Annet is a Karamojong girl born 2010 with ancestral roots in Namalu, Nakapiripirit District North –Eastern Uganda and a second born in a family of 2 girls and 5 boys. She lives with her parents in a rented mud and wattle house in Namatala slum in Mbale municipality where her mother earns from sorting cereals for businessmen who allow her to take fragments as day’s pay which she prepares to feed her children while the father is a drunkard who neither knows nor cares for his family’s welfare.
Her family migrated to Namatala slum as a result of prolonged drought in Karamoja though the condition was not much different since in Namatala they still couldn’t afford getting food. This prompted the family to resort to scavenging. Her mother used to pick left overs and charcoal from the garbage heaps so as to provide a meal for her family. She could sell all the charcoal she picked to get some money for rent.
At the age of 4, Annet was also introduced to scavenging and together with her mother it was the only way of survival. Just after a year, Annet had acquired lots of ill street habits such as fighting, stealing and as little as she was she couldn’t hesitate abusing any adult who attempted to interrogate her.
In 2016, CRO social workers came into contact with Annet during one of the daily street walks. She was soliciting money around the mosque in Mbale. Interviewing her was so tricky because she was extremely slippery. With substantial effort, Annet was convinced to join social workers to the CRO center, where she was given food and later enrolled into the rehabilitation class for continuous counseling.
Within a period of 10 months at the CRO center, Annet has learnt life skills, personal hygiene, reading, and writing among others. Annet has dropped all the street habits, she is such a lovely girl, and she has made so many friends. She has enrolled in primary one and hopes to study hard to fulfill her ambition of becoming a teacher and she is overly thankful to CRO for all the support.