She left Rwanda, Twice
TRIGGER WARNING! war, murder and sexual assault mentioned.
The moment that the killing began and people started asking for her husband, she knew she had to leave. The killings were rampant, merciless and barbaric, and if she didn’t leave, she knew her family would soon join the list of fatalities. Paula fled across the border to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Life was hard, but at least she had put distance between those looking for her husband.
After the genocide, she returned with her family to Rwanda. Eager to start a new life in the land she was raised and hopeful for a peaceful future after the massacres the country had witnessed. That peace was short-lived. People remembered her husband was associated with a political party. They had a vendetta. Once again, they had to leave. To Uganda, this time. Her husband was taken.
She fled with her children to Uganda, but life has not been kinder to her since. She was raped and left with HIV. Now the illness follows her like a shadow she tries to outpace, but it is tied to what she escaped, what she is living through, and what still lies ahead.
Unfortunately, she is not the only one facing health issues. Her son has kidney failure. Both kidneys have failed, and he now survives on fragile routines of treatment and hope that often feels just out of reach.
The treatments are expensive, yet she must find a way because it is a matter of life and death for her son. She pays 120,000 Ugandan shillings, and to afford this she braves the rough streets of Kampala selling. In a city where street vending is illegal, she moves carefully, always alert, always trying not to be seen by the authorities. Sometimes they find her anyway. Her goods are scattered and her small earnings are gone in an instant. On worse days, she does not only lose her products, but also leaves with bruises from the force used to chase her away.
But what else can she do? There are no jobs, and the need is immediate. The hunger, the sickness, the waiting, they do not wait with her. She has to earn today, or there will be nothing tomorrow. Her children depend on her. Her grandchildren need school fees and food to eat. Therefore, despite the pain, the weight of responsibility rests heavily on shoulders, pushing her to try and earn money.
Despite her precarious situation, she wants to work, to earn money to support her children and her grandchildren. All she needs is a chance at a future, and for that, she is asking for funds to start a business. She knows the streets, she knows the demand, she knows what to sell. But without money, buying stock becomes impossible, treatment becomes a luxury, and so does the education of her children and grandchildren.For now, she waits, holding onto the hope that one opportunity might alleviate the weight she has carried for so long, even if only a little.
