From the gutter to the classroom

Until October 31, New Vision will devote space to highlighting the plight of slum dwellers as well as profiling those offering selfless service to improve conditions in these areas. Today, CAROLINE ARIBA brings you a story of how Africa Hope for Single Mothers is touching the lives of child mothers and prostitutes in Katanga slum
 
As the majority of Ugandans retire at nightfall, for those living in Katanga slum, it is the dawn of a new day! The notorious slum located in Wandegeya in Kampala, is made up of tiny make–shift structures that serve as, residential houses, bars, eateries or brothels.
 
Walking through a maze of paths and dark corridors, one occasionally passes on people’s verandas or jumps over utensils.
 
Trenches and dark alleys separate the tiny houses. A choking stench of decaying food and urine fills the air. A drunken man urinates in one of the open trenches in broad view of everybody. I am scandalised and quickly turn the other way, but nobody else seems bothered.
 
Young girls stand outside their tiny rooms, wearing all sorts of makeup and attire. Their day has just started.
 
Like other slums in Uganda, Katanga is characterised by filth, crowded and unplanned make–shift structures, poor sanitation and lack of basic social services. The number of Katanga residents is unknown, but they are certainly part of the two million slum dwellers in Uganda.
 
Of the slum dwellers in Uganda, only 13.9% have access to piped water and toilet facilities. The few toilets are shared by up to 10 households.
 
The majority of the inhabitants are poor and unemployed. Alcohol consumption is high. Men are engaged in all kinds of odd jobs, while the many of the young women, who serve in the numerous bars, also double as sex workers.
 
Sex here is as cheap as sh500, according to a Makerere University male student who lives in the area.
 
Because the majority of these women are young, they are at times abused by clients, who do not use any form of protection, resulting into unwanted pregnancies, HIV and other sexual transmitted diseases. Many of them are, therefore, single mothers.
 
African Hope for Single Mothers (AHSM) steps in
 
While Peter Kaujju, the Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) spokesperson, says they have plans to develop all city slums, a group of five fresh university graduates has not just stopped at grand plans.
 
In 2008, Adrinah Busingye, Ritah Nabukalu, Sylvia Nabumbo and Judith Masanyu, under the stewardship of Clare Marunga, set up African Hope for Single Mothers, a community-based organisation (CBO).
 
“The main objective of the organisation was to champion behaviour change among the prostitutes as well as support them,” Marunga explains.
 
Inspiration
 
Marunga says although they hail from different parts of the country and only met at Makerere University, they shared the same history – they were all raised by single mothers.
 
“We saw the challenges faced by our mothers, yet they were not desperate. We realised it must have be a tough job for these people (in slums),” says Marunga, explaining what inspired them to start the CBO.
 
The organisation’s first project was training and counselling of the single mothers about HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. “Many of the ex workers today are single mothers, trying to make ends meet,” says Marunga.
 
To raise awareness about the CBO, the group mobilised friends both locally and abroad, especially the UK, who spread the word. Curious interns from abroad brought donated clothes, food and funds.
 
They also helped secure more funding for the children of child sex workers as well. Later, they partnered with charity organisations like CALM AFRICA and Jolly Mercy while undertaking some projects.
 
Support given
 
Besides psycho–social support to rehabilitate the teen prostitute mothers, the organisation provides relief items and food and trains them on how to start and run businesses.
 
“We train them in craft-making and also support those who want to engage in other income–generating projects,” explains Masanyu.
 
However, for the child sex workers, Masanyu says they enrol them in school to give them a childhood they lost. She says they have also secured sponsors for them.
 
Challenges
 
An unstable financial base is the organisation’s biggest challenge, considering the number of girls and women who need assistance. “We would have loved to operate in the whole country, but we have no eans,” says Marunga.
 
Authorities speak out
 
The Katanga LC1 chairperson, Kassim Musoke, says the Government should give innovative slum dwellers soft loans to start up income-generating projects. Musoke says only the Government’s intervention can change conditions in slums and not NGOs. The Katanga slum is found in Kawempe division.
 
Mubarak Munyagwa, the Kawempe division mayor, blames KCCA for the athetic situation in the slums.
 
“We want to start income-generating activities, especially for the sex workers who do not have any means of livelihood, but our hands have been tied by the KCCA, which controls all the resources.”
 
Beneficiaries speak out
 
Aidah Nalubega, who was raised by a family friend after her mother abandoned her following the death of her father, is all praises for the organisation.
 
“Life was hard. Getting food was a struggle,” she recalls. “I was only 14 years old then and wanted to go back to school. When It was then that some friends introduced me to commercial sex work. But when I had almost lost hope, this organisation came to my rescue.”
 
Rachael Asiimwe, 15, another beneficiary, ended up in the Katanga slum after she was lured from her parents village in Mbarara by a cousin, with a promise to get her a job.
 
“She lied me that I would at least make sh2,000 a day. But at times I would go back empty–handed. I was tired of being exploited by men, who would refuse to pay,” she says.
 
Nabumbo says with support from CALM AFRICA, Asiimwe and Nalubega are now both enrolled at Jolly Mercy Education Centre in Kasangati.