Thanks for taking the time to visit my Just Giving page to raise funds for Wakisa Ministries, Kampala. Uganda, a refuge for abused and pregnant young girls.

In November 2011 a fire destroyed the dormitory at Wakisa Ministries.  Fortunately the girls were outside eating and no one was hurt but the building was destroyed and Wakisa could not help new girls in need of support and counselling.

Support the KPC Wakisa Rebuilding Project 2014-15.

A team of seven people from Kilkeel travelled to Wakisa Ministries, Kampala, Uganda, at the end of May 2014, to help finish rebuilding work on the new dormitory building.  This provided accommodation and counselling support for up to 50 abused and pregnant young girls and helped them through the trauma of giving birth.

A local doctor skilled in tropical medicine was also part of the team and was able to check on the health of the young girls.  

 The project involved:-

1.      Electrical installation and wiring in new dormitory building.

2.      Plumbing, Tiling, woodwork and painting in all the buildings at Wakisa.

3.      Installing rain catching guttering to capture fresh water.

4.      Erecting a fence for privacy to help protect the girls.

5.      Building and repair work in outdoor kitchen and yard.

Uganda has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in sub-Saharan Africa, with half of its girls giving birth before 18-years-of age. Some give birth to healthy children, but for many, the pregnancies are unwanted and find ways to terminate it. 13-year-old Ruth was raped by unknown person in her neighborhood last year. Ruth delivered last week at Mulago hospital through a cesarean section.

Unlike many girls in a similar situation Ruth is being supported by Wakisa Ministries. Wakisa ministry supports girls under crisis pregnancies. Until last week Ruth was one of the 27 girls at the Bakuli based organization, many of them close to full term. 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF SOME OF THE GIRLS HELPED BY WAKISA MINISTRIES.

JULIANA’S ORDEAL

Juliana a 17 year old school girl in senior six, the eldest of five children who lived with her mother in Goma, Congo.  Her dad had another wife. One day In October 2012 Juliana was returning home from school, she found 7 soldiers in her home harassing her mother. Her mother had already been beaten and all her money had been stolen.  When they saw Juliana they were excited and said they had found what they were looking for. The soldiers started touching her and when she resisted they started cutting her arms, her back, her neck and her chin and she started bleeding so much she fainted.  Her mother pleaded with the soldiers to take her instead of her daughter but, instead of taking her one of the soldiers raised his rifle and shot her as Juliana was watching. Juliana fainted due to shock from this violent and traumatic act. When she regained consciousness she found herself lying on the ground totally naked and covered in blood.  She saw her mother lying dead.  There was one soldier still standing beside her and he abused her violently.  This time she was conscious but had no strength to fight back.  The soldiers also abused other girls who were in the village before eventually leaving. Later some friends found her lying on the ground and took her with them to a nearby camp where they remained for two weeks.  She was treated in the camp with herbal leaves by several old ladies. Juliana was distressed when she realized she was in a strange camp and she remembered what had happened to her and her mother.

Juliana eventually managed to escape from the Congo on 12^th April 2013 and reached Uganda on the 14^th April. She escaped on a truck with a number of fleeing families and eventually ended up in Kampala at the central police station.  Juliana arranged to stay in Kampala with one of the families who escaped with her on the truck from the Congo.   No sooner had she settled in with this family when they were chased out of the house because they could not afford the rent. Juliana had to come back to the police station and they handed her over to Compassion International.  Back at her home in the Congo the M23 rebels are still controlling Mazhego in Goma. The senior soldiers of M23 are constantly attacking and abusing any women they find in the surrounding districts

Juliana is now 7 months pregnant but still in denial about the whole traumatic experience. She does not know how many soldiers abused her.  Juliana is asking herself; “now my mother is dead where do I go with this child?” and worries what will happen to her in the future.  Juliana often has hallucinations – when she imagines her mother is shouting at her to follow or she hears her voice telling her to be a good girl and concentrate on her studies as she used to tell her when she was alive.   This happens more when she is worried and then she worries even more when she imagines her mother is calling her to follow! 

Juliana has sleepless nights and often cries. It is ongoing counselling, support and activities at Wakisa Ministries that will keep her mind off the traumatic experience she had to endure. I could not help shedding tears as Juliana told her story in her calm voice.  I could clearly see her pain, hurt and shame underneath her calm voice. She was looking down all the time and of course tears were streaming from her eyes!  After she delivers her baby we will need a home to take in this young traumatized Congolese girl and her baby.

Brenda

 Brenda was abused by her father for two years until she conceived and ran away from home. Wakisa Ministries rescued her but she had kept the secret of the paternity of her unborn baby.  This man continued coming to visit her. He wanted to take her home. That was when a bitter Brenda, now 13, confessed to Vivian Kityo that it was her father who had abused her sexually and that she did not want to go back home.

The Wakisa director called the police and briefed them about the issue. So when the father came to pick the girl, the plain-clothed police handcuffed the man and took him away. He is now in Luzira prison.  Brenda gave birth to very tiny twins. To her, the babies were some form of dolls. She played with them and did not see them as children. Wakisa Ministries traced her relatives in Masaka and she is now living with them.

Sharon

At 13, Sharon is expecting a baby. She was a victim of rape at the hands of her stepfather. One time, the man beat up his wife so badly that she had to be hospitalized. While the woman nursed her wounds in hospital, the man used the opportunity to rape Sharon.  When the man’s relatives found out that the girl was pregnant and that the case had been reported to the police, they wanted to finish her off – kill her. That is when someone took her to Wakisa Ministries.   She is now eight months pregnant.

Well, these three humbling accounts are only a tip of a gigantic iceberg. More and more girls do share similar, and even worse, experiences.  

What troubles us more is that the innocence of many of these girls is snatched right away from them by their own relatives – fathers, brothers, uncles, step-fathers.

Wakisa Ministries is a library of so many of such sad stories. 

APPEAL FOR SPONSORSHIP FOR THE YOUNG MOTHERS OF WAKISA MINISTRIES

Most of the young pregnant girls who get admitted to Wakisa Ministries drop out of school and are between the age of 11 and 17.  Over 80% of them would love the chance to go back to school but their parents or guardians are unable to take them back because of a variety of circumstances.

You can give these vunerable young girls a second chance in life and a better opportunity to get a job by donating towards their school fees. 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP SUPPORT THESE GIRLS,

 CONTACT DAVID ORR. 

Email: kpcwakisa@btinternet.com

£13.85 per week will educate a girl in Senior school to ‘A’ Level standard including all boarding school costs.  This is a small sacrifice to help these girls get an education so they can support themselves and get out of the situation they have been forced into.

 Do you want to help?

Your generous donation would contribute to rebuilding Wakisa House and share in this wonderful opportunity to help these underprivileged and abused young girls. Thank you in advance for your consideration and support.

 Visit KPC website for further details

http://www.kilkeelpc.com/special-events/

Proposed projects for 2015

1. In Uganda power outages are a common occurrence, sometimes the power will be turned off for 24 to 48 hours at a time, this makes it difficult to perform normal daily tasks.  Therefore the provision of Solar power at Wakisa ministries will be an essential addition to the care of these abused young girls as well as the smooth running of the administration and care by the staff and the volunteer helpers. It will also significantly cut the running costs of Wakisa Ministries and leave more resources to develop the work there.

2.  The supply of water in Kampala is a problem and most of the supply is harvested from rain water collected in tanks or supplied by tanker.  This is dependant on rainfall and expensive if delivered.  We would like to drill a well in the grounds of Wakisa and provide a constant supply of fresh water for these unfortunate girls.

Please help donate to this worthy cause.  Thank you:)