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BLOOMING BRILLIANT

Stacey Solomon’s joy as she meets women taking control of their lives thanks to Sport’s Relief’s sexual health clinic

CONTRACEPTION is easy to get hold of here but for more than 200million women around the world it is non-existent, adding to chronic poverty and putting lives at risk.

The Challenge Initiative, with help from Sport Relief cash, aims to tackle that.

Last week, mum-of-two STACEY SOLOMON – our new Fabulous online columnist – went to Uganda’s capital Kampala to learn more.

 Stacey Solomon visited Uganda to meet the women breaking the cycle of repeated teen pregnancies and poverty by getting the contraceptive treatment they need
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Stacey Solomon visited Uganda to meet the women breaking the cycle of repeated teen pregnancies and poverty by getting the contraceptive treatment they need

AS I entered the slum, it all felt very surreal.

I walked past tiny houses with tin roofs, small children running around playing in the mud and teens doing chores.

We were visiting Nubuwati, who is 32 and has seven children aged between two and 18. She has three grandchildren as well. When she was just 14, she had her first child and dropped out of school.

Nubuwati greeted me with a huge smile — my most vivid memory of the trip.

 Stacey heard of Nubuwati's life experiences - how she had her first child at 14, dropped out of school and now has seven children aged between two and 18
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Stacey heard of Nubuwati's life experiences - how she had her first child at 14, dropped out of school and now has seven children aged between two and 18

We got talking and I learned that Nubuwati, her seven children and one of her grandchildren all sleep in this one-room home.

It was damp and very cramped. The roof leaks and they have to pull plastic sheets over themselves at night.

Nubuwati’s husband has moved out of their home, meaning she must support their family singlehandedly.

 Nubuwati, her seven children and one of her grandchildren sleep in one room in this slum in Uganda's capital, and have to pull plastic sheets over themselves at night
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Nubuwati, her seven children and one of her grandchildren sleep in one room in this slum in Uganda's capital, and have to pull plastic sheets over themselves at night

She works as hard as she can, selling tomatoes and vegetables at the roadside at night, earning a single US dollar on a good day. This is barely enough to feed her family, so they often get by on one meal a day. Sometimes they do not eat at all.

None of Nubuwati’s children are in school because she cannot afford the fees.

Her eldest daughters, now aged 17 and 18, each had their first child at 14, just like their mum did.

Stacey Solomon visits Uganda for Sport Relief to see the work of a charity which helps educate young women on contraception

Nubuwati tells me she feels guilty that she can’t provide for all her children.
When I ask why she decided to have so many, I receive the saddest answer.

She says: “I didn’t want seven but my husband demands me when he wants me and I do not want to refuse my husband.

“Then I get pregnant and I don’t have a choice. This is just life for me.”

This felt raw, as I had a child very young, at 18, and I understand these things can happen when they are not planned. They change your life for ever.

 Nubuwati two eldest daughters, now aged 17 and 18, each had their first child at 14, just like their mother did
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Nubuwati two eldest daughters, now aged 17 and 18, each had their first child at 14, just like their mother did

But I also had a choice.

I could choose to have more children or not. There were options available to me.

Financial worries aside, my mental health was certainly affected. It took a lot for me to feel mentally stable after giving birth and, physically, my body felt torn apart.

To even contemplate doing it again 12 months later would have annihilated me.

 Nubuwati's husband left them and she now scrapes a living all by herself - sometimes the family only have one meal a day, others not even that
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Nubuwati's husband left them and she now scrapes a living all by herself - sometimes the family only have one meal a day, others not even that

Nubuwati felt she had no choice, as family planning is something she knows very little about. What she does know sounds like a horror story. There hasn’t been a proper focus on family planning in this area until now, so all Nubuwati knows are the rumours that circulate the slums.

These ill-informed tales claim the Pill gives you breast cancer, the coil gives you cervical cancer, the implant gives you severe headaches and taking contraception means you are probably moonlighting as a prostitute. On top of that, Nubuwati — like so many others — lives in these harsh conditions and is called upon to be with her husband at any time HE wants — and is then left to care for seven children singlehandedly.

 Stacey knows a teen pregnancy is life-changing, but she had options - 200million women don't and seem destined to repeat the vicious cycle generation after generation
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Stacey knows a teen pregnancy is life-changing, but she had options - 200million women don't and seem destined to repeat the vicious cycle generation after generation

It is incomprehensible.

That is why I am so thankful that something amazing is happening here to help women like Nubuwati take control.

Sport Relief cash is helping The Challenge Initiative, in partnership with the city council, bring family planning services directly to women in this community via pop-up clinics.

Thanks to the incredible people working on the ground here, visiting slums and speaking to women, Nubuwati now knows that there is a programme available to educate women on contraception. I left Nubuwati and her beautiful children and headed over to The Challenge Initiative clinic.

 Having her first child at 18 Stacey needed time to feel mentally stable after giving birth and, physically, her body felt torn apart - the women she met do it all over again 12 months later
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Having her first child at 18 Stacey needed time to feel mentally stable after giving birth and, physically, her body felt torn apart - the women she met do it all over again 12 months later

I was totally taken aback by the volume of people queuing and waiting for treatment.

I began at the registration tent (full), moved to the consultation tent (full) and then the family planning tent (also full), where women could talk through their options and receive treatment.

After that, I moved on to the cervical cancer screening area and finally the HIV screening tent. You guessed it, both were full.

It was a one-stop shop for sexual health and it was thriving.

 Women who seek contraceptive advice are viewed with suspicion - but Nubuwati, and many others, makes herself available to her husband whenever he wants her
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Women who seek contraceptive advice are viewed with suspicion - but Nubuwati, and many others, makes herself available to her husband whenever he wants her

Taking in the volumes of people coming through the project showed me how sought after these facilities are. It is incredible to see so many women wanting to take control of their bodies.

There were even teenagers there who told me they don’t want to have babies until they are older, as they want to go to school and study at university.

It is a revelation. The tide is turning and there is a shift in attitudes taking place.

While filming a piece to camera, I spotted a familiar face.

“Nubuwati,” I shouted. She had turned up — blooming brilliant — and, even better, had brought along her two eldest daughters. This is huge.

 But something wonderful is happening in Uganda, thanks to The Challenge Initiative - with help from Sport Relief cash - and clinics are full of women taking control of their body
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But something wonderful is happening in Uganda, thanks to The Challenge Initiative - with help from Sport Relief cash - and clinics are full of women taking control of their body

This is a woman who admitted she had a very difficult life trying to raise her children.

She feared using contraception because her husband would think she was committing adultery. Now Nubuwati was here at the clinic, introducing her daughters to something that could stop them becoming another statistic.

Nubuwati chose a family planning method, as did one of her daughters. What a result.

After just one day of the clinic being available to this community, it exceeded its quota for the estimated traffic it hoped to achieve.

The women of Uganda are now taking ownership of their futures and taking action to stop themselves being forced into lives they do not want.

Choosing when and whether to have a baby is a fundamental right for all women, no matter where they live.

  • Sport Relief is back from March 17 to 23. Find out more at sportrelief.com.
Fabulous columnist Stacey Solomon removes her WIG to reveal her natural hair
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