grow up as it is now almost three years since I first met them. Barely toddlers are now big children and baby brothers and sisters are now big three year olds themselves. I am so happy to see that
many of the children who were in our catch up education classes for children not in school during our gap year are now able to go to school.
The SCU team do an incredible job continuing to run the catch up education class for two days a week and the children's club on Friday.
Please continue to pray for the community as the families face many challenges there on a daily basis. When helping in catch up class, I had to take one boy out of the class because he was crying
because he was hungry. It made me think back to how just two weeks before I had been at a Cambridge May ball with an absolute abundance of delicious food. Whilst there is nothing wrong with a fun night like that, it brought home again the reality of the inequality in the world and broke my heart anew. Please pray for funding for SCU to be able to give the children a breakfast of porridge before they start the classes as it is very hard for the young children to concentrate and learn anything from the classes on an empty stomach.
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| The older section of kid's club |
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| Junior |
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| Fatuma |
Also, due to plans changing at the last minute I got the chance to visit Wakisa Ministries home for pregnant girls where I volunteered last year. Whilst all of the girls I got to know last year
have given birth and moved on from the centre, it was great to see the staff again and be able to talk to a new set of girls about how God sees them and their baby and the plans He has for them.
It is incredibly humbling and joyful to see the dreams that many of the girls have for themselves and their babies and how God has used tragic circumstances to change them for good. He makes ashes
into beauty!
Raising Teenagers
On my first day working with Raising Teenagers, I was privileged to be able to attend a meeting with the Ugandan government Ministry of Gender and different NGOs that work around the country to
end child marriage at Imperial Royal Hotel in the city with Hope Nakunda, the founder and director of Raising Teenagers. It was so fascinating to see how the government is partnering with these NGOs
to create a national strategy to end child marriage and how they want to be working in every district in Uganda and not just the urban areas where it is easier to reach. I am praying into pursuing a career in development, so this was also a really valuable insight into the role of government and policy makers in tackling the problems that the country faces.
The other few days that I have worked with Raising Teenagers, I have visited several schools to talk to girls about the importance of staying in school and working to achieve their dreams and many
other educational topics. The work of Raising Teenagers is so important because many girls drop out of school, mainly at the end of primary school or before completing secondary school.
One reason for this is that some girls are forced into early marriage by their families for economic reasons. Sometimes this problem is exacerbated by the issue of manging menstrual hygiene. Some families believe that a young woman is ready to leave her family, get married and have children when she begins menstruating. With marriage, comes the end of her education.
Menstruation can have a huge impact on the educational attainment of girls because according to a UN study, girls miss 10% of school days because they don't have the correct products to be able to manage from school. That means that even if the girls manage to pay school fees to stay in education and avoid early marriage, their chance of reaching their full academic potential is limited as they are put at a huge disadvantage by missing so much of the teaching content. Also, some girls are groomed by older men who tell them that they will provide sanitary products for them if they agree to a relationship with them.
Therefore, Raising Teenagers visits primary schools in Kampala and the surrounding rural districts to teach girls about all aspects of menstrual hygiene. They are then given reusable pads from Afripads that can last up to three years and help to keep girls in school by allowing them to manage their menstrual cycle hygienically and discreetly. One thing that I love about Raising Teenagers is that they not only educate the girls, but also talk to the boys so that they understand that the changes their peers go through in puberty are just as normal as the ones they also go through and teach them how they can support their friends to stay in school.
It is a joy to see a sea of hands excited to answer when I ask the girls about their dreams for the future. I've met aspiring doctors, lawyers, singers, nurses, bankers.... I know that when these girls are empowered to stay in school by their passionate teachers and the work of the Girls Matters clubs, that they have every chance of achieving whatever they want to do in the future.
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| Talking to girls at a primary school |
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| Hope Nakunda with one of the prefects at the school |
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| The girls eager to talk about their dreams and ambitions |
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| Having fun with Hope's daughter talking about her dreams in the car from school |
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| The Raising Teenagers office |
I also got to sit in on a meeting with the Girls Not Brides Uganda network meeting where they were trying to organise a Girls Not Brides campaign event. It is amazing to see how local partners working on the ground are working so hard and are so passionate about ending this global issue.
Yimba Uganda
The first day I worked with Yimba was registration day for the students. I was able to help with registering the students and explaining the expectations of them during the course. There are two
classes of ten students, with one class held in the morning and one held in the afternoon.
Later in the week, I taught the girls about setting SMART short term and long term goals through a variety of different games and activities during class times. It is important that they think about the long term vision for what they want to achieve both by the end of the course and in the future using the skills that they have learnt. One example of this is that we discussed the attributes a successful business woman would need and how they can help to learn and improve these skills during their year with Yimba, such as budgeting, good customer service skills and proficiency in the English language.
It was great to see how ambitious the girls are and to have the chance to encourage them that they can achieve these goals by planning, working hard and using the unique skills that God has given each of them.
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| Explaining to the students, their parents and husbands about the menstrual hygiene packs they will make for their tuition |
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| The Yimba compound |
Prayer
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me!
Please pray for:
- The students at Yimba Uganda to settle in to their new course, particularly for those girls who do not speak either English or Luganda.
- That God will give me the right words as Hope and I talk to girls in schools across Kampala.
- For continued safety whilst travelling.
- For God to give me wisdom and strength, as I often have very long days here.
- For the coming time serving with YWAM Jinja.
