Members of a newly-formed Birmingham women’s network group are dipping into their own pockets to save a young Ugandan girl from the evils of prostitution.
The Hotel du Vin Women in Business Group, launched late last year, is sending money over to the East African state to enable a young Ugandan to go to school for a year rather than sell her body to survive.
The all-female Birmingham group, who describe themselves as a gathering of “driven women,” say prostitution is a fact of life for many young women in Uganda.
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Now they are donating around £300 for a year’s schooling to save at least one young female from a life of squalor and vice.
They have chosen Uganda for the initiative where the only choices for many women are labouring for a pittance in tea plantations or prostitution.
Lou Jones, boss of C3 Consulting, one of the lobby organisation’s leading lights, said: “It is shocking that so many women around the world still have no choice but to sell themselves if they and their families are to eat. That is what it comes down to and it shouldn’t have to be that way.”
Kirsty Lee, Hotel du Vin sales manager, added: “We want to give someone the chance to have an education and a career like ourselves, someone who can better themselves and have an opportunity to live their dreams.”
The group are linking up with Plan 海角视频, a global children’s charity which works with children in the world’s poorest countries to help them build a better future. The organisation says it helps ‘girls to claim their rights and access life-changing education.’
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It said: “With education, skills and the right support, girls can make choices over their own future and be a huge part of creating lasting change.”
As a start, the Birmingham network group is to fund a year’s school fees and study materials for one girl in Uganda.
“Hopefully we can build up a relationship with her and then see how the project develops,” said Ms Jones. “We know this is a drop in the ocean but you have to start somewhere.”
Although prostitution is technically illegal in Uganda, many young people in universities and elsewhere choose to sell their bodies to help pay their way.
It is claimed that the practice is rife, even in leading universities such as Makerere, Kampala International University and Kyambogo and higher institutions of learning.
A Kampala spokesman, Ibin Ssenkumbi, said: “There is no direct offence under prostitution.
“When the sex workers are arrested, they are charged for being idle and disorderly, and then they pay a small fine and are released.
“How do you prove that someone’s income is from sex work? That is the dilemma we have. People do it openly. The law needs amendment.”