Nansana, UGANDA – A 40-minute dusty, rough and harrowing ride away from Kampala, through the slums, is a tiny hovel where the stories of the teenagers inside are equally harrowing. Six teenager mothers are learning to bake and decorate cakes – a skill they hope will help them be employable. They are eager to learn, because already their lives have been shaped by betrayal, despair and poverty.
It’s here at the Pelletier Teenager Mother’s Foundation that their future holds a glimmer of hope. The charity works to empower girls in a country where they often are marginalized and abused. Of special target are teenage mothers, because Uganda’s teen pregnancy rate is high, and it is increasing. Estimates say 1 in 4 girls become pregnant in their teens. It’s a mix of unintended consequences, sexual assault and desperation for promises that are never kept.
Saidat is 16. Her toddler, Rajbu, is 8 months old. She came to the center two months ago because she fears for his future. She knows the likelihood of him receiving an education is miniscule, so she told herself that she was his means of success. If she didn’t do something for herself first, she could never do anything for him later, she said.
Saidat’s parents fought often. One night in a fit of rage, Saidat’s father took an ax to her mother’s head. He embedded it deep enough to damage her brain but not enough to kill her. Instantly, her mother went “mad.” Her father soon left Saidat, her mother and her two sisters. She was only 15, but she suddenly became the sole provider for her young family.
She walked to the market one day, and an older man befriended her. He promised to take care of her and her family. She believed him. He didn’t live with Saidat and her family, but he visited a few times. One day he told her to go to his house to get money, which she could have. She did. When she arrived, he locked the door behind her and raped her.
Rajbu is the child from that rape. The man, of course, was never heard from or seen after that. Enraged, Saidat said she went to the local police and told them what happened. The police said that only if she could find the man and bring him to them would they try to take action against them. Saidat knew that was impossible. In a couple of months, she hopes someone has enough money to pay for her to be tested for HIV.
Instead of spending her energy on him, she emboldened herself to change the course of her and her family’s life. She contacted the Pelletier center two months ago to enroll in the skills courses they teach – cake-making, bead-making, hairdressing and tailoring. Each day, she walks three miles with Rajbu to the center to learn.
While she is being educated, she works for people by washing their clothes. She makes $2,000 shillings a month, which is about 78 cents. All of that money goes toward caring for her mother, son and sisters. Soon, she hopes it will be more money.
Saidat told me her story so softly that she was barely audible. She never looked at me – choosing instead to look at the floor with profound sadness and fear always present in her eyes.
Before she walked away to tend to her crying son, she wanted to say one more thing. In a loud, determined voice, she said spoke in Luganda without hesitation: “I want to tell the government that people who rape girls should be given hard punishment.”
In the next couple of weeks, I’ll write a story about Pelletier Teenage Mothers Foundation and tell more stories about the girls who learn there. They are empowering tales.
