Stopping Generational Prostitution

The beginning of helping children of sex worker moms

In August 2024, The American Founding Director, Lynn S Auerbach visited the town of Lyantonde, Uganda, a very particular district that has upwards of 300 sex workers, who are all HIV positive.

The Ugandan coordinator, Tumwine Moses working with these women organized 12 representatives of the community to meet me.

A personal note is to add that I am a psychologist who specialized in trauma and violence in families. Bearing witness to the 12 women I met can never be described. They did not speak English and I did not need an interpreter. The pain reverberating from these women over took the room and I had an immediate headache. As woman after woman got up to tell me their stories, others were holding each other crying.

Surely the idea of helping the women with a new occupation was considered. However, the mission of Connect Africa Foundation is to educate children for a different future ….. for this group it would be stopping generational prostitution.

Fast forward, end of January 2025!

From August to January, Moses and I organized to sponsor 25 children from nursery school, primary school, secondary school, and vocational training.

The harassment, discrimination and violence that surrounds these families needed the intervention to “get” the children to boarding schools a distance from their homes.

In fact, 3 horrific situations occurred:

1. One girl, aged 15 who was ready to go to secondary school was already prostituting and was pregnant.

2. One girl, aged 15, who was to enroll in vocational training, upon leaving for school she was found in a bar drunk.

3. A little one who was to attend nursery school was murdered along side her mother.

As of May 2025, children enrolled in school:

• 7 Nursery School
• 10 Primary School
• 1 Secondary School
• 5 Vocational training

The pictures will show you the school requirements that were purchased by Connect Africa, Tumwine Moses organization and parents contribution:

Mattress and blanket

Suitcase

Black shoes

Underwear

All the uniforms required for each school

Currently the schools are on holiday break and report cards are showing mostly good grades. There are 9 of the 17 younger ones who are failing and they are staying at school whereupon we are paying for them to be helped to catch up on work.

Moses and I are very aligned in that the experience of being in a new environment, eating 3 meals a day, wearing shoes for the first time, being cared for and having to sit in class and focus is so very new that it will take more than the 3 months for them to adjust.

Then the question is the students who have gone home for the holiday what will it be like to now stratal 2 very different worlds.

Due to this question, the vocational institute chose to keep the 5 students at school for the 3 week holiday.

Very soon after enrolling in the vocational institute a left without notifying the admiration. Turns out he is HIV positive and felt uncomfortable taking his meds. But more compelling was that he was constantly receiving calls from home whereupon his siblings were not eating since when mom was out working, they had no food for supper. Usually, supper is the only meal children in poverty eat a day. And so, he fled the opportunity of a future for the survival of day to day living.

Future

Presently this is the beginning of easily 15+ years for helping some of these children. In addition, the youth of this community attending the 2-year vocational training is optimal.

Moses and CAF will continue to closely monitor the progress and needs of the children. More diligence will be paid to learning each individual student’s life circumstances as it can impact their learning.

In addition, the Moses continues to work with the mothers in terms of financial help, emotional support to the new future for their children and keeping the him updated on their children’s needs, especially those that are HIV positive.