The majority of the girls we have helped and turned away from prostitution face social stigma, family rejection, shame, fear of retribution and loss of future economic prospects.
So far, our organization is rehabilitating a big number of these girls aged between 3 and 17. We pray to God to provide us with funds to build for them a rehabilitation home with vocational training for their future sustainability. It is a pity because most of them have contracted HIV. We make it our duty to visit those on antiretroviral drugs often, to ensure that they do not default on dosage. Pray for us that God will provide us with a motorcar to effect this God’s ordained work.
According to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund, issued recently, it was estimated that up to 35% of teenagers in some Ugandan urban areas are involved in casual sex for cash. The report said poverty was the main reason the trade was thriving among young girls. We really concur with this observation.
Another child prostitute, Barbara said that poverty drove her into the business. “Where else do you think I could get money for my bills, which include shs. 35,000/= ($15) for rent, then food, hair make up among others?. God has called us to reach the needy and hurting people but we cannot do this work alone. Ecc.4:9–12.
Could it be that child prostitution in Uganda is suffering from the “bystander effect”? In 1960s, a young woman on the streets of New York City, USA was stabbed to death over a period of 30 minutes while as many as 40 witnesses did nothing; despite her pleas for help.
Psychologists explain it as the “bystander effect”. In the face of an emergency, a person is less likely to intervene when others are present. It’s our nature to assume that the next person will act, thus relinquishing responsibility.
This description sounds a lot like the international community’s response or lack thereof surrounding this situation in Africa. They adopted a wait and see approach as events unfold, yet when everyone expects the others to take action, no one will.
The great British Politician Edmund Burke once said that the only thing necessary for evil to trump is for good men to do nothing!
