Due to poverty, gender discrimination, poor parenting and lack of knowledge, 25% of adolescent girls in Uganda are currently pregnant or have already given birth to their first child. Due to poverty, many girls offered sex in exchange for food and other basic needs, thus leading to a number of them conceiving, becoming victims of HIV/AIDS, being victims of Domestic violence , dropping out of school and maintaining a vicious cycle.
There are over 20,000 teenage mothers countrywide and over 200 in Kampala District who need assistance of various categories as they cannot cope up with circumstances and responsibilities of raising their children.
“Many of them can not afford a decent meal as well as taking care of the babies.” Kevin Zziwa said.
On Saturday, December 2021, the Miss Uganda Foundation in partnership with Yellow Card Uganda held a charity reach out to teenage mothers and their children in Mengo Kisenyi, Kampala by instilling hope to them through providing the necessary basic needs to help them go through the festive season.
Yellow Card Uganda is an American Financial Technology (FinTech) startup focused on building a new financial infrastructure for the African continent.
The beneficiaries who are teen mothers under Mengo Youth Development Link(MYDEL) received food assistance, baby care products, personal care products and received psychosocial support . The COVID 19 pandemic and lockdown hit hard on these teen mothers and 80% of them got pregnant in that season.
Eric, the Customer Relations Manager, Yellow Card Uganda, trained the young mothers on how to manage resources and the importance of having a savings culture even in the toughest of times.
Miss Uganda 1st Runner’s Up, Mariam Nyamate, appreciated the role Yellow Card plays in financial literacy and opportunities in Africa. She also encouraged the young mothers who still have an opportunity to go back to school.
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