Sex Trade: "At 17 years, I have slept with more than 400 men"

Recently, i came across a story of a 17 year old young girl who has slept with more than 400 men in one of Uganda's Daily Newspapers (The Monitor). This was very heartbreaking for me. I imagined myself at 17 years of age and having slept with so many men as these!

According to the story, Angela (not real names) was forced into prositution because of poverty. For Shs5,000, Angela has since April 2010, slept with a man or two every night. She is only 17-years-old but already has a baby. Scores of other young girls in Northern Uganda (more than 200) are involved in sex trade (child prostitution). But why should young girls choose such a dangerous venture at an infant stage?

Largely to blame is the fact that the region has suffered a period of insurgency for the last two decades by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The social, cultural, economic and political consequences of the war have been very severe.

Today, over 61% people in Northern Uganda, compared with 31% nationwide live below the poverty line according to a survey conducted by the Uganda Bureau Of Statistics in 2007.

According to Today’s Children Africa’s Future (TCAF), Northern Uganda has been called ‘’the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world’’ since for nearly 22 years, the LRA and the Government of Uganda waged a war that placed the region in the middle of one of Africa’s most barbaric conflicts. (http://4tcaf.org/wp-content/uploads/Media-Kit.pdf)

Women have been the most affected by this since the brutal slaughter of civilians, burning of homes and property, and abductions of over 30,000 children to be used as soldiers, labourers, or wives for the rebel officers served as a testament to the horrific actions of the LRA over the 20 years of fighting.

Even with the increased faith in national security, the path of recovery has proven to be a long and exhausting one, since entire generations of people have been born and raised in such a horrific era. Numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations are currently working in the region to assist in the process of returning hundreds of thousands of people to their homes, settling land ownership disputes, clearing away land mines, re-integrating returning abductees, and helping the victims of this 20+ year war overcome their trauma and begin making efforts toward a better and more hopeful future.

Follow link to read Angela's sad and touching story in detail; http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1329478/-/b0pavfz/-/inde...