Prevention through Education

EDUCATION IS A POWERFUL FORCE IN THE LIFE OF GIRLS EXPERIENCING POVERTY.

Education reduces vulnerability to exploitation and trafficking and is a key form of prevention for JOY International. JOY International funds the education and living expenses of 37 at-risk girls in Kasese, Uganda, offering them hope for a brighter future. Each of these girls is vulnerable to being trafficked or forced into marriage as a child bride (also a form of trafficking). JOY International’s objective in Uganda is simply that none of the girls are forced into early marriage and that each girl graduates High School and has opportunities for further education and/or a job that provides for their basic needs.

70% of the girls JOY serves in Uganda have experienced malnutrition due to extreme hunger, 35% do not live with either of their biological parents, 30% live with a single mother, and 20% have experienced physical or sexual abuse. 3 of our girls have mothers who work or have worked in the sex trade for survival, which means the daughters would be at a very high risk of doing the same thing if they did not have some sort of outside help to receive their education.

Prevention and empowerment are two of JOY International’s key pillars and both are clearly represented in the work accomplished in Uganda.