Saving lives of young girls in the community: Zahara tells her story

Growing up in the rural area of Kyazanga, Masaka District central Uganda, located over 100 kilometres from Kampala, Zahara (Photo above) grew up with 4 siblings. She always dreamed of becoming an event manager to design and plan events in her community. Zahara, couldn’t see this dream come true. At 18 years, she dropped out of school.  Zahara was sent by her mother to live with her elder sister in Seguku - Makindye Division, an urban slum near Mildmay Uganda hospital.

“I have been living and supporting my sister since I left home(village).  She couldn’t support me to go to school due to the low income at home,” says Zahara.

While staying with her elder sister, Zahara was enrolled into a decoration apprenticeship center to acquire decoration skills. It is here that she was attracted to young boys through fellow peers. She became pregnant and her situation worsened. “I didn’t even know what it feels to be pregnant. It was a shock to my life. It was a hard moment.  I felt betrayed and was ready to die,” she narrates.

Through the community structure linkages and referral systems, Zahara was referred to Mildmay Uganda Hospital for care and support. Under the Project Never Die innovation implemented by the Hospital, she was enrolled for mandatory Antenatal care services, and other health care packages.

She delivered baby Shanita at the Hospital under the support and care of the health care providers. “I was excited to see that my baby was fine and healthy. I was also well. I had become a mother,” Zahara happily explains.

After delivery, Zahara was supported through the apprenticeship program, enrolled for liquid soap making sessions and other services under the program.

This has empowered her to take care of baby Shanita and plan for her future. Today, Zahara is ready to go back to school, gained skills in liquid soap making and saved over five hundred thousand shillings through the Mildmay Uganda Hospital supported -PND savings scheme.

The life of Zahara is a testimony to over 37000 young girls in Ndejje Division, Makindye Ssabagabo, the catchment area for the PND initiative implemented by the Hospital.

Zahara is among the 27 girls and their care takers that have been empowered through the Mildmay Uganda Hospital led initiative Project Never Die (PND) to lead healthier and sustainable lives. The girls have been empowered with apprenticeship skills, home income generating initiatives, and personal saving. The project regularly conducts home care visits to interact with the girls and care takers, holds counselling sessions and links the girls to potential income generating opportunities.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 2021 fact Sheet on Teenage Pregnancy indicates that Uganda’s maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) stood at 336 deaths per 100,000 live-births and regarding maternal mortality rates, 17.2 percent of the deaths were among those aged 15-19.

According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS report 2018), almost a quarter (one in four or 25%) of Ugandan women has given birth by the age of 18. The report further indicates that in 2020, Wakiso District registered the highest number of teenage pregnancies with 5 girls out 10 delivering under the care of a health care provider. Under the PND initiative, Mildmay Uganda Hospital strives to save lives of young girls that have been exposed to teenage pregnancies to deliver from the hospital under professional health care providers. The innovation empowers the girls with appropriate and affordable low-cost entrepreneurship avenues to increase their resources for sustainable livelihood.