Teenage mothers across Kitgum District are turning painful experiences into new stories of resilience, recovery and hope.
Once pushed to the margins by teenage pregnancy, stigma and emotional trauma, many of the young mothers faced interrupted education, economic hardship and deep emotional wounds.
However, the Daily Monitor has established that they are now finding new strength in their struggles.
Through community and peer-support groups, as well as self-help initiatives, the young mothers are finding ways to heal, regain confidence and rebuild their futures.
In 2023, while seven months pregnant with her second child, Janet’s (not real name) tumultuous relationship hit rock bottom.
In the absence of her husband, who had abandoned her for another woman, Janet’s mother-in-law asked her to leave the family home, labelling her a liability because of her condition.
Janet and her husband, a truck driver, began their relationship in January 2022. Shortly afterwards, she became pregnant with her first child, who was born in December of the same year.
Her family, fearing the burden of caring for and providing for her after delivery, forced her to go and live with him six days before her due date.
A troubled childhood, characterised by months away from school and social deprivation due to her single mother’s financial struggles, contributed to Janet’s vulnerability.
She was in Senior Four at a school in Kitgum in 2022 when she became pregnant.
‘I dropped out of school after getting pregnant. Life had become unbearable during the Covid-19 pandemic, and since my mother was struggling to raise our school fees and provide for my personal upkeep, I could not resist that man who would give me everything I needed,’ she says.
While pregnant with her second child, Janet contracted an illness in late 2023 while she was still breastfeeding her first-born.
Her mother-in-law subsequently ordered her out of the house.
‘Back at home, I had given up everything. My mother and siblings looked at my children and me as a burden. I became depressed and turned to alcohol, but one day I received visitors who asked me to join a training opportunity at the sub-county,’ Janet adds.
Across her community, Janet, a survivor of sexual and gender-based violence, had little hope that her painful experiences could one day become a story of transformation and courage.
That changed when members of an initiative visited her home in Kilime East village, Pajimo Parish, Labongo-Akwang Sub-county, in mid-2024.
Janet recalls how the opportunity, offered under the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) initiative, helped rebuild her life after she embraced counselling, economic empowerment and community support systems that enabled her to overcome her vulnerability.
After joining the programme in November 2024, she and other girls first underwent mindset-change and counselling sessions before enrolling for life-skills training.
‘Through our Good Future ELA Club, we were trained on how we can better integrate into society. The mentors assigned to us took us through a skilling process, and I have now learnt how to make liquid soap and bake bread,’ Janet says.
She adds that the income from her businesses is helping her support her child in school.
‘Besides supporting my child in school, I have invested the money I raise from the business in piggery. Right now, I am looking to sell the pigs to raise enough money to buy a sewing machine and diversify my income streams,’ she says.
In an interview, Ms Dinah Teddy Atek, the Labongo-Akwang Sub-county Community Development Officer (CDO), says many young girls and teenage mothers in the sub-county have been absorbed into the programme and provided with support for rehabilitation.
‘Many of these girls and teenage mothers are survivors of GBV. They returned with one or two children from previous relationships, and many are now in the process of recovering from the trauma and abuse they underwent at the hands of other men,’ Ms Atek says.
‘Specifically, we always interact with them, give them guidance and counselling, and restore their hope for the future. The facilitation that comes through the Spotlight Initiative programme also helps improve their livelihoods through the life-skills training they receive,’ she adds.
‘We work hand in hand with the office of the district CDO, parish chiefs and others to enable them to benefit from government programmes. For example, we link the ELA clubs to opportunities such as the Parish Development Model (PDM), so that they can access government funds to expand the different businesses they run.’
Fighting denial
Like thousands of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence across the country, Janet has gradually adapted, developed new coping mechanisms and regained her confidence.
Under a mango tree in the compound of her home in Kilime East Village, Pajimo Parish, Labongo-Akwang Sub-county, Mirriam (not real name) wears a broad smile as she narrates how her new bread-baking enterprise is helping her provide for her two children.
But behind her smile lies an agonising story of how she nearly lost her life when her husband battered her during a domestic fight after she declined his request to use part of her shoe business capital to meet his emergency needs.
In 2020, aged 19, Mirriam had recently dropped out of school in Senior Two, where she was pursuing lower secondary education. Under pressure from her peers, she eloped with a boda boda rider from Palabek-Gem Sub-county in Lamwo District.
‘The business steadily grew, and I reached a point where I would stock plastic shoes from Lira City and sell them in Palabek while targeting refugees. But that turned my man into a boss of sorts. He would demand money for his personal upkeep, including money to buy alcohol,’she says.
In early 2023, her business began to decline after her husband abandoned his boda boda business and became dependent on her income. This prompted Mirriam to start hiding her daily earnings.
‘We fought, and he hit me with an object. That left me paralysed for two days until my friends called my family to come to my rescue. They returned my two children and me home that same day and rushed me to Pajimo Health Centre III,’ Mirriam adds.
In July 2024, several months after life had become unbearable, Mirriam joined an ELA group in a neighbouring village.
‘My healing journey has not only restored my confidence in myself but also allowed me to become an advocate and leader for those facing similar abuse in my society,’ Mirriam further reveals.
‘Before joining ELA, life wasn’t easy at all, but today I have experienced a lot of changes. I have learnt tailoring, besides baking bread and making liquid soap, and because of these skills, I can ably support my children with much more ease,’ she says.
On a good day, Mirriam says she makes an average of Shs10,000 from bread and liquid soap sales.
‘It has been very viable, except that soap making is done mainly on order because my client base is still growing. I only sell bread on market days,’ she adds.
Dr Henry Okello Otto, the Kitgum District Health Officer, says survivors of sexual and gender-based violence are increasingly finding hope through new approaches available under the Spotlight Initiative.
‘The referral systems have evidently provided healing to these survivors because health workers and village health teams deployed on the ground have adopted survivor-centred interventions such as trauma counselling,’ Dr Okello says.
The intervention remains instrumental in the district. According to records from the district health department, teenage pregnancies have declined from 28 percent to 20 percent since 2024.
Dr Okello attributes the reduction to enhanced prevention and response measures, including increased access to integrated sexual and reproductive health services for women, adolescent girls and children in schools.
Specifically, through the ELA clubs, Dr Okello says teenage mothers are trained on how to reintegrate into society and become productive members.
‘Under ELA, the girls find an environment where they can open up to each other and seek emotional and psychosocial support through therapy and counselling. They also access specialised support for survivors of trauma, including trauma-focused therapies, among others,’ he adds.
About ELA
ELA is one of the components of the Spotlight Initiative programme implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and its partners, Marie Stopes and ACORD Uganda.
Between May 2023 and April 2026, UNFPA rolled out the second phase of the Spotlight Initiative programme with funding of pound 29.5 million, supported by the European Union and the Embassy of the Netherlands.
The programme seeks to secure universal access to health and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for adolescent girls and young women.
The second phase of the initiative is being implemented in 17 districts across several regions, including Karamoja, West Nile, Acholi, Western, Lango, Central and Elgon.
The programme prioritises skilling by equipping teenage girls and young women who are survivors of GBV with vocational skills such as tailoring, soap making and baking. Beneficiaries are also supported to train in different vocational institutions through funding provided under the initiative.