'I go to risky areas and talk to young women involved in sex work' Olivia, 15 years.
‘I go to risky areas and talk to young women involved in sex work. I mostly listen to what they have to say. And I try to show them that there is hope’ Olivia, 15 years.
’After the death of my mother, my father wanted to marry me off because he didn’t have money to send me to school. I didn’t want to get married so I escaped the village and came to Kampala.
I got a job as a housemaid, it was hard work and they treated me badly. One evening my boss’s husband raped me. I didn’t know it then, but he had infected me with HIV.
I ran away from that house and this is how I came to Bwaise. I had nowhere to go. I was walking around the streets looking for work. I felt so alone. I was hungry and tired and couldn't see a future.
I became friendly with some women on the street, they were sex workers. They told me ‘you want to eat, join us’. This is how I came to be a sex worker.
One evening whilst on duty, a woman came to talk to me. She was called Hanifah and said she was a Community Volunteer. She asked me about myself and how I had come to be here. I told her my story and she asked me to come and gave me an address.
I could easily have dismissed her, but something inside me told me to go.
And I am so happy I did because thanks to Hanifah and the team, I found a new home and Awamu supported me to go back to school.
I’ll never forget what it is like to have no one to turn to. I often think on how my life was changed because Hanifa found me, so I decided to become a volunteer too.
I give counselling sessions to girls who are in the sex trade. There are many young girls who have been trafficked from their villages or come here thinking they would get work as a housemaid to find something very different waiting for them.
I am happy that I have managed to help 45 young girls find alternative situations.
My dream now is to become a teacher so I can make sure girls get a fair education.'