t be silenced. We have a platform to voice out and we
surely will till change happens.
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