KAMPALA, Uganda. Four victims of child prostitution have been rescued by Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA.
The victims from Rukungiri and Iganga were handed over to KCCA by well-wishers.
According to the KCCA Director of Gender and Community Services and Production Harriet Mudondo, the girls worked at a bar in Kireka that was closed following the presidential directives on the closure of bars.
She however says that they have failed to trace the people who were employing the girls who are between 15 and 17 years.
The girls were taken to Nakivubo Blue Primary School where other street children are currently being quarantined. Mudondo says while the girls will be rehabilitated and counselled by professional counsellors.
According to Mudondo, over 60% of the children want to be reunited with their families, 30 percent want to go for vocational education while the rest say they want to remain on streets.
There are over 170 children already sheltered out of the 200 that KCCA says they can accommodate at the school. The children sleep in classes, 15 in each to observe social distancing.
Kampala Central Division Mayor Charles Sserunjogi says that the objective is to protect the children from the streets that could expose them to COVID-19.
KCCA has a team of social workers from a number of KCCA partner organisations like Uganda Youth Development Link and Shule Foundation among others that are working to manage these children and teach good practices to the children while at the school.