Nafuna’s story begins like many other survivors in Uganda. After her mother’s death, Nafuna moved to the city when she was just 14 years old to find a job.

Working as a maid didn’t earn enough to support her siblings, so she switched jobs and began working in a bar. While the pay was also abysmally low there, the job came with after-hours duties. When her shift was over, the bar owners expected her to have sex with customers to make additional money. 

The exploitative work was barely enough to keep her afloat. Her life was disjointed, directionless and hopeless. Her sleep was irregular and often interrupted by abusers.

When one of our rescue agents reached out to her, she didn’t trust them at first. By this point, she’d been stuck in a perpetual cycle of exploitation and abuse for three years. She’d become conditioned to trust no one, especially someone who didn’t ask for anything in return.

But the agent was relentless. She called Nafuna again and again, pleading with her to join our program. Finally, the 17-year-old decided to give Destiny Rescue a try. What happened next changed her life.

The people she met in our residential home were nothing like those at the bar. They saw her as a person and valued her for more than what her body could earn. They showed real, unfiltered compassion. They loved her with no strings attached.

The biggest difference was in how she was treated. As someone who’d lived the “bar lifestyle” and likely experienced a good deal of shame from others in the community, she expected the residential home to be strict and judgmental.

What she found was drastically different. While life in the residential home was structured, it wasn’t the cold, rigid place she expected. The first thing she appreciated was the food. After living in poverty for so long, she cherished having regular, quality meals. And while she had to learn to adopt a more disciplined schedule, the fact that she got undisturbed sleep was blissful. 

But it was the people that shocked her the most. Survivors in various stages of their journey toward freedom all lived, ate and laughed together, even singing and dancing joyfully. “They didn’t stop me from dancing,” she said. “Instead, I’m dancing differently.” 

 As she watched the other survivors heal, Nafuna witnessed a change she hoped to experience herself.

Financial freedom

That wish came true. Now, Nafuna is living free!

Thanks to her vocational training, she’s become an accomplished hairdresser with a steady job. Nafuna put the financial skills she’d learned into practice, saving up to rent a place of her own. She is now making enough money to support her family back home and even has plans to purchase some land and open her own salon in the future.

To that end, she’s exploring new business ventures and making wise investments. Recently, she travelled to another part of the country to teach her trade to other women. The endeavour was a huge success: when she got back home, she used the money she earned to purchase a cow! Cows are a wise long-term investment in developing countries because of their ability to produce a stable food and income source through milk production.

Nafuna was once forced to sell herself just to survive another day. Now, the same girl is saving and investing in her future.

Will you change another child’s life for the better? Your gift can give another girl the chance to experience a life without an abuser interrupting her sleep. Fill out the form below to rescue a child today.