There is an increasing number of single mothers within Uganda mostly in the eastern part that has grown over the years. This has been due to the high poverty levels that have made young girls to indulge in early sexual intercourse for economic gains. This then has resulted to single parenting, psychological torture/trauma, stigmatization, suicide tendencies, child headed families and diseases like HIV/Aids plus other endemic diseases. Some of the teenagers get pregnant due to defilement, rape and Influence due to peer pressure. These are also some of the common antisocial behaviors with in Musoto since most the men are drunkards and idlers who have contribute to the high crime rate like theft in this slum.
This has left many young girls vulnerable to the some of their parents greed by forcing them to early marriages to the men 3 times their age and it has also contributed to the high rates of domestic violence in this area
Sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to find. So we created a new line for everyday life, All simplest things are the hardest to find you.
We help through forming groups, these groups are tasked to sit and discuss their needs and challenges and how we can help. We are not looking at giving those cash but rather empowering them with vocational skills and then giving them tools to start up income generating projects as groups, also creating long term interventions that’s why we are not helping individuals.
Our interventions are also looking at counselling these teenage mothers so that the same isn’t repeated , hence our collaboration with parents, teen fathers, schools and religious leaders to address the issues of teenage pregnancies that are on the rise, we also request teenage mothers to talk to teens still in schools.
You can transform a world of poverty to sustainability. Over 70% of infant deaths occur within the first year of life.
