Moonlight Stars
A project by RHU

I was born in Jinja hospital and grew up in a nearby village with my parents and three brothers. My brothers and I grew up together and always got along, but life was challenging because we had very little money. My father was not working and to pay for food and clothing we would look for jobs to do here and there for the people around us. Thankfully we had neighbors who reached out and gave us a hand at times, helping us get to the doctor when we needed it and giving us food once in awhile.

 

When I was a teenager my father had taken another wife and we were living with her. My mother had gone to Kampala and my father found work outside of the village. My stepmother and I were often at odds. She didn’t allow me to continue school and wanted me to stay home and work. There was a point where I felt like I couldn’t take it any longer and I ran away to Kampala. I found my mother there, she owned a bar back then and I was staying with her. I had a friend then who was teaching me about being a hairdresser and I was hoping to do that for a living.

 

A few years later my mother passed away and I was left on my own and I was in desperate need of money. I wanted to start my business but was unable to get the seed money to start it. At some point a friend approached me and said “you’re young and pretty, so I have a solution for you”. This is how I got started as a Moonlight Star.

 

My first days on the street were frightening; I wasn’t sure what would happen and how the men would treat me. With time I got used to it. Breaking into this work had its challenges as well. When you are new the men are all interested in you, while some of the other women resented me at first other women quickly came to my defense, saying she’s humble and she’s in trouble, no one comes on the street when she’s ok. It took me a while to find out how to keep myself safe. After a few times when I was put in very dangerous situations and other times when I was attacked I decided to only stay here in Ki-Mombasa where people know me and will go looking for me if I’m gone too long.

 

I have 4 kids, my youngest is 8 and my oldest is 14. My oldest girl and boy are living with their fathers’ families, it isn’t always up to me when I get to see them, and it was so difficult when they were taken away from me, but I know that where they are they are getting better care than I can give them.

One day I came to Fred, the RHU counselor, and told him I wish my kids had a school sponsor! I used to come to him so many times and talk about my troubles. I’ve known Fred for a long time, even before I became a Moonlight Star. I saw him when he came to speak to other women and he told me to come and join him, to help RHU educate Moonlight Stars about their health. After that I went through a training course and I became a peer educator. You have to be very sharp to do that work; you have to understand people and know how to talk to them. Teaching makes me so happy because I don’t want to hear that my friends have HIV or unwanted children, I care about them. I also learned for myself to never have unprotected sex; if a man demands it, I send him away.

 

My big hope for my life is to own my own business. I learned how to do many things when RHU provided me with skills building classes. They always tell us to plan for our future, and now I only need money to start my business. If God grants me my wish I will be successful and I will be able to pay for my children’s school fees and to make sure they are educated.