At 12, Anzoa Sarah was struggling with her body image and self-esteem. Today, at 24, she’s a powerful women’s rights lawyer in Kampala, Uganda’s capitol city. What changed? As an adolescent, she was introduced to The Mentoring and Empowerment Programme for Young Women (MEMPROW), a feminist organization working to empower women and girls across Uganda to use their voice and become leaders. Through MEMPROW’s flagship Girls Network program, she worked with a mentor who helped her step into her power. And now she’s giving back to the organization that changed her life – as a leader of the Girls Network.
Today, MEMPROW Girls Network has 600 active members being mentored by ambitious, feminist leaders such as Anzoa, many of whom started out as girls in the program — creating an ever-expanding cycle of learning, growth and leadership. The mentors recruit network members in schools and in their communities, teaching the girls leadership skills and building their confidence, so that they can grow into women who feel empowered to become decision makers and feminist role models for others.
“The training opened me up to my true self and the value I carried beyond beauty standards. I realized there was so much to me than what the world saw,” Anzoa says.
In Uganda, women are often treated as second class citizens and are exposed to gender-based violence. They have less access to education and political representation than men. And even when they do receive an education, the patriarchal culture impedes their aspirations. Many years back, MEMPROW conducted a survey which found that for many girls enrolled at university, their aspirations were not to lead or better contribute to society, but rather to be good wives, hoping to leave the university with a husband. MEMPROW aims to flip the coin, and tell girls they can be leaders, make their own decisions, and contribute to the success of their country even after marriage.
“If they’re not part of the decision making in this country, then many of the decisions will not be in their favor,” says Immaculate Mukasa, Executive Director of MEMPROW. “Girls have to learn as early as possible that when they go to school, they have to participate and excel. They have to learn that they have a right to their bodies, that they can make choices for themselves. Evidence shows that when a woman is educated, they have healthier families, healthier children, and contribute more to their communities.”
Anzoa grew up seeing many girls and women in her neighborhood being deprived an education, and experiencing early or unintended pregnancy and gender-based violence. She noticed girls and young women denied economic opportunity and rights, particularly in the context of marital arrangements and divorce. Seeing this injustice sparked a fire in her early on.
Her own mother was never able to attend school because, as the eldest daughter in her family, her parents expected her to stay home to take care of her siblings and their home. Fortunately, Anzoa’s father believed in girls’ education and sent all five of his children — including his four daughters — to school. Anzoa knew she was lucky to be born into a family that prioritized education, and recognized the systemic challenges facing all girls and young women.
Today, Anzoa personally funds the education for 30 girls in Uganda’s Pagirinya Adjumani District, an especially vulnerable and crisis-impacted area, so they can go to school like she did.
“MEMPROW Girls Network helped me find myself and brought out the inner power that was inside me,” Anzoa explains. “It helped me understand why I was always aggrieved. I understood that perhaps I was not just an angry child, or short-tempered, but that there was injustice around me – women and girls being mistreated – that I was reacting to justifiably. MEMPROW showed me how I could support them, which awakened in me a sense of purpose.”
The same mentorship that she brings to schools, Anzoa brings to her siblings as well. Due to her father’s choice to send his daughters to school, his siblings chose to send their daughters to school, too. And her mother started her own network for women in the refugee camp she lives in, supporting women economically, by learning skills together such as baking, tailoring, and handcrafting. Anzoa is proud that her family is empowered and helping empower others.
“Members of the MEMPROW girls network belong to other movements depending on individual interests,” explains Sharon Katho, MEMPROW’s Communications Officer. “For example, they may be passionate about climate justice, gender, sexual and reproductive health, or political representation. We have all these footings, and the girls become foot soldiers who are everywhere in Uganda.”
As a lawyer, Anzoa is studying to do strategic litigation for women’s economic rights, protecting women from losing money when it comes to business matters such as intellectual rights and business contracts.
“You don’t have to be a lawyer to fight,” she says, “You can be an engineer and fight for women in engineering. You can be a journalist and fight for women in journalism. There is a role for all of us. So much work has been done to ensure that girls are liberated and that we have access to rights. But it’s not enough for us to just have these rights. We have to exist very strategically. We have to take initiative. We have to use this platform that has been given to us. I want girls to take up space very vigorously. Do it all because it’s possible for us. Let’s use it and influence the world positively.”