Meet Child Protection Team Member Maria

2 mins read time

In 2022 Children on the Edge started working with communities in the Karamoja region of Uganda, replicating our Child Protection Team model. The Children on the Edge Africa team worked alongside Karamajong community members to identify the needs in the area, which include child neglect and abuse, trafficking, hunger and crime, including a lack of police protection to tackle it, due to the remote nature of the settlements. ​

After identifying the needs in the area, they started building strong relationships with the wider community including local leaders, teachers and parents, supporting them to establish six voluntary Child Protection Teams for the 39 villages in the Lopoko sub county. 

26-year-old mother of two Maria, was elected and joined one of the newly formed Child Protection teams in her area. Since joining the team, she has proved to be a very committed and active member who leads by example to help make her community safer for the children who live there. 

Like many Karamajongs, Maria lives in a village where open defecation is common practice, which is a danger to both children and adults, but especially to children whose immune systems are not fully developed, and who are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition caused by frequent bouts of diarrhoea. After becoming a Child Protection Team member, Maria attended various training sessions and activities organised by Children on the Edge Africa, and participated in community discussions. The hygiene and sanitation training encouraged community members to dig pit latrines, and as Maria learned more about their importance, she decided to construct one at her home.

Maria with the latrine she built.

In February 2023, Maria dug a pit latrine at her home without any help. This so impressed her neighbours that they began to follow suit. 
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Maria’s actions were the turning point for the community, who have since dug over 50 pit latrines, and they are still building. Maria realises that open defecation had been normalised, but through training and her own actions, she has changed her community for the better, making it safer and cleaner for everyone.

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She says, ‘’Children on the Edge has taught us to be independent and do everything by ourselves instead of waiting to be given handouts by the government and other NGOs. I have gained self-esteem and confidence in myself, so that whenever I look at the latrine I built myself, I become overjoyed and now believe that I can do more than that.’’

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Find out more about our work with the communities in Karamoja here.