Many of us dream of helping out the oppressed and less fortunate, but few ever get to put this vision into practice.

Safina is one of the aforementioned few. A student of the United States International University (USIU), she started working with refugees in her final year of high school. Her experiences as a volunteer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) served as an eye-opener to a whole other world she had previously never given much thought about. “I got interested in their stories, their work, and after high school during my gap year I worked with Refugee Now Kampala, an organization that markets refugee products and seeks to promote self sustainability among refugees, as well as peaceful coexistence within the host community”, she explains.

This experience inspired her to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and hopes to continue her work in this field after graduation. And speaking of school, Safina admits it’s been a rough adjustment switching from traditional to online classes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the biggest problems stemming from electricity supply and internet issues. “There was a time we didn’t have electricity for 3 days yet it was finals week and I needed to use my laptop for exams”, Safina recounts. “Things like that can get very irritating but you have to adjust. You complain but you have to get the work done.”

It’s her can-do spirit that has seen Safina and a number of her friends come together to form Frauen Initiative Uganda, whose main goal is to help victims of sexual violence in Uganda by providing medical aid like rape kits, morning after pills, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), as well as legal and psychological assistance. “All services are offered to the victims free of charge through subscriptions paid by members as well as donations”, she adds.

However, such a noble service is not without its challenges. On top of funding, Safina explains that the lockdown has hindered the victims they work with from going for therapy sessions which in turn affects their mental health adversely. Other challenges include reluctance from Police to get involved in sexual abuse cases which makes catching the abusers hard, the practice of “victim blaming” in society which negatively impacts the mental health of the victims, a shortage of shelters where the victims can be safely taken care of among others.

It’s not all school and work for Safina, though. In her free time, she likes to read books, watch series on Netflix and sleep. “I’m so much of indoors person, although I take walks and maybe ride a bike once in a while. But since I’m so overwhelmed with school or work, I just like to rest when I’m not doing either”, she says. Safina says the things that make her happy involve helping people. “Sometimes I’ll even volunteer to help mental health patients at Butabika. Impacting people’s lives positively puts a smile on my face”, she admits.

She urges Pulsers to follow Frauen Initiative Uganda on their Twitter (@FrauenUg) and Instagram (frauenug) accounts. Load yourself  a pulse data bundle by dialing *157# and catch up with Safina and her amazing work. To be part of the amazing work she’s doing, you can reach out to her on twitter via the above mentioned page.