My name is Kayenyi Comfort, and I'm 16 years old. I live with a child in the Kisinja village of the Buliisa district. After finding out that I was pregnant from my previous teacher, who had left the school where I was attending, I dropped out of school. My pregnancy made it impossible for my parents to continue to support me. She wanted me to work as a doctor where people gave it their all. They depended on their farms for my education. Additionally, I was unable to finish secondary school because of a lack of knowledge.
When l was pregnant, l went through a lot and as a young mother l faced a number of challenges including antenatal services and stigma from the community. As a young mother, health services were had accessing due to the fact that l had no partner but my parents were supporting whenever l was to go for my medication. Anyway, l couldn’t afford private health centers reason being l had no source of income and my parents hated the fact that l got pregnant.
After giving birth, still my life was never the same because l had to look after my child. L tried looking for work in order to feed my child in the absence of her father. Later that in 2021, l joined an organization called Child Rights Development Foundation-CRIDEF that came in our district for an economic empowerment that was to change my life as a girl. The project aimed at promoting valuable hand and entrepreneurial skills for adolescent girls and women in Buliisa district.
I have learnt a lot from the project where l got skills in beading and bag making, formulation of a Village Saving and Loan Association with other members. After the training, our group was given a start-up capital of bags and beading materials and as well, we started saving from the profits we made from our products. I beg parents to be free with their children about sexuality education and as well give them the necessary skills to prepare for their future And thanks to CRIDEF for the opportunity towards a girl child.
