According to the 2021 HIV report by the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), every week, 1,100 people are infected with HIV and almost four in every five are adolescent girls and young women.

In eastern Uganda where the prevalence is high, female mentors have stepped up to protect teenage mothers.

Juliet Athieno 33, a resident of Bisoni A, in Maguria western division Tororo district is mentoring 32 teenage mothers under Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) project, which is funded by Global Fund and implemented by The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO).

 The majority of the girls under Athieno’s tutelage are Karamajongs.  She meets them twice a week. Apart from skilling them in tailoring and hairdressing, she also engages them in music, dance and drama to develop their talents.

They also hold educative talks on finances and reproductive health. She ensures they are not idle because many of them loiter around Tororo town and men take advantage of them.

“Karimajongs are nomads. These girls hardly settle in one place. I have to keep looking for them to attend the sessions,” she says.

Worse still, Athieno says, many girls in Tororo are drunkards. They spend most of their time in bars.

“Getting them off drinking isn’t easy but with constant counselling, we now have success stories,” she says.

From Left to Right; Sizoomu, Baligeya and another mentor at their girls' graduation in Jinja recently. (Photo by Ritah Mukasa)

In Mayuge district, Mariam Muwerero 40, a resident of Mbirabira centre, Bakatuube sub-county has been mentoring 40 girls since 2020. They are between 14-22 years.

She says the HIV/AIDS prevalence is high in Mayuge partly because of parental negligence. Children, mostly girls are introduced to sex early and domestic violence cases are rampant as well.

In her mentorship, she focuses more on teaching girls to avoid HIV and Gender Based Violence (GBV). The counselling sessions are supported by TASO. Those that have the virus are helped to live positively.

Muwerero adds that many teenage mothers now live responsibly and have become peer educators in their villages. She also takes the talks to churches, parties and funerals at the landing sites where she says, many young girls live off prostitution.

“The situation is alarming in Walumbe and Nakalanga landing sites. Parents share partners with their adolescent girls and this escalates the HIV prevalence,” she explains.

Muwerero also partners with other mentors to train girls to make sanitary pads, which she says many girls lack. They are forced to sleep with older men who can provide such basic needs. Short of that, girls improvise with unhealthy materials such as banana fibres, newspapers and old clothes. They train them to make reusable sanitary pads.

“The skilling program and mentorships have transformed hundreds of girls. Many own businesses and can sustain their families,” she notes.

Similarly, Evaline Sizoomu 46, of Namazingiri village in Jinja district is mentoring 79 girls. The majority were married off as children and others slept with older men to survive.

Sizoomu counsels them and builds their self-esteem and confidence. She also teaches them to maintain personal and home hygiene, something many did not know. They would go days without bathing or cleaning their homes.

She also introduced them to family planning because their fertility rate is high. In her group, she has 19-year-olds who already have four children but they are malnourished.

“Their lives have changed. The mentorship has also helped them to avoid domestic violence which was fueled by unemployment and ignorance,” she says.

Lukiya Baligeya, 52, a widow and mother of five is mentoring 30 adolescent mothers. She is a resident of Nabitambala village, Busedde sub-county in Jinja district.

She teaches them skills such as tailoring, hairdressing and soap making among others. She also restores hope in those that are traumatized. Some are HIV positive and she helps them to live positively. They are between 13-23 years and are out of school.