Joyce Namugambe
Different partner organisations in Uganda came together and held a central region Girl summit 2023 with an aim of sharing ideas on how to fight and end early marriages and teenage pregnancies among girls and Gender based violence in the country.
The summit that was organised by the Girls not brides in Uganda Network, Women Probono Initiative among other partners, took place at Buikwe district headquarters, as children from schools around the region with different stakeholders gathered and shared experiences about the life after early marriages among young girls and discussed ways of fighting the acts.
According to the Director of Girls not brides Uganda Hope Nankunda, they have been engaging children at the national level especially in Kampala about the effects of teenage pregnancies and early marriages but they found out that girl children who are greatly affected by early marriages are mostly in villages that is why they came out to hold girl summits in different regions such as Arua, Kyenjojo, Kabaale, Buikwe and other regions so that they can gather enough experiences from girl children and get means of fighting against early marriages among girl children. Hope noted that they also move together with the 16 days of activism against gender based violence as it is one of the causes of girl child marriages.
She called upon parents to take their responsibility and protect the girl child against early marriages especially through keeping their girl children in schools. She expressed concern over the existing laws and policies that are not active to help the children against any kind of violations which has increased the rate of men engaging in such evil acts against children siting the girl child. Hope reveled that after the regional summits, they are to hold a National Girl Summit 2023 in Kampala on 30/11/2023 to discuss all challenges that have been gathered from different regions and find means of solving them.
During the panel discussions, one of the partners, the Women’s Probono Initiative’s legal officer Lorna Nagawa emphasised that according to the law, all marriages between a man and a girl below 18 years is illegal and such a man deserves to be punished and expressed dissatisfaction over parents who send their young girls to early marriages because they also went into marriage at an early stage. Lorna appealed to government to come out and face the realities of challenges to the children in the country and set policies such as the Rights based approach to help solve problems affecting children, siting the girl child in the country so that they can live a happy and joyful lives.
One of the midwives who talked to the children at the function May Namukwaya warned children about the negative effects of early marriages and teenage pregnancies since girls get into body health complications such as Fistula for giving birth when their bodies are not yet ready. She expressed that it is sad that they receive more pregnant girls in health centres which is alarming and called upon religious leaders, community leaders, and the ministry of health to come up with more policies to protect children and fight against teenage pregnancies and early marriages among girls.
The Women’s Probono initiative Programs officer Charlotte Nazziwa was glad that according to the presentations by children at the function, it shows that they have a good idea about the negative effects of early marriages and teenage pregnancies which gives hope that with a joint effort from stakeholders, the act of early marriages among girls can be reduced until it is completely washed away.
The Executive Director for the National children’s Authority Martin Kiiza stressed that statistics show 34% in terms of violence against children in communities which calls upon agent attention to fight against such vices in our communities. He called upon all stakeholders to work together and fight evil acts against the girl child.
According to the children who spoke on behalf of others, they want to see strict rules and punishments to men who inpregnant young girls and deny them the chance to finish their education, they want to see pregnant girls being given a chance to continue with their education after giving birth and not to be discriminated, school teachers to learn to respect children and their rights, among other issues.
One of the survivors of early pregnancies Damalie Nyangoma warned the children against the effects of teenage pregnancies since it led to the marriage break up between her father and mother. This was because her father chased her away from home and her mother had no choice but to leave the marriage and go with her daughter. Damalie narrated that life was too hard for her throughout the pregnancy period but fortunately, she was supported and had a chance to study a teaching course and became a Nursery teacher, which gave her a chance to get a job and look after her son.
However Damalie warned children to try as much as they can to avoid teenage pregnancies among themselves due to the suffering she went through. She added that not all of them can get the chance she got to go back to school, therefore they need to keep themselves safe to avoid the negative consquencies.
During the function, different schools presented entertainments with messages about the negative effects of early marriages among girls and teenage pregnancies. These entertainments came from schools such as new beginning primary school Buikwe, St. .Juliana high school, St. Matia Mulumba Ssabawaali primary school among others.
The partner organizations that have been involved in this initiative include World vision, Youth Chaperon Uganda, Every teen counts, Health Initiative Association, Unique ministries international, Joy for Children, Raising Teenagers Uganda, Online Church of Uganda, Education and Development Opportunity Uganda, among others.
This year’s Girl’s summit has been driven under the theme: ‘A united Society Free from Child Violence.’ happening in the South Western region, Western region and the Eastern region.
