How this community helped a young mother
Not only did the community comfort her, they also made sure she had food on her table and a roof over her head.
A young lady recently had a baby in Mutungo, a suburb in Kampala City. She gave birth just as the country was going into the coronavirus-induced lock down; and that is when everything started to go wrong for her. “After giving birth, the company she was working for decided to audit her and they found that she had made losses,” Araali Muteegeki, a journalist and resident in the suburb, starts the narration into this painful ordeal. “In order to recover the money, the company confiscated most of her house items and she was left with literally nothing apart from her baby.”
Despite this, she thought all was not lost, and that the father of her child would step up. She thought wrong! The young man instead disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. “With no job, the young woman and her baby were left at the mercy of the neighbors who took the initiative to feed her,” he says. “Mind you she has not paid rent for the last three months, but the landlord is understanding.”
Not only did the community comfort her, they also made sure she had food on her table and a roof over her head. When asked if she had a plan, the young mother said that she wanted to return to the village and be with her mother. Again the community rallied behind her and helped raise her transport fare, but then the lockdown was extended. “Unfortunately she can't move since public transport was banned,” Araali says.
On a good note though, the community continues to make sure she is fed and the landlord has let her have shelter until she can travel. Note that these are communities whose population has gravely been affected by the lockdown; in sticking by this young lady, they are going out on a limb.
By Civsource Africa Team