When I spoke to students in Northern Uganda the girls in particular gave me such hope. To my shame, I was surprised at how 'Western' their thinking was and was impressed at their stance on education and marriage. However, it's worth noting that the students at Ushindi are fee paying and the fact that they are at Secondary School puts them into a particular group of society who are able to think beyond their own village.
I have no lesson to share in this blog post, I simply want to have the following noted.
'Education is a god' I was told more than once. Although the government provide teachers at state schools, education costs. And I mean more than money.
Many girls are promised their school fees from wealthy men in their community. Apparently there was one man who on his death bed confessed that he had infected 50 students at the local school plus at least 50 local women with HIV in exchange for school fees or money for their family. It's unlikely that he paid up in all these cases.
One neighbour shared with me 'If a girl says to her friend, I need money for this or that, her friend will say 'there is a secret, you must get yourself a boyfriend or better a sugar daddy, and you will be happy ... girls share a man who will pay. Three, four maybe ten will have the same sugar daddy.'
Everyone told me that education was the key to ending poverty, and I can't say I realy disagree. But does the price really have to be this high?
An HIV nurse said this 'One girl on the Ssese Islands was raped. She consented but I call it rape - she was 13. The price? A pencil.'
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