131 | Pandemic is a crisis for girls around the world, and this is what we are witnessing and working towards in Uganda
Text / Lian Yihan (Original post published on March 23, 2022)
The Covid-19 pandemic will prevent more than 10 million girls from going back to school again.
This is not alarmist. The Brookings Institution, a leading think tank, estimates that even after the pandemic ends, between 11 million and 20 million girls worldwide will still suffer from a variety of reasons, such as child marriage, pregnancy out of wedlock, early entry into work, etc. situation, permanent loss of learning opportunities.
Before the epidemic, girls' education rights were relatively fragile. In the case of child marriage, in 2019 UNICEF predicted that more than one billion girls will be exposed to the threat of child marriage in the next decade; in other words, one in four to five girls worldwide will become Child bride.
With the joint efforts of many aid agencies, governments and society, the number of child marriages was steadily decreasing. However, the economic shock and school closures brought about by the epidemic have made the situation worse again, and the number of child marriage cases has skyrocketed. Families living in extreme poverty could not bear the financial pressure and were forced to “sell” girls; schools were originally a vital line of defense to protect girls’ education rights, but were forced to close for a long time, resulting in girls directly losing educational opportunities and raising parents’ expectations. Motivation for girls to marry early.
Especially in Uganda, where our agency Love Girls is based, the East African country has experienced the longest school closure in the world, from the end of March 2020 until January 2022. This means that the 14-year-old child who should have gone to the second country is still at the level of primary six.
On the first day of school, we observed in a remote village in the Mukono district that only a dozen or so children returned to school on time in a primary school with hundreds of children. This is indeed to be expected. A certain percentage of primary school children come from more remote villages and even islands on Lake Victoria. The lake itself is twice the size of Taiwan. Information and transportation are time-consuming. The day is long overdue. On the one hand, we are waiting for more schoolchildren to return one after another; on the other hand, we also know that this "temporary" closure means for some girls a "permanent" loss of educational opportunities.
Child marriage in refugee camps
Uganda ranks in the top 20 in the world for the prevalence of child marriage. Although the country's law has made it clear that children under the age of 18 are not allowed to marry, the criminal responsibility for child marriage is not clear, and in the absence of serious violence, child marriage is often unregulated and does not face legal trials. In remote villages and refugee camps, child marriages are all but commonplace.
A recent UNICEF Podcast documents child marriages in the Kyaka II Refugee Settlements in western Uganda. The refugee settlement houses mostly people who have fled from neighboring Democratic Congo to the west. Faridah, who lives here, came to Uganda after fleeing child marriage. In order to prevent more girls from being victimized, she began to actively advocate girls' rights in refugee camps, set up a studio to record music that conveys hope and empowerment, and started teaching women sewing and clothing making.
A simple home visit can prevent a girl from falling prey to a marriage deal. One family Falida visited was planning to marry their 13-year-old daughter to a man more than 20 years her senior. The daughter cried heartbroken, and the mother strongly opposed the decision, but the father, who was the mainstay of the economy, felt desperate. The impact of the epidemic has caused him to have no income for many consecutive months, and he has seven family members to support. Marrying a daughter can get a dowry, and their family urgently needs this life-saving money.
Farida asked the 13-year-old girl, who would be forced to marry, "What is your dream?" The girl replied that she just wanted to continue her studies. Farida has a proposal for the girl's father: let his wife and daughter learn to sew, so that they have a skill that can help him improve the family together. She even asked the father to look directly into his daughter's eyes and wonder if this was really the life he wanted to give his daughter?
In the end, the father agreed to the proposal. Farida's visit saves a girl's future. In her studio, more women have tapped their abilities step by step, stepping on a sewing machine and burrowing through fabrics.
they in the training center
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[This article is not finished, see "Walk the World" for the full text: The epidemic is a crisis for girls all over the world, which is what we have witnessed and worked hard for in Uganda ]
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131. The epidemic is a crisis for girls all over the world, and this is what we have witnessed and worked for in Uganda
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