Comboni Missionary Sister Fernanda Cristinelli talks about her work with women in Karamoja.
Moroto is a very poor and marginalised district of Uganda, in the Karamoja sub-region, in the northeast of the country. More than 80% of the population is illiterate, and women are severely discriminated against, even though everything rests on their shoulders. We, the Comboni Missionaries, work with them through initiatives such as the Diocesan Office for the Promotion of Women, where we encourage awareness programmes on their dignity and rights.
In addition to this presence in Moroto, we have started training activities in rural areas. For one week each month, we visit parishes and offer accompaniment on the journey of faith, literacy, courses in agriculture, home economics, human rights and hygiene. Finally, we invite women to participate in microcredit projects promoted by the Diocesan Office, the Congregation and the regional authorities. In this way, girls can start activities related to trade, crafts or livestock, with which they can acquire economic stability and self-confidence.
From the Diocesan Office, in collaboration with other religious orders, local authorities and the police, we have started an intervention programme to help victims of violence, sexual abuse and forced marriages. Teams of volunteers have been created in various parts of the diocese, a reception centre has been opened, and an awareness campaign has been launched through radio broadcasts and meetings in the villages. Violence against women is a widespread and accepted phenomenon, and changing this mentality is not easy.
For some years, we have been fighting against the trafficking of children used for begging in Kampala, the capital. Many of these children come from Karamoja. Sometimes they are brought to the city by relatives, but other times relatives and friends deceive the parents, who do not know that their children are forced to beg on the streets of the capital.
With the support of the diocese of Moroto, we opened a small nursery in Kampala to welcome children, at least for a few hours a day. They are looked after by a team of Sisters and lay people. We do everything we can to help them live like children; we try to send them to school and, when possible, we return them to their families or place them in a foster care programme. The main problem is convincing the adults of Karamoja to stop this exploitation. Some, after a long period of persuasion, stop using children as a source of income and entrust them to us. Others, however, continue to carry out this activity.
Our charism urges us to commit ourselves to these realities, while at the same time we see every day the beauty of this country, the generosity of its people and the commitment of so many people who believe and work for a better world.
