Teenage mom turned girlchild empowerment agent

Seventeen-year-old Constance Amusugut is a Senior Three student at Bukedi Secondary School in Tororo who has experienced the ups and downs of conceiving at an early age.

She has been disliked by her father and experienced the fear and uncertainity of returning to school after childbirth. However, she has also represented the peers in her area in Parliament on the problems that affect girls and counsels other girls at her school.

This teenager also counsels other women who undergo domestic violence and helps them get redress from Mifumi, an organisation that deals with domestic violence and girl-child empowerment.
Amusugut shares the events in her life that brought her to this point in life;

Falling pregnant and paying the price
“I am the third born in a family of six girls and a boy. Since my childhood, I was an adorable child but in December 2013, during Senior Two third term holiday, I messed up and conceived.

When I told my boyfriend who was in Senior Four at another school, he denied knowing me. I continued to call his phone but he would pretend he was a different person, speak a different language and did not want anything to do with me.

My mother realised I was pregnant when I refused to eat my favourite dish and was always sleepy. She insisted I tell her the truth and I did. She was very scared of breaking the news to my father who is very tough. Mother told me that I had to tell him myself. She travelled to her home so I could tell my dad while she was away.

It was very difficult but I had to be strong. I told him on a Sunday evening when he returned home. He just went and locked himself inside his bedroom without saying a word. The next day, he asked me to leave his home to go to the father of my baby. I had nowhere to go.

My mother had returned. I asked her to help talk to father on my behalf because my boyfriend had rejected me too. My dad did not want to hear of it, but I stayed at home anyway.

Whenever my father would see me, he would leave. He would not speak to me or respond to my greetings. At some point, he stopped providing for the entire family because he did not want to see me but my mother remained supportive.

I had never seen my father act this strange before and it was killing me to know that it was because of me. I even asked my mother if he was my real father and she said he was. When I was two months pregnant, a maternal aunt offered to take me with her because she had only two children who were in boarding school, so she was alone at home.

A different form of punishment
At my aunt’s place, I did every kind of work. Working would not be a problem but the workload was so heavy, including washing even her underwear. I remember at seven months, my tummy had protruded so much and I could not bend properly but she would tell me to sweep and mop under her bed which was very low.

My mother came to check on me and I requested her to take me home. Back home, my father had not changed. We all became my mother’s burden as my father still wasn’t providing on my account. Mother sustained us on her income as a farmer.

When I finally gave birth to a baby girl in August 2014, my mother told me to think about going back to school. I wanted to go back too but how could I when my conception and birth at 14 was people’s favourite topic of gossip!
My father still hated me. He only came home to sleep and when my mother talked to him about sending me back to school, he said it would be a waste of resources.

Back to school
In February 2015, I returned to school at Bukedi Secondary School and repeated Senior Two. I would leave my then five-month-old baby with my mother who was also paying my school fees.

First term was dreadful! I sat in one corner of the class and remained silent throughout the day for fear of being stigmatised by fellow students. No one in class talked to me. I dared not mix with other students at school because I smelt of breast milk which sometimes stained my blouse.

Rising from my hopelessness
In second term, a group of women came to our school and taught us about gender and girl-child empowerment. They told us they were from Mifumi and they introduced a club called Sure Start Girls. My teachers had told them about my situation and they counselled me. I was never the same again.

I started mobilising other girls and I used my experience to explain the importance of following instructions, emphasising that giving birth did not have to be the end of school. Today, even though all students at my school know that I have a child, they respect me.

I was elected the president of the Sure Start Girls and we have had karate training and continuous lessons on gender. These have helped us to be confident, and build our self-esteem to demand for our rights as girls. My happiest moment was when I was chosen to represent other girls in my area in Parliament about the problems that we face.

We were told to write essays about the problems that affect girls and we filed a petition demanding for increased funding towards menstrual hygiene.

Winning my father back
When my father heard the news from my mother that I was going to parliament, he was very excited. He asked me when we were leaving and woke me up at 5am to escort me to school. Since then, he is proud of me. He is even paying my school fees again, looks after the family and my daughter.

Many mothers in my village ask me to talk to their daughters when they get out of hand. I have helped women who are being battered by their husbands to get help from police and Mifumi. I have also sensitised girls in most of the primary schools in my area to demand for their rights and say no to early marriage.

I am hopeful for the future now that my father accepted to pay my school fees. I will study hard and keep focused. I want to be a lawyer to fight for women’s rights. I will not have any other child until I have completed school and have a job.”