By Shawn Ruggeiro | Executive Director
It’s true, Just Like My Child (JLMC) is unabashedly about Girl Power. That being said, we know that without the support of men and boys, the success of women and girls will be limited.
In 2017, ten rape cases were reported to the police by JLMC Community Legal Volunteers (CLV) in Uganda. In one, a 13 year old girl was raped by a man in his 30’s who also threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Her uncle reported the crime to a JLMC CLV who took the case to the police station. Although the perpetrator’s family attempted to settle the case with an exchange of food and money, the extreme poverty facing the girl’s family did not outweigh their outrage. The case was prosecuted and the criminal went to jail. While justice was served, the girl remains living in a state of poverty, was left mute from the trauma, and unfortunately, is now being shunned at school.
I met this girl on my last trip to Uganda. While I was enraged by the actions of the one man, I was uplifted by the actions of the uncle, the headmaster, and one of JLMC’s Program Coordinators. The headmaster at the school was not going to allow this girl to slip through the cracks. His school is in the second year of JLMC’s Girl Power Project, providing club sessions with topics such as “Know Your Rights.” Not only did he visit the girl in her home to assess her situation, he alerted JLMC of the situation, as well. Our own Program Coordinator, Ismail went to the girl’s home to provide additional resources and referrals to the family. Together, the headmaster and Ismail found a donor to help pay for the girl’s school fees, provide additional nutrition to the family’s larder, offer a haircut, new shoes and a backpack, and most importantly, counseling to help in recovery and not allow the crime to define her future.
The wrongdoing of one does not outweigh the goodness of three. JLMC would like to honor the men and boys who are champions among men on behalf of children – it's what is at the heart of Just Like My Child.
JLMC's staff includes six men who are advocates for improving the outcomes of adolescent girls. In doing so, they know the lives of boys and men will also be improved. They are all incredible role models and amazing JLMC team members working tirelessly to help deliver JLMC’s Girl Power Project to 1,200 vulnerable girls and as many boys in 2018.
We hope you will continue to contribute and help empower vulnerable girls through the Girl Power Project. Please donate what you can. If you have already contributed, know that nothing inspires us more than having your support in this important work.
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