Felix Okol (Not real name) is a barber based in Obongi town in West Nile.
About a year ago, he fell in love with 16-year-old Anita. The courtship went on well until Anita's parents found out that they were in a relationship.
"They stormed my rented room and told me I have to get married to Anita. In fact, they left Anita at my room and advised me to start treating her as my wife," he says.
The 21-year-old had just started a new lease of life as a barber after dropping out of school. Within the first month, Okol realised he could not save a penny because all he earned was used to take care of his 'wife.'
This stunted his financial growth, affecting their relationship.
"By the third month, I realised I could not sustain the two of us and some days, we could go without food yet I had to find a way to take care of Anita," he recalls.
When he later approached the girl's family to ask them to take back their daughter, his pleas were rejected.
"I reached a point when I realised that I am a victim of a forced marriage. Luckily, my uncle took care of Anita and she lives with him as I try to refocus my career as a barber," he says.
Okol's plight was just one of hundreds of testimonies during the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence that concluded on December 10 in West Nile.
Themed 'Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!,' the 16 days of activism campaign was conducted by Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) under its Women, Adolescents, Youth (WAY) progamme.
It was implemented with support from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The campaign traversed several towns and villages in West Nile and Acholi sub-region, raising awareness and increasing attention to the response against gender-based violence in communities.
In another chilling testimony, Stella Adong says that a few months ago, she was resting at her home when her nephew came back running.
"He reported to me that he had seen a man raping a girl in the neighbouring house. Upon reaching there, I found the man in action," she says.
"We raised an alarm and the man was arrested. What shocked us most was that this man was an uncle to the victim, who had been left in his care by the parents."
What perturbed Adong is that some members in the local community did not want the incident to be publicised. Waiswa Owa Batambuze, the RAHU communications and advocacy manager, advised the communities to be open about all forms of gender-based violence without fear.
"The year 2020 has come with untold regression in the civil liberties of all people, increased risk of abuse for women and girls due to reduced mobility, increased incidence of abuse including especially physical and sexual abuse," he said.
"This has mainly resulted from the lockdown put in place as an attempt to address the spread of Covid-19. The lockdown has only worked to increase the already bad indices of gender disparities, especially against women and girls."
According to a recent police report, 4,442 cases of defilement were reported countrywide between January and April 2020. This came after just one month of lockdown.
The report noted that while intimate partner violence continues to rise during crisis periods as correctly observed by previous studies, recent findings show that there is an increase of vulnerability and risk factors of violence for women and girls during the Covid-19 pandemic.
INTERVENTION
It is on this background that RAHU commemorated the 16 days of activism on ending gender-based violence using community-integrated outreaches in the 10 implementation districts of Kitgum, Lamwo, Amuru, Agago, Adjumani, Moyo, Obongi, Yumbe, Arua and Madi Okollo.
The outreaches integrated information on sexual reproductive health and sexual gender-based violence to provide clear information on prevention and redress for the vices as well as HIV/Aids prevention and care.
The outreaches also supported the prevention of stigma and discrimination, as well as referrals for access to family planning methods and other services, as well as continuity of care for young people living with HIV/Aids. While in Adjumani, Godfrey Manga, the district health officer, said gender-based violence is a big issue in the district.
"In just six months the Covid-19 pandemic, Adjumani recorded 186 related to denial to provide resources to partners," he said. "Physical violence contributed 167 cases while physiological abuse that had 119 cases. It is worrying that defilement also had 56 cases."
At the final outreach in Madi Okollo, Walter Okile, a social worker, noted that he will rally communities to fight gender-based violence and sexual harassment.
"I'm happy to have attended this outreach because I didn't know that whispering or ogling at women is a form of harassment," he noted.
"It is a common occurrence here and I hope all the men have learnt something and will not do it again."
According to Batambuze, the 10 out-reaches reached about 20,000 young people and he believes RAHU succeed-ed to empower communities to better respond to emerging sexual reproductive health and gender-based challenges as a result of Covid-19.
Other activities included drama skits, radio talk shows on gender-based violence and the initiation of the SautiPlus platform using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).
The USSD features allow every phone user to access crucial SRHR/HIV/SGBV information. This eases access to information to young people staying in remote areas.
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