Pallisa: Local NGO Equips Girls on Vacation

By Lawrence Okwakol

Over 100 schoolgirls from various institutions currently on vacation who hail from Agule County and surrounding sub counties of Kaukura and Apopong in neighboring Gogonyo County, Pallisa District, have been equipped with knowledge and skills of being productive and safe in this festive season.

The girl children, teenagers from different primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions in Pallisa, have been equipped with hands-on skills such as knitting and embroidery to keep them busy with productive work on top of routine domestic chores.

The one-day workshop was organized by a community-based non-profit-making organization called Woman of Purpose, a local NGO in the Palisa district, which was established by Jane Opolot as the executive director.

However, Grace Opeero, the deputy director of this NGO, said the set aims of calling these girls was to address challenges that always surround and affect the girl child, leading to their massive drop out from school.

Opeero, during an interview with the Second Opinion, disclosed that the majority of girls drop out of school during holidays because of numerous factors that the victims needed to know and how to overcome them.

“We have started our program with these participants, but the intention is to reach all of them, as some parents have run away from their prime responsibility of providing girls with the basic needs, such as pads and jelly pants, which makes them vulnerable, and men who lure them, disguising themselves as caring and filling the gap with an exchange of sex, take advantage,” Opeero said.

She added that they have given them tips on controlling themselves since they are adolescents and repelling boys and men who approach them, leading to their dropping out of school, hence blocking the opportunities God destined for them.

Some girls had this to say:

Grace Acam, a student of Kameke SS, said that she has benefited from the engagement that one has to be content with what she has.

“The problem we have as girls is competition. We want to rival our friends in dressing, jellies, and perfumes used, and this forces us to get men to provide what I have seen as a danger”, Acam said.

Immaculate Agadi from Chelekura Primary School said that she learned how to become a self-confident teenager and being open to parents is a big achievement.

“I have been fearing addressing my menstruation problems to my father, but now that I have been guided on how to initiate being free with him by doing what pleases him so that we get closer to each other.”

Agote Grace, a student from Agule Institute of Health Science and Management, said the interaction was so timely but should be extended to other girls as well who did not make it.

Simon Okia, the Agule town council chairperson, said the relationship between the fathers and their daughters, especially in the rural areas, is poor and is causing huge problems.

Okia urged men to create an enabling environment that draws girls closer to them and openly shares challenges.

“This poor relationship of girls using their mothers as connectors to their fathers is looked at as minor but a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

The question is, why do these girls find it easier to request what they lack from other men than their fathers?” Okia asked.

Hon. David Ochwa, the Agule County member of parliament, commends the intervention of Women of Purpose in its endeavors to support vulnerable groups, especially widows, orphans, and disadvantaged people, which should not be underrated.

Hon. Ochwa said Woman of Purpose has empowered many people by constructing for them houses and giving them heifers and goats, which have multiplied and have changed the lives of many families.

Ephraim Opolot said it should be noted that Woman of Purpose opened and started a vocational school that has turned many into job creators rather than being idle, and some of them have excelled and upgraded in tailoring, carpentry, bricklaying, mechanics, and other fields. That is the reason we implore this organization. 

“Before the establishment of Woman of Purpose 20 years ago in 2004 with the aim of empowering and helping women to achieve their purpose in life, the marginalization and land grabbing from widows and orphans were high, but as time went by through various engagements with stakeholders, the graph came down, and now the vulnerable are also engaged in decision-making,” Opolot said.

However, Jane Opolot, the Women of Purpose executive director, said upon the establishment of her organization in 2004, she was identified to represent Uganda in the international widow’s day conference commonwealth in 2006 that was held in London.

“I took advantage of the opportunity to highlight the plight of widows and orphans in developing countries. This touched some members who gave me financial aid to start projects,” Opolot said.