Empower Child Domestic Workers Through Education

Nakyanzi

Nakyanzi  is a 20 year old former domestic worker who resides in Nsmabya west a Kampala suburb. “I dropped out of school in primary seven in 2010 after the death of her father who was the bread winner of the family, Life became hard since we used to sleep hungry at home, joined very bad groups in the slum areas of Katwe of which some were prostitutes and drug addicts.  For survival purposes, I resolved to domestic work where I could wash clothes, cook food for different families and taking care of children. I used to earn between 2000/= to 5000/= a day depending on how many clothes or work I had done although some employers could not pay me while others could give me a lot of cores and pay me less than what we had agreed. My life changed when one of PLA task force members identified me and enrolled me at Nile Vocational Institute in Jinja where I pursued a course in Textile making. I acquired skills in making clothes, bed sheets and pillow cases. After graduation I got a tailoring job in Kampala with a monthly pay of 120,000/= a month although I left after the employer ran bankrupt. I am currently employed in Katwe Market with my mother where we sell foodstuffs like sweet potatoes, Matooke, vegetables and fruits and we earn between 10,000/= to 40,000/= per day.  I personally save 2000/= per day and plan to start up a retail shop in future. This money helps us buy food, clothing, pay for scholastic materials for my sister and also pay for rent. I thank PLA for reforming me because I would be either a commercial sex worker or a drug dealer since most of the groups I was in before going to Nile vocational are commercial sex workers and drug addicts”. Narrated Nakyanzi.