By Sr. Maureen Ogundeph and Sr. Jane Frances
“Educating girls is one way of breaking the chain of poverty. Poverty is one of the contributing factors to Maternal and child morbidity and mortality”.
Sr. Jane Frances of the Congregation of Daughters of the Child Jesus (Banyatereza Sisters) says. She is one of the WWO ambassadors from Uganda and she has a passion for helping the most vulnerable women to transform their lives. During the last week of September 2023, she helped some young women who qualified for Higher studies but due to their poverty-stricken situations could not.
These young ladies finished Senior 6 and were qualified for the University but could not proceed, they are from Kabarole District and Kyenjonjo District both from Western Uganda which is part of the Tooro Kingdom.
The Sister who after attending the WWO workshop in Dar Es Saalam in June 2023 was convinced the only way was to network to assist these young women. she approached the Catholic Caritas Office for a bursary which she admits that she knows very well that are overwhelmed with the similar cases for both girls and boys, fortunately, the Father in Charge of the Caritas managed to assist with half of the Tuition fees for these students who are already at school and she is now worried whether these young women will continue with their studies or not.
The sister feels a strong passion to do something as she feels that the plight of poverty among young women especially in rural areas if not helped can contribute a lot to many cases of maternal poverty and even early pregnancies which leads to an increasing number of maternal deaths. She dreams of supporting them to become future leaders who can mentor and help other young women who if not helped drop out of school and get involved in early marriage hence no breaking of this chain of poverty.
She compares her experience of the young women who are educated and empowered and those who did not have the opportunity and live in miseries.
Sr. Jane Frances feels this strong call to listen to the invisible to respond to their need and transform their lives.
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