While doing their rounds in the Namatala slum, our family support team learned of a suffering pregnant woman and 2 year-old son who had been abandoned by a husband and were really struggling without much hope. So our social workers visited Annette (23) in her temporarily-rented home, and found the situation worse then they thought… Annette now also had a 3 day-old new baby girl, who was looking very weak and sick. So they decided to help.
Annette has been unable to pay rent for some time, and the landlord was allowing her to stay in the one room building until she recovered from the pregnancy. She would then, most likely, be evicted. Annette sat on her mat bed (which is the only belonging she has) carrying her newborn baby, while her young son sat nearby.
Apparently Annette had not eaten any food for two days apart from the cup of black tea a friendly neighbour had given her – and she gave most of that to her son. The baby was born weak and sick with malaria and had to be hospitalized for three days.
Annette had occasionally attended the same church as Moses and Bex, which donated some money and clothes, while Child of Hope donated 10 kilos of rice and 10 kilos of beans.
She is currently facing a difficult life of no income, food, home or material items. The report from the social workers suggests that Annette is in an emergency situation and if nothing is done soon, the situation and this young family’s suffering will only worsen. We normally only work with families that have a child at our school, but in this case we will continue to monitor and help her… and try to ensure she isn’t evicted.
She told the social workers that she was an orphan who was raised by different people in her village. From a young age, she had worked as a housekeeper and had often been abused and mistreated as a child. Her decision to try and find a husband was as a result of all the suffering she had gone through.
