Moonlight Stars
A project by RHU

I was born in a small village in central Uganda. I grew up living with 7 siblings and both my parents. Life in the village was challenging but I managed to go to school all the way until the end of high school. My sister came for me one day after I finished school and took me with her to Kampala to work as her house-girl. When she was away, her husband would harass me constantly with pleads for sex, which prompted me to leave her house out of fear that he would no longer allow me to resist.

 

Later, I met a man and had a child with him, but the relationship didn’t last and I was caring for my child on my own. I found work, but as my child grew so did our expenses and I soon had to shift into sex work. At first, I was shy and I didn’t know what to do. The other women would grab the men passing by, but I just stood there looking around me. With time I learned how to grab their attention. One of my clients became my boyfriend, we moved in together and I became pregnant. Eight months into the pregnancy I was out on the street when the police raided our area. During an altercation with a policeman, I fell on my stomach and had a miscarriage, which almost cost me my life. When I failed to conceive again my partner became violent, I had him arrested and I left. Today, I sleep in the lodges in Ki-Mombasa where we work and I only leave on weekends to visit my daughter and bring her food and money or whatever else she needs.

 

RHU came to us a long time ago and taught us about family planning, HIV testing and prevention, and more. We now pass the information forward. It takes time for the new moonlight stars to trust you, you have to be persistent and not give up even if they brush you off in the beginning. RHU improved so much for us, we get free or very cheap services for things that were unaffordable before.

I have a dream of opening my own bar. I found a place and was about to open it, but the place burned down and I lost it all.

Sometimes I sit at home and think about my life, I wonder how long I can go on like this because my work is illegal. I can’t get what I want out of life right now, but I have faith that a day will come when things will change.