Marium, thank you for connecting with FiLiA for his interview. Could we start by understanding a little more about life for Women and Girls in Uganda?

Thank you so much for thisgreat opportunity to talk to you. A few weeks ago a 13-year-old girl was sold off to a 70-year-old man for marriage in exchange for three cows. This was because the family was living in poverty and they were starving. InUganda, women are living a very hard life. Itbrings tears whenever I think about it. 

 Most families here are living below the poverty line. They are unable to provide basic resources for their families to the extent that most families cannot even manage to pay as low as $20 tuition per semester for their children to acquire education. Menstruation has also become another big problem because most families cannot afford to buy sanitary towels. So the girls stay at home and use leaves and dirty clothes instead. They end up finding it hard to go to school and drop out. This has left most children unable to go to school and the girls are sold off into marriages at ever younger ages - as young as 12-years - so as to acquire the best bride price. These young girls are raped and there are increased teenage pregnancies, HIV and also child neglect since these young girls are left alone in the care of their children - who they are totally unable to take care of.

In addition to the above, most women here are considered as ‘property’, hence they are abused in very many different ways. Most of them don’t have jobs and cannot even run for safety from abusive marriages since they are dependent on their abuser. Many have died with no justice rendered to them. The situation has worsened even more due to COVID-19, as Lockdown was put in place. Women have been the most affected and domestic abuse has been the order of the day here. 

 

What made you decide to do something to change the situation?

I was once vulnerable. My mother was unable to raise my tuition fees, I thought everything was over for me and was planning on getting married at the age of 16. I was so lucky I happened to be connected to an Irish sponsor who paid all my tuition fees and I was able to complete my Bachelor’s degree in Ethics and Human Rights, at Makerere University. I was once in the situation that these young girls are in. My mother cried day and night because she didn’t want me to get married as my other sister had. My mother smiles now and I have high hopes that these crying women today will smile one day, and that women and girls will have a voice, their rights will be respected, and they will be independent. I hope that girls will view their periods as normal and be proud to be girls. Generally, all this gender-based harassment will end one day and girls and women will live happy lives with their heads held high.

 

When did you set up NFDO-Uganda and what are its aims?

NFDO-Uganda is a young, grassroots NGO that I founded in 2019. Our aims include:

• Fighting for women rights and children rights. This is done through providing tuition, education materials and sanitary towels to girls and young women.

• Offer developmental interventions to women through training so that they can launch their own initiatives and live independently from their abusive husbands.

• Organising educational seminars for young girls and women to raise awareness of health and hygiene, particularly menstrual hygiene. And to make them aware of their rights.

• Acting as a voice to the voiceless women and children through human rights activism and representing them in court where necessary.

• Working hand-in-hand with other organisations across the world to make the world a better place for women, children and teenage girls.

• Preserving the environment as we all know that a polluted environment denies people their right to health.

 

You do work around domestic abuse and education... Could you tell us a little more about these different parts of your work, as well as any other things that your organisation is doing?

Domestic violence is a general term for any abusive behaviour or control over a spouse, and there are many forms of domestic abuse or gender-based violence. For example sexual harassment, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and so on. Women and young girls are the main victims and it has many negative effects including loss of life.

These outcomes have triggered our organisation to support all groups who are doing everything possible to help the victims escape, through counselling those who are psychologically affected, providing food relief and other basic needs to those who have escaped the abusive life, and are building their lives from scratch and also skills training so that women can successfully live independently, away from abusive husbands.

Education is the key to a bright future and we want our children to thrive. Uganda is a developing country and most families are poor. Many children are also orphans, having lost their parents to AIDS and other calamities, and we are helping these children to have a future by paying their tuition fees and buying scholastic materials. We also provide sanitary pads for the girls so they can continue with their studies. 

 

Can you share some of the successes that you and your team have had?

We have:

• Paid the school fees for 15 girls.

• Trained five women in how to bake cakes locally and earn a small income.

• Trained two women in bracelet making. 

• Assisted seven women to live independently from their abusive husbands through helping them to earn their own small income.

• Providing relief to the families of the children under our education projects and the elderly through our relief project during the lockdown. It was not much but left smiles on their faces.

• As a team, we have worked hard on formulating a proposal to stop domestic violence and are awaiting funding.

• We have managed to earn trust from different individuals all over the world and they are helping donate to our causes whereby a few have committed to a monthly donation. That is a very big achievement for helping to run part of the day-to-day organisation activities. Thanks to the beautiful ladies from the UK and USA that have helped the organisation so far. Be blessed.

 

Have you had much support from the authorities for your vital work?

Although the Ugandan government is not against our organisation, we have not yet received any support from them since the government does not usually fund NGO work.

 

What are your aims for the future of the organisation?

For the future I would like to:

• Work with organisations worldwide to fight for children and women rights, and am sure this will come to pass. We will eradicate gender-based abuse.

• Establish a large training centre to accommodate about fifty women and will include a home for teenage mothers who have been abandoned.

• Establish a school for our education project, which will include admission for children whose parents are unable to pay tuition.

My dream aim is to expand the organisation to other African countries, and countries in Asia and Latin America where people suffer most from human rights abuses. 

 

How can Women reading this support the work that you are doing?

To all beautiful women reading this, first I love you and salute you for being strong women who never give up or give in.  If you can help us to fulfil our aims and bring a smile on the poor girls’ faces and the abused women, we are receiving donations via the Giving Way platform here.

Or you can donate directly to the organisation account via bank transfer:

Account name: Nurturing for future Development Organization- Uganda

Account number: 1044201474990

Bank Name: Equity Bank Uganda limited

Swift code: EQBLUGKA

Country: Uganda 

 

Have you anything else you want to share with readers? 

I appreciate you taking the time to read about our work. This world is full of love and hatred, failure and success, happiness and sadness, gaining and losing, giving and receiving, success and failure, weakness and strength, and death and life. One can choose to live with negativity or positivity. And although the world always looks at women with negativity, you can change that perspective today. Women are great leaders and the world cannot survive without them, especially if we join hands together as sisters of the world. I am very grateful for your assistance and love.