Mentoring girls and giving women voices

Briefly tell us about yourself.
I’m Joy Kasana Muwanika, a graduate primary teacher and headmistress Kamuli Girls Boarding Primary School. I’m also the chairperson Kamuli Municipality Women Guild, wedded
What is your biggest concern for children?
Promoting good parenting practices, fighting child abuse and have parents taking full responsibility for their children upbringing. Children are a gift from God. We need to mobilise communities to respect and promote children’s rights, value and support education for regular attendance and retention,
What do you make of the rampant child marriages and defilement?
These rob girls of their childhood and imposes adult roles and responsibilities on them.
We need collective action to strengthen children protection, engage communities in gender transformation, create supportive environment, intensify sexual reproductive health services and education in schools to scale up the fight against child marriages and teenage pregnancies
Girls should also be cautioned against lifts and gifts that are used as baits by randy men especially who eventually take them to bed.
As women guild leader what do you push for the women?
It hurts when women suffer in silence and are taken advantage of because they are submissive, are marginalised. The biggest focus for us is to empower the women to fight for their spaces, build their capacity to take on leadership so as to influence decisions from within in favour of women.
Why are most marriages breaking?
Modern women are mixing up equality, affirmative action and women emancipation with marriage and family virtues, norms and silent constitution. The problem lies in the breakdown of marriage counselling and people falling in love today, and tomorrow they are husband and wife. They enter into a life contract without understanding each other. People fall for what not who the other is which fades.
Any caution to womenfolk?
There are mistakes women make under the guise of winning men’s favour. Some women think the best gift for the man is a child and wait for the man to decide on family planning. Others are proud to sign agreements in property purchase as Mr and Mrs but forget that the Mrs is situational.
Who is your role model?
Hon Rebecca Kadaga is my mentor. She put the selfless and spirited fight to change the plight of the girl child.