14-year-old Barbara Nabadda conceived during the COVID-19 lockdown when she was thirteen years old, in primary six. Like many a girl her age who find themselves in such situations, life was never the same thereafter. She somehow became a burden to her parents and no longer had a place in her once loved school.
Sooner than later, Barbra instead assumed other duties, then a housekeeper in her own household. She did all the house chores and took care of her siblings while her mother- a fresh foods vendor in Namuwongo market, a Kampala suburb went for work.
“Being pregnant at 13 was not easy for me. I stopped going to school and would stay at home taking care of my siblings while my mother went to work. That made me think I had come to the end of my life.” she narrated.
However, during one of her antenatal visits, Barbara met Faridah–a para social worker at Reach Out Mbuya Community Health Initiative (ROM), trained under the Integrated Child and Youth Development Activity. This project focuses on building the capacity of the government and local organizations to deliver integrated services to children and caregivers living with HIV and other vulnerabilities within a coordinated referral network and case management system.
After a long discussion, Faridah saw the need to enroll her in the program; she was an adolescent who needed psychosocial support and other services, including support for school re-entry, linkage to antenatal care, positive parenting, early childhood development, nutrition education, HIV prevention education and referred her to a social worker for intensive monitoring.
The enrollment process was a success and through regular home visits, Lillian Nangobi-the social worker, engaged Barbara’s mother and emphasized a number of important issues in Betty’s life, particularly continuing with her education. Her mother agreed to support her return to school after the birth of the baby.
When Betty delivered her baby, her mother, Lillian and the school administration successfully negotiated Barbars’s re-enrollment in school. Leaving her baby under the care of her mother, Betty returned to school and even scored twelve aggregates in Primary Leaving Examinations.
Betty is now in senior one at one of the schools in Makindye Division, and because of the continuous early child Development education provided by ICYD, she has the courage to continue breastfeeding her child. To enable the baby to regularly breastfeed without causing stigma to Barbara, her (Betty’s) mother carries the baby to a hidden place near the school on daily basis for specific periods. She has also continued to operate her food stall so as to financially support her family and pay for school fees, is determined to help her daughter achieve her dreams. Lillian and Faridah also routinely visit Betty at school every month for psychological support. Betty is now happy about her life and is determined to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor in future.
“Maths and Biology are my favorite subjects and when I grow up, I want to be a doctor.” She said.
ROM, through ICYD, has continued to reach out to many children supporting them and building their resilience to life challenges in various ways.