Rescuing Victims of Human Trafficking in Uganda
09.06.2023
Uganda has a food shortage and a major problem of commercial prostitution of young but poor women. Family & Life has financed the vital work of rescuing these women, some of them mothers with small children but trapped in prostitution. Thanks to you, we have provided desperately-needed food hampers, small cash stipends and temporary housing to many of the women rescued in Kampala, the capital city.
Family & Life, through the aid of their supporters, has provided desperately needed food hampers, small cash stipends and temporary housing to many of the women on the programme in Kampala. The food hampers in particular will help many women and children through Uganda’s food shortage and COVID crisis.
Family & Life’s St. Patrick’s Fund has helped rescue women (often women with young children) from the horrors of sexual slavery. Here are a few short accounts of victims we have helped…
(All names have been changed for privacy)
'Thomas is now 10. He has been supported by the Child Education Program since he was 6 when his mother joined the Exit & Rehabilitation Scheme. Thomas managed to return to School after the COVID-19 lockdown, even though his mother had lost her income due to a lockdown related downsizing at her work place.
Nantale was desperate to get out of the sex industry, with very little education, no job training, and trying to support herself and her 3-year-old daughter, Balinda. Their future looked grim. Nantale and her daughter were rescued by our colleagues, and she received financial help, training and eventually started up her own small hairdressing business. She was finally free of the sex trade.
Lisha is 25-years old and the mother of a 3-year-old son. She joined the sex trade at 16 after dropping out of school. On her own and without any outside encouragement, Lisha eventually turned to Rescuing Victims of Human Trafficking for help. She wanted out of the sex business and a decent life for herself and her son. With our help, Lisha opened a small soft-drink concession in a Kampala marketplace. Her start-up business became a modest success. But then COVID and the food shortage struck. Now Lisha is waiting out the COVID lockdown and receiving food and other aid with help from our St. Patrick’s Fund.
Our appeals were able to help a 12-year-old boy, Marvin, to go back into education, and help his mother to leave the life of a prostitute while also being fully rehabilitated.
We have also been able to help another 14-year-old boy called Trevor, whose mother has also now fully exited the prostitution trade. 13-year-old Joseph still has his mother in the prostitution trade, but your help in our appeal has helped get Joseph into school and work is still being done to try and help his mother out of the sex trade.
Our fund helped Nakirayi, an 11-year-old girl, return to school. Her mother is vulnerable to joining the prostitution trade, but assistance has been given to help her into a more secure life for her family without having to go down this route.
Catherine is a 7-year-old single child whose mother is still in the prostitution trade, sadly. However, we have been able to help Catherine receive an education and our wonderful friends in Uganda are working hard to offer the mother support and education to get out of the sex trade. Finally, we were privileged to help a 14-year-old girl named Naomi. Her mother has a disability. She is deaf and cannot speak, having been a survivor of sexual exploitation. Thankfully, we have been able to assist the young girl with school and continue her education and help can be given to her mother.
Lisa has a passion for Art, Crafts, and African Fashion. She used this passion and art to make and sell jewellery. Lisa now runs a tourist Craft Shop. Thanks to the micro and small Micro and Small Business Enterprise fund (MSBE) Lisa's business remained open during and after the lockdown as it enabled her to restructure and identify new customers and ways to market her products since the number of tourists visiting the country have drastically dropped.
Lisa's Crafts and Souvenir Shop