Perhaps HIV/AIDS is not new on Ugandan
landing sites. But at Katwe- Kabatoro landing site at the shores of Lake George
in Kasese district, the scourge is taking another twist as women sell their
bodies in exchange of fish.
Susan Kabugho a 47 year old woman and a
mother of six, does not see anything wrong with having more than five men for her survival on the lake.
“ There is no way I am going to look at
my children starving yet there are men here willing to give me fish to feed my
children. I have to improvise,” she says confidently.
Kabugho is among the many women at the
landing site with many men. She disclosures that she has one man who brings in
fish, another one who pays rent, another for her children’s school fees ,
another who buys food for her family and one who takes her out for social
events.
She describes such character of women as
poverty, lack of land for food cultivation and unemployment. She says that most
of them have sex with men in exchange of food and fish.
“We are poor, we do not dig because we
are surrounded by Queen Elizabeth National Park so we cannot cultivate the park
authorities will arrest us for encroaching on the park. So the only alternative
we have is to sell our bodies and we get food,” she adds.
Rose Korugyendo who immigrated from
Rukungiri says that she does the same but does not take men to her house.
“Of course I have more than one man but
I don’t take them to house. Sometime I go thjier places and sometime we go to
lodges,” she says.
Jovia Asiimwe one of the fish mongers
says that she two children and each with different father. She says that every
evening she come of the shores to correct fish from her boyfriends to sell.
“I come here to wait for them and each
must pay his share,” she says.
HIV
is high
Angella Muhindo an HIV activist says
that Katwe- Kabatoro has an HIV/AIDS prevalence of 20 percent which is high
than the national one that stands at 7.3 percent. She attributes he high rate
of HIV to high population of women at the lake and alcohol.
“At Katwe- Kabatoro we have three Ws,
which water, wine and women. Men go to fish in the waters when they come, they
have money to buy alcohol and after that they have them women at will,” she
says.
She also said that the HIV is high among the
youth aged 15 – 18. “As you can see we have many bars and lodges here and the
owners bring in young girls to work for them in order to attract customers.
What is annoying is that these big and old men come and buy this girls and whoever buys her, tells a friend and he
also buys the same girl and the chain of HIV continues like that,” she says.
Innocent Rwego, the principal
investigator of International development Research center ( IDRC) says that have launch a project to work with
the fishing communities and comunties around Queen Elizabeth National Park to
find a lasting solution to some of the challenges the communities face.
Rwego said tht they are working with
a team of health professionals, social scientists, natural resource managers /
ecologists and economists to identify, design and implement a series of
studies.
“Priorities will be identified using
an Ecohealth approach whereby communities will participate in identifying,
ranking and prioritizing health and environmental challenges in their
population,” he sid.
This information will be shared
within the One Health Central and Eastern Africa (OHCEA) network in Ethiopia,
Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda through OHCEA communication channels using
simplified popular literature.
Margaret Akol one of the community
sensitizer says that after seeing how women were suffering, they started
Kanyiginya Women Drummer Actors to teach women how to generate income and quite
prosecution and mining.
They started in 2005 with nine women but the
association has 27 women who act as ambassador of change at the Katwe- Kabatoro
landing site.
“Our main aim was to teach women to
focus on other income generating activities like crafts, trade, more than
selling their bodies,” Akol says.
Salt
mining
Jane Tibahwerwayo aged 49 and mother of five
says that mining was traditionally a male job but due to lack of jobs for
money, they have also ventured into mining which is not favorable for them.
“We use a lot of force to do this work
and the situation worsens when it rains because during rainy session the salt
does not melt to come on top easily so we use a lot of force to mine it from
deep in the lake,” she says.
Health
damage and injury
Tibahwerwayo says that the salt water is
not for women’s reproductive’s health because it damages the uterus and it can cause
barrenness among women, adding that the water is so acidic and once it drops in
some one’s ear , it can cause death.
“We have to heavily pad ourselves in
order to go for salt mining. This is so acidic and once it gets in private
parts, it straight goes to the uterus and damages it. Some of our friends have
suffered this kind of damage and I have seen many lose their uterus and the
implication is that they will never have children in their lives. Yu can
imagine being childless, all in the names of earning living from this lake. It
is heartbreaking but we have no choice and no alternative of survival,” she
says.
However Noyisayata Kabajungu another miner
says that they have resorted to digging small trenches whoosh diverts water
from the main lake to form small wells known as shallow brine to allow women
mine in short wells.
“ After know the implication of this
salty water it has on our health, we have resorted to mine in shallow brines
which has little water up to the knees
and we are telling women not to be greedy to go to the men lake but be
contented with the little they have and save their lives,” she says.
Men
at risk as well, they use condoms to protect their private parts.
Meanwhile as women at Lake Katwe lament
about barrenness due to the effects of salty mining, their men counterpart
lament about losing their penises.
World over, condoms are known to be used
during sex intercourse to protect sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.
But men at Lake Katwe use them to protect their penises from harm during
mining.
At the salt mining lake, miners have no protective
gears on the market hence causing them many health damages. Men go to the main
lake with deep waters and when a man is mining, the water can even reach him up
to the neck.
“A condom was made to be put on erected
penis, but for us we put it on when our penises are not erected and we are
forced to tie it with rubber buns to hold the condom,” one George said.
Before George concluded his statement,
John who trades the salt says that he lost his father due to salty mining.
“My father lost his penis, we took him
to Kagando hospital but he could not be treated there, we were referred to
Mulango where he died from,” he said.
Gorret Kyikuhaire: we are losing our
young girls to men who offer them money and other materials. This has killed
the spirit of working among girls and women knowing that en will come from the
lake and give them money.
Rehema
Elias; HIV will never leave this landing site
if government does not put measures of controlling it. I get shocked seeing men
who are mining salt wearing condoms but when it comes to sex, they abandon
them.
Florence
Namara; we want government and other actors to
talk to Uganda Wildlife Authority to allocate a piece of land to communities
living around the park and the lake so that women can start growing food for
their families and to sell. The cost of
living is so high here and poverty is at its highest level, that’s why women
have to sell their bodies for food.
End
