Teenage Mothers Step Up to Self-discovery and Hope
By Komuntale Racheal Rutaro
On a Friday cold bright morning, I set off to join Rotarians of Kampala Naalya gathered at Ndere Centre on a trip to Kamuli, in eastern Uganda. It was my first time on a journey with senior Rotarians. As a prospective Rotarian, I looked forward to familiarising myself with them. That slight anxiety crept in on how I should carry myself, and cautious of the conversations I could pick on. Yet this was a moment I was looking forward to the week before. So, when I climbed into the van that would ferry us, I said unto myself, this is it, let me open my mind.
The trip took us for a service project needs assessment in Bugumira village, Kisozi Subounty near Kamuli district. The Club had discussed the project during its weekly meeting, with a presentation from Rotarian Fathila Nannozi. It addressed the rising cases of teen pregnancies and challenges especially nursing unwanted babies in lowly conditions, but also building hope among the girls by attracting them to return to school for formal education and get vocational skills to survive for a better life.
We departed from Ndere Centre at 10:00 am heading through Seeta, Mukono and took the Katosi road, a detour to avoid the repair works along the main route to Jinja city through Mabira Forest ahead. Little did we expect it would cost us more time to the destination. We ended up almost an hour and a half late at Bandera Farmers Network in Bugumira village, our destination. One lesson, I picked is to carry popcorn on such trips, it offset my nausea. I had packed dissolvable Panadol, which was handy to soothe Rtn Buwembo’s drowsy discomfort. You can tell my pleasure in carrying some first relief drug items, is it something that was forgotten on the trip?
Upon our arrival at Bandera offices, we briefly got in embrace with the village folk as they greeted us with a warm welcome, the girls flashing dazzling smiles and warm hugs. A sigh of relief, it was. We had carried pull-ups of Rotary Kampala Naalya that we set up quickly in the Bandera carpentry workshop. This was the meeting place where the village community sat waiting for us. If you expected your clean cemented meeting place with plastic chairs like I had, welcome to the form bench, cutting machine table as your high table, and wood cuttings for your floor. It was business now.
The meeting started with lengthy introductions from mostly women and teenage mothers. So, heart breaking it was as some of the teenage mothers broke down in tears due to the heavy pain in their hearts. Each made requests for help from the Rotarians. The Rotarians’ introductions had powerful messages of hope and encouragement towards the people, whose expressions were a mix of anxiety and the delayed start of the meeting. One Rotarian Jimmy Serugo’s message was, “What has brought me here is to learn from you”, which to me truly speaks a lot of volumes on our mission.
My attention was drawn to one Mirembe Racheal, surprisingly my namesake, who displayed joy and relief at benefiting from the support of RC Kampala Naalya, having rejoined school after a pregnancy. By the looks, she was really transformed, confident and articulate telling her story. She was a living example of hope that ‘your past does not define who you are’. I came to learn Racheal is a pioneer student of the Bandera School program. She was also part of the project started by RC Kampala Naalya, which started during Rtn Sylvia Nankya’s Presidency and implemented under the Imagine year of Past President Evelyn Mulinda. The Club worked with Rotary Vijana Poa project to skill twenty youth including teenage mothers under the Bandera Youth Group.
Assistant Governor Kimberley Kasana, took some time to explain another initiative, ‘The Rotary Fellowship for Empowering Women’ and considered extending support to some of the teen mothers and women in the community. She recounted pressing situations women and girls suffer. In regard to the abuse, a representative from the Uganda Women Network, advocate Matilda Natukunda urged girls and women to report cases of Gender Based Violence to their office located in Kamuli town.
Meantime, the pictorial documentation by Rtn Brian Mayanja that had kept him on his feet brought smiles as he closed up on faces of the teen mothers. You could tell there was a feeling that we are saviours but hope they appreciate we were carrying good hearts, companions responding to stories of personal challenges reading on their faces. We divided them into three groups, forming Focus Group interviews in categories consisting of the teenage mothers, women and men.
Most of the teen mothers’ occupation is farming; maize, beans, soya and chicken rearing. Most of them tilled half an acre for a living. The struggles faced by the less fortunate include lack of capital for their maize growing, and tools to apply skills from training in tailoring, wood carpentry, soap and shoe making conducted by the Bandera Farmers Network.
The Rotarians further visited New Hope Charity School, built with mud and reed serving the neighborhoods, saving their children long distances the nearest government schools. The school was established by the community and is currently supported by the Bandera Famers Network Internation under their School program. So far it runs has classes from baby class to Primary 5 with 189 pupils and seven (7) teachers. We found the children smearing cow dung on the floors of their classes. We learnt they do this every Friday to reduce the dust discomfort during class the following week. The few Staff members that run the school were indeed in want, outlining the lack of scholastic materials and computers. The Rotarians donated; several dozens of books, pens, and pencils. Further, they donated two bags of assorted clothes for the teen mothers.
Two students who had failed to report to school this term got support to return to class. Nambogwe Maureen S3 will be assisted by Assistant Governor Kimberly Kasana while Nabirye Joan S.2 will get fees from Rtn Joachim. Both had dropped out of school.
Our day was not just about giving; it was about fostering self-discovery and empowerment, through our interactions, we learned valuable lessons in empathy, innovation, and the strength found in unity. The community welcomed us warmly and surprised us with a lavish feast featuring a delicious spread of pilau, and meat with smoked groundnut sauce, hot steamy matooke and sweet potatoes. The meal was cooked by one of the community people who is also a Maize farmer fronting her good cooking talent skills that left a lasting impression of their generosity and hospitality, which we were truly grateful for.
As the day close came to 5:30 pm, we departed, passing by the majestic Isimba Dam, more landscapes of rice plantations and lush trees. Our hearts full and minds enriched, we left with a deep appreciation for the resilience of this community and a renewed commitment to making a positive impact, one creative endeavour at a time.