{UAH} A tale of a child mother in Gulu City.

By Aleng Cissy
The fate of child mothers in Gulu City, northern Uganda is alarming. From a You Tube documentary published March 28, 2018 entitled Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancies in Uganda: A Lost Childhood; approximately 15 percent of teenage girls are robbed off their childhood at the age of fifteen. Everywhere in Uganda, young girls are faced with early pregnancies caused by mostly tragic tales of poverty and forced marriages.
Aber Winnifred, 16 years old, an Acholi from Gulu City who lives in Holy Rosary parish, shared her story about her life as a child mother.
She has a baby girl of one year and ten months and lives in a grass thatched hut with her mother plus two of her nieces 12 and 6 years, whose parents passed on at a tender age.
Two years down the road, Winifred used to go to school at Pece Primary School and got impregnated by Oloya Samuel from Patiko sub county,Gulu district.
He was twenty six years old by then and also crippled and Aber was 14 years old. This all happened when she was in primary seven.
At the notice of her pregnancy, he ran into hiding. Aber turned to her sickly mother for emotional support. Her mother settled domestic and school dues vending tomatoes, green pepper and bitter berries.
But as she lives off this cruel and deserted life; her mother developed stroke, a medical condition that has also left her bed ridden for months. This has left Aber the breadwinner of her family as she continues with the business her mother passed on to her from the time she was months pregnant.
She starts off at 8:00am to purchase her stock from a common market called Olailong with capital of twelve thousand Ugandan shillings(12,000). She thereafter, returns home to wash clothes, fix lunch and pay attention to other chores.
She eventually leaves home at 2:00pm to commence vending her products and usually ends at 4:00pm.
The income she earns per day is approximately sixteen thousand shillings (16,000 UGX) and makes a profit of four thousand Ugandan shillings(4000UGX) per day.
On a bad day, she makes a profit of only two thousand Ugandan shillings(2000UGX) that is when she returns at 6:00pm.
Usually, what remains is kept for home consumption. But gracefully, that is a very rare scenario. The income she earns caters for food, medication, accommodation plus other necessities. Accommodation alone is 20,000UGX per month. At times when there isn't any money, they live off the day hungry.
She is not receiving financial help at this point from anyone, even her relatives have abandoned her.
It is her mother's emotional support giving her courage to move on. Luckily, she gave birth without any difficulties that could have robbed the certainty of her health and that of her baby.
Aber's dream at the moment is to secure for her mother a piece of land at two million shillings and build a better hut to live in with her family.
This will also enable her to plant her greens to improve her income and stop paying rent.
She also plans to educated her baby daughter and nieces' after securing a stable income.
The story of Aber Winnifred is a common story of most teenage girls in Gulu,northern Uganda. The number of child mothers is increasingly terrifying and frustrating.
While government has offered universal free secondary education, Aber can not meet the cost of school requirements .
In the meantime, young girls should be encouraged to join health clubs or pursue their talents to keep them busy rather than entertaining unhealthy groups that could lead to increased school dropouts and later early pregnancy.
Parents must also keep close to their daughters to guide and counsel them instead of having attitudes that makes it difficult for their daughters to consult them.

The Writer (Aleng Cissy) is a 16 year old NEN Writing intern. Her dream is to be an Author in the future.

https://www.nen.co.ug/en/a-tale-of-a-child-mother-in-gulu-city/?fbclid=IwAR0nGGWhOmjdDb-OWdILnBKeRB7yjVtsbzduslGLz0bOhQRD1gA26-R9gH8

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