38 teenage mothers in Luwero acquire skills in Vocational training

Luwero, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 38 teenage mothers in Luwero District have acquired vocational skills after dropping out of school.

According to Luwero District Health Report, at least 16,163 girls below the age of 19 years got pregnant in the 2020/21 financial year. Of these, 442 girls were below 15 years of age.

The teenagers got pregnant during the COVID-19 lockdown and the majority of them have since dropped out of school citing a lack of fees as well as a stigma among other factors.

One of the teenage mothers identified only as Nakacwa aged 20 years got pregnant after sitting S.4. This angered her parents who stopped paying fees hence dropping out of school.

Nakacwa after delivering a baby enrolled in safe space classes in Luwero town council which was set up by Team Uganda a non-government organization to help teenage mothers and other girls to acquire vocational skills.

Nakacwa has since acquired a certificate in tailoring and is saving money from her farming activities to buy a tailoring machine to earn income and look after her child.

Another girl aged 17 years dropped out of school in senior one after getting pregnant. The teenage mother says that her sister who is abroad stopped paying fees after giving birth and since then she has been struggling to look after herself and the child.

The girls are among the cohort of 38 teenage mothers out of 105 girls who have been pursuing vocational training.

Eric Musaazi the Executive Director of Team Uganda, says that the men who defiled the girls abandoned them and many were found stranded at their parents’ homes.

Musaazi says that with support from Child Care, Rights, and Violence Prevention Fund, they have been training the girls for over a year to do hairdressing, tailoring, and making soap so as to earn a living.

Musaazi says that they have also sensitized them on reproductive health so as to prevent themselves from getting other unwanted pregnancies.

Martha Butono the Luwero District Probation and Welfare Officer says that the project has given hope to teenage mothers that they can do something to earn a living and look after their children.

She appealed to parents to support teenage mothers to get the equipment or raw materials to enable them to apply the acquired skills from the training.

But Faith Nalule the Chairperson of Luwero South East Parish in Luwero town asked for support from other organizations saying several teenage mothers are yet to be reached with such training.

“We still have so many girls who delivered and are languishing in abject poverty in our communities after dropping out of school. We still ask for more training and government support through Parish Development Model to help such girls acquire a better life.” Nalule said

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