The theme of International Women’s Day in 2023 is #EmbraceEquity. There is a difference between equality and equity. Equity-based solutions take into account where someone is starting from and their unique and diverse lived experiences. Equity addresses imbalanced social systems in a long-term, sustainable way.
African Girls Can works with young women individually to help them attain the goal of independence. Youth in Uganda need practical and marketable skills. While it might be nice to think of everyone completing high school and even proceeding to university, this is really a pipe dream. Ugandan society can be described as a hustle with many people, especially women, having multiple side gigs to make ends meet. To become truly independent, a young woman must build on her aptitude, and hopefully her interests as well, once she has completed Ordinary Level (four years) of secondary school.
Collet is an example of someone who has done just this. African Girls Can began supporting Collet in 2022 to attend teaching college in Kampala for a certificate in childcare. This IWD, Collet’s story is ideal to share.
Collet Tells HERstory
My name is Maluta Collet and I am 22 years old. I am a student at St. John the Baptist Ggaba Primary Teachers College. I live with my mother Annette and my brothers Humphrey and Saviour who are both in Senior Three. My dad had two wives, my mom is the first wife and the second wife has two more children. I am the oldest. We were all born in a village in Arua District.
My dad brought us to Kampala in 2009 and he worked as a cleaner for a European man until 2013. After the man moved back to Holland, paying my school fees became a problem. Studying was difficult because they would chase me out of class every day because of unpaid fees.
My mom is a businesswoman and I began working with her at a very young age. She goes to the market and buys maize and vegetables. We boil the maize and put it in a clean white saucepan (this is now posho). Twice a day we would go out for about two hours each time walking door to door selling – fresh vegetables in the morning and warm posho in the evening. We did this for years and this is how I got through primary school.
A few years later, my dad began complaining of various sicknesses. He went to the hospital, but they could never find anything wrong with him, despite his suffering. On the day I finished my Primary Leaving Exams, my dad went mad and my mom called relatives to take him back to the village.
Despite this stress at home, I performed well on my exams and continued to secondary school. I am grateful to my mom for her struggle to keep me there for four years, but after that she needed to focus on sending my brothers to school. I went to work as a cleaner for a local resort in 2019, but Covid shut it down. This was a very discouraging time, but based on my prior experience with my mom, I did not give up and started making mandazi (fried dough snacks) and selling groundnuts.
In 2021, schools began to reopen, but I still didn’t have the funds to go back. I shed tears because stopping in Senior Four was like never going to school at all. I consoled myself with prayers. I continued to work and pray and not give up hope. Since Coach Phoebe is our neighbor, my mom learned about African Girls Can. Approaching the time to go back to school in 2022, mom asked me what course I was interested in and I told her teaching. I took the admission form for St. John the Baptist to Phoebe and was so happy, grateful, and speechless actually, to learn that the organization would pay a portion of my fees.
We are pleased to help you stay on track toward your independent life, Collet!
Collet traveled with Coach Phoebe Mulinde to the African Girls Can retreat in Lira, Uganda in January. While there, she shared her personal challenges with the rest of the girls. She dispelled their belief that people in the big city have it easier than those in the countryside by explaining how she and her mom worked to raise the money for her school fees by spending hours on foot selling food door to door.
Sometimes her mother would be sick and Collet would be out there selling on her own. She had a scary, but all too common, experience one time. “I recall one day I met a man who pretended to buy all the vegetables. He asked me for the price of ALL the vegetables and I told him. He asked me to follow him and upon reaching his home, he called out to find if anyone was home then asked me to marry him. I took a deep breath and knew this was a bad person. I quickly returned home with the vegetables.”
Collet had the inner strength to resist this advance and now it is the perfect story to share with other young girls.
During the retreat, Collet was also paired for individual mentoring with one of the younger AGC students.
Q&A with Collet
Exemplary, adjective: serving as a desirable model, representing the best of its kind.
What did you tell the girls as a group?
I told them that the future is in our hands and we should not misuse the opportunity that has been given to us. We should remain humble and stay away from the hungry lions (i.e. men who chase young girls and ruin their lives.)
When you met with Cindrella individually, how did you advise her?
Cindrella felt free to share with me what challenges her most at school, which are math and physics. I advised her to get involved in group discussions and to practice by looking at past test papers. While at home, she should work hand in hand with her mother.
Mentoring goes both ways, as the mentor always learns something from the mentee too. Did you learn anything from the other girls at the retreat?
I learned so much from my fellow girls from the experiences they shared with me. I learned to be forgiving when someone hurts me and to be exemplary so that I can influence others.
What are the most important qualities of a role model and mentor?
A mentor should be trustworthy and approachable. And exemplary!
What did you like best about your secondary school experience?
I liked my teachers because they were so approachable. Also, my school was inclusive of all religions. Muslims, Anglicans and Catholics were all given a place to pray.
Why do you want to be a teacher?
I want to be a teacher because I love children and interacting with them. I think teaching young children is more interesting than teaching older ones because they are still so curious! They love figuring out how to do things on their own. Early childhood education is very important because it creates a firm foundation for the rest of a person’s school years.
“When girls are educated, they succeed. And in turn, we all do.“
Read Amal Clooney, Melinda French Gates, and Michelle Obama’s op-ed in TIME for International Women’s Day 2023. African Girls Can is a member of Girls Not Brides. Helping girls avoid early marriage and get an education is our main purpose.
