Prostitutes in Uganda exist in a state of constant flux: not always ‘good citizens’ and surviving, they can be vulnerable, chaotic and seem on the edge of death. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the shanty towns and slums of Kampala.
Our short research journey takes us to Bwaise’s red light district. HIV/AIDs is a major problem for the community, especially due to the ongoing sexual exploitation of vulnerable women.
Just after 7 pm, our reporter meets a small group of women wearing bright clothes and a lot of glittery make-up. They’re happy to chat about their work and their everyday lives, and I start feeling less wary about our presence.
In the Bwaise slum, commercial sex has been practiced since the early 1970’s. We spoke to Namubiru (not her real name) who is in her late 50’s and has been a commercial sex work for the last 20 years in Bwaise, which is regarded as the home of low-end commercial sex workers. Namubiru has four kids all adults and a husband. She says that she has always wanted to quit the profession but circumstances have dragged her back into it
The challenges Namubiru and her fellow sex workers face are; harassment from crime preventers and the violent customers who at times turn violent and refuse to pay for the services.
Just a few metres from Namubiru’s ‘stage’, we have a short chat with Uwase (not real names), a teenager who just enrolled at a government aided the secondary school in Kawempe. She is 15.
Unknown to her teachers, Uwase lives a double life, primary school students during the day and “a queen of the night” in the evening. During the day, she is the innocent schoolgirl yet to know the world. Uwase is a master at her game. Like a lioness, she will selectively choose her prey and once identified no man can resist them. To many old men, she brings back the memories of youth and the satisfaction on the cheap.
She arrives late in school and is often too tired to fully concentrate in class. But she does this not out of choice. Her guardian, a single parent who besides brewing alcohol also survives on the same trade, is not able to take care of Uwase and the other children who are under her care.
At first, when her guardian who introduced her into the trade, she was still at a tender age and then the act was too painful. With time, she has got used to it and her guardian helped her procure an abortion so she does not miss out in school or “work”.
She struts in the streets scantily dressed and with heavy make-up to attract clients. Her guardian is aware of it since she too is a sex worker.
Child prostitution is slowly picking up especially in slums as a means of survival. Most of these children are either orphans or living with guardians who are in the same trade. Some guardians though, keep destitute children in the guise of helping them but act as their pimps and hire them for sex. Child prostitution not only undermines the rights of these children, but it also destroys their future and exposes them to drugs, HIV and Aids, abortions, early marriages and eventually death.
This high-risk behavior among youth is driven by poverty and perpetuates the rapid spread of HIV/Aids and vulnerability, especially among youth and women.
“We used to give the women condoms and teach them how to use them but we realised that they wanted something more beneficial and income generating, poverty here is a major issue,” Namubiru tells us.
The situation for Namubiru, Uwase and hundreds of others is nothing easy, nor is it simple. Many like Uwase are pressured into prostitution by their families, others go because they see no other way to make money.
In a nutshell, over 300 children are living with HIV/AIDS and over 400 girls and women between 13 and 40 years are engaged in sex trade.
Bwaise is also among the poorest, most densely populated slum area in Kampala. The predominantly Muslim slum area has a population of 90,000 people, 65% of these populations are youth between 15 and 25 years and 40% are Muslims.
According to information from Action for Fundamental Change and Development (AFFCAD), a local NGO, poverty, lack of prospects, little or substandard education make the youth of Bwaise vulnerable to recruitment by radical organizations. To survive, many young people are engaged in hazardous and extremely low paying work: construction workers, brick layers, hawking, motorcycle, taxis, food trading, etc Many of Bwaise young male and female youth are susceptible to alcohol and drug abuse and engage in petty crime and sex trade.
This reporter’s motivation to spend most of his Thursday evening in Bwaise, documenting what struggles that women go through is encouraged by a baseline survey report by European Union and International Organization for Migration (IOM) that explores the factors responsible for conflict and violent extremism in Kampala slums.
The study just like Namubiru and Uwase’s accounts shows that poverty and unemployment are the greatest contributors to the lack of social cohesion that can lead to conflict and radicalization in Kampala slums.
It was conducted by the IOM under the project Strengthening Social Cohesion and Stability in slum populations (SSCoS), which is wholly funded by the European Union. With a budget of €4.3 million (Shs 16.5 billion), the project runs for a period of three and half years and seeks to strengthen social cohesion and stability among slum communities covering Bwaise, Kisenyi, Kabalagala and Katwe areas in Kampala, Uganda.
The project is implemented by IOM and Action for Fundamental Change and Development (AFFCAD) in sectoral collaboration with relevant government agencies.
The study results show that the most vulnerable residents of the slums are youth- 15-35 years (88%). The sources of grievances for this group include poverty (52%) followed by unemployment (32%), family dispute (27%), followed by political extremism (23%) and religious extremism (10%). Drug abuse, tribalism, injustice, land wrangles, devil worship, and unfavorable government policies were all important sources of grievances in slum areas. Individuals who earn less than 100,000 UGX a month (53%) and those with a history of violence (6.3%) were also particularly considered to be at-risk of participating in acts of violence.
This baseline study was a precursor to the three and a half year project with the objective of identifying drivers of conflict and possible radicalization. It is expected that data collected will inform an important evidence based model of countering radicalization.
According to the report, the main acts of violence and sources of grievances in slum populations are violence, mob justice, and rape or sexual harassment ranked 47%, 46% and 33% respectively. Other violent acts reported include human sacrifice (17%), suicide (10%) and acid attacks (7%); as reported by respondents.
Mr. Thomas Tiedemann, Head of the Governance and Human Rights Section, speaking on behalf of the EU Delegation to Uganda said that “The European Union is proud to be contributing to an initiative whose end goal is harnessing the potentials of young people in slum dwellings and helping them to develop their own lives – and contribute to the development of their communities – where poverty and lack of basic resources are otherwise likely to aggravate conflict and destitution”.
The IOM Chief of Mission Mr. Ali Abdi said that the findings are a strong indicator that slum communities should be targeted with programs for awareness-raising, to know their rights, be linked to basic services and opportunities in order to increase cohesion, citizen participation, and stability.
stephenmuneza@gmail.com, +256772544870 or Twitter @stephenkmuneza
