SELF-CONFIDENCE, ONE GIRL AT A TIME - UWIMANA'S JOURNEY TO KOMERA
This a story of hope. A story of light before the darkest dawn. It is the story of Uwimana, a 17-year-old girl from the Eastern Province of Rwanda. Uwimana gave birth at the age of 16 years when was in Class Senior 2, Debora’s parents were farm cultivators but had no land. They were paid for their labor, to farm for other land owners. They were fortunate enough to have their own house although they were poor and would lack of medical insurance and food. Deborah stays with her mother, 5 sisters and her daughter. Her father left home in 2014 and has not returned. He left in a huff feeling disgraced by Uwimana and her mother. You see the tenets of patriarchy have accustomed the community to attribute success of the children to the man and their failures to the women. Many adolescent girls find themselves seeking solace from what seems like an endless cycle of suffering and hard work and constant chores and expectation. They seek affirmation of love and emotional support and sometimes of the hope of a better future. In this process, some men take advantage of their vulnerability and get them pregnant. For a girl like Uwimana, the repercussions of sex at her age are not quite clear in her mind. She was warned to stay away from boys. Firmly and sternly. That sex was bad and it was process where boys use girls.
Needless to say, the solace that Uwimana sought came at great cost. With an unexpected pregnancy, she was confronted with the reputation of her family on her shoulders and the make or break of her parents’ marriage. What a burden to bear for the young girl. Uwimana became desperate with no hope, no confidence, got lonely, stressed and was considered a misfortunate girl who had disgraced her family. One day - should found Komera.
Komera – one of the founding AMPLIFY partners and a community driven organization based in Rwanda has one major mission: To develop self-confident young women through education, community development and sport. Uwimana landed at the door step of Komera and that was the beginning of a story of hope and possibility of success. Komera took Uwimana through sessions to restore her esteem, counsel her through her pregnancy and rebuild her future through economic empowerment trainings in business.
Uwimana learned to believe in herself again. She learned interpersonal skills, reproductive issues, family planning, saving and yoga sports as well! She now understands what it means to have relations with a man. She started 2 businesses to sustain herself and her family and is now distributing sweet bananas at Kigali in Nyarugenge market and Simba super market and also selling bedsheets in the evening to supplement her income. She is in 2 saving groups, it helps her to save money and solve some family problems like paying insurance, food and clothes. Uwimana now teaches other single mothers the basics of business. She sometimes narrates her story confidently in peer settings to give other young single mothers from poor backgrounds hope. Because sometimes hope is all we need to get the strength to carry on.
AMPLIFY supports its partners in the wholesome well-being of a girl. Komera invests in not only putting girls through school but also educating parents on intentional parenting, being involved in their girls` lives, talking to them and knowing what they feel. It is of course not easy to change a culture that is deeply entrenched in our society but one community at a time, these conversations are beginning to take place to shape a better future for our girls.
It would have been ideal for Uwimana to go back to school and complete her schooling but the realities of resources sometimes create alternative endings.
By investing in Community Driven Organizations you are creating a new narrative, one that supports girls like Uwimana to transform her life and develop the agency she needed to succeed. Invest in Komera and change a girls’ life today.
See more about Komera`s work for girls here: https://komera.org/