Buikwe district Woman Member of Parliament Hon Judith Babirye has on Saturday joined hundreds of women in a match to create awareness of fast rising teenage pregnancies in Uganda.
Babirye, who also doubles as a musician teamed up with hundreds of women in a match from Centenary Park to Kitante Primary School, 7:00am.
Labelled ‘The Mentoring Walking’, Babirye and the rest of the women turned up in clothes colored red and white. The match took its tag line from the International Women’s day celebration 2017 theme, “Be bold for Change”
This walk comes a few days since her visit to parents of teenage mothers in Buikwe district.
During this meeting held at Nyenga, Buikwe district on Thursday, the award winning gospel singer advocated for the return of these children back to school, urging that they still have a brighter future ahead, despite what happened in the past.
“These are girls that have been victim of circumstance, but they dream of a bright future – they dream of a better future. So today were are appealing to all mothers and people everywhere to protect the girl child. She is the foundation of a nation.” She said.
She listened to the ambitions of most of the teen moms, urging that they have a right to education, employment and good health.
“But many of them cannot access such services because of they are under age, they don’t know what to do, they need to be guided,” She said. “We have plans, God willing, we will have our own place where we can mentor them in maybe; hair styling, carpentry and so many other things. We believe they are still capable despite what has happened in their lives.” He stated.
Uganda has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa at over 25%, according to reports. And not many ever make it back to school.
