Importance of Girl Child Education and the Outcomes After School

On a bright beautiful, cool afternoon after a heavy downpour the previous night, I set off to the humble village in the suburb of Gulu city in the Northern part of Uganda where I was welcomed by a group of women with whom we shared a number of things on the importance of girl child education. I walked and got to the main road where I boarded a boda-boda (motorcycle) as it is the most common means of transport here. When you board this, you pray it does not rain least you are soaked like a mopping rug.

I had to change my location from the one I had previously planned to go to because when I met the leaders, I was instantly rejected by some two new members in this team which I previously met and discussed my mission and welcomed me with hands spread out wide. They asked me a number of questions starting with financial benefits, why I needed to take some photos during the meeting, etc. They did not give me the chance to respond but instead started accusing me of wanting to sell not only the photos but the women as well for my own benefits. It was tough for me since the lady who introduced me to this people had not gone with me but I had to thank them for the time given to me to meet with them again and I left. 

This being a bit of a new area for me, I walked back to the roadside to find a motorist to take me back to the city where I now reside but with the random thoughts now roaming in my mind and not knowing where to go exactly for the trainathon, I reached the town anyway. But when I got back, I was restless and went to see a colleague with whom I shared with about meeting a group of women. He looked at me shockingly but asked all the questions he had in his mind which I responded to all gladly. Looking satisfied with my responses, he told me to get where to write a contact a women’s group leader (LAPEWA) which I called and we shared about my ideas and the plans for the meeting and time to be spent. She said she will get back to me (I could sense she was a bit aloof and skeptical) after consulting with the area leaders, some of the group leaders and then would get back to me. I waited for almost a week and just while I was about to give up, she got back to me and said we could meet on the set date and time. I travelled and we met, shared a few things including the topic to be discussed and I said I wanted to print t-shirts with World Pulse logo on it. 

But after I left, I came to some place where t-shirts are printed and I found out it would be too costly and I would not be able to afford to print for everybody coming for the training and still buy some refreshments and so, I opted to only buy the refreshments for those coming for the training.

Here I went in my World Pulse t-shirt which I printed and curiosity was written all of their faces as well as my face as I saw they were in dresses of similar design and color which I was later told that it is their uniform they wear to their meetings. After they introduced themselves, it was now my turn which I gladly did and told them what World Pulse is and what it does but told them there is no funding from it but the thing is, as a community, we should be able to help ourselves and support one another as it does not have to be only financially. I then encouraged them to join if they can so that they can also connect with other women globally, here I gave examples of the wonderful women I met on World Pulse and my mentorship program which I concluded with my wonderful mentor, Arrey Echi from Cameroon. I also encouraged those who had their smart phones to try and login which they all tried as they were tethered to my mobile internet. I then sat and introduced the topic again shared my love for the women and girl-child education which they listened with concern and then it came their turn to share on the importance of girl-child education and possible outcomes after finishing school.

She will be able to take care of herself and her needs.

Take care of her health especially mental health

Knows her rights and will not accept any form of abuse especially in marriage

Brings about change not only to her family but the entire community i.e., advocacy for education, human rights, health, disability rights and others

Support parents especially with younger siblings to study to the university level

Her life is simplified as she can provide for herself and own family

Shares knowledge acquired with those around her

May have a happy marriage as she is able to support husband both emotionally and financially

Kind of respect accorded to her is different from that of a woman who is not educated

When supported, can do so well in school and can handle/lead the organizations better (I chipped in and gave an example of Jensine and a number of other women leaders here on World Pulse.

Defends her people and even the entire country, here they cited Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga

Rise like storms as girls can never be wasted for good. She falls and get back on her feet stronger especially when taken back to school after she has conceived. She will also do better as she will view life from a different angle of becoming better and wiser

Makes her own decision which benefits everyone

Takes sole responsibilities of her own children compared to the woman without education. In this way, she will not leave her children to become a burden to her parents and the society.

She will give birth to number of children she can manage, that is proper family planning

Supports her husband in a number of ways.

The training was meant to be for only an hour but it went beyond as it got fun sharing and some of the members excused themselves and left to attend to the family matters of house chores like fetching water from the well or starting to prepare supper already. After the meeting, I was escorted by some of the younger women and I was given a cluster of yellow bananas to eat on my way back since I got to meet them after lunch and was unable to share the food they had prepared.

I left happy that I was given this opportunity and that I was able to meet them and exchanged a number of ideas beside the topic of girl-child education. I was also having mixed emotions on some of the challenges they shared on their side as mothers of which most of them lost their husbands and now the responsibilities of catering for their families now lie on their shoulders.

Here are some of their concerns which I captured and said I would share to see if some people can pick interest in assisting them. “Need support from well-wishers to help them continue to create awareness to community on young girls education and support juveniles who are in the remand home near this area where they provide counseling and even sometimes provide rehabilitation through foster care in their homes since sometimes these children are abandoned by their families and have nowhere to go after their time in the remand home and those still out so that they are prevented from becoming another statistics in the remand home and the community”.

So, anyone willing to lend a helping hand to these women or their girls can reach out to me and we see how the help can reach them. One can just pick a girl and send her to school for a year or even throughout their school life till they graduate.