From Violence to Empowerment: Rhoda’s Story of Survival

One night in December 2019, when the flames swallowed her hut in the middle of the night, Rhoda Chechepus clutched her children and ran for their lives. It was not the first time her husband had tried to kill her. For years, violence shadowed her marriage—leaving scars on her body and memories too painful to erase. 

Today, at 32, the mother of three from Katukumwok village in Amudat District carries those scars as reminders of why she chose to walk away from her marriage six years ago. 

To make matters worse, Rhoda had no land to cultivate to feed her children. “My husband told me that I should struggle as a woman to feed my family. By then, I had two children and was already pregnant with the third,” she recalls. 

As the violence intensified, she turned to her clan elders for help. To her disappointment, they told her to endure the beatings because her husband had already paid dowry to her family. 

Amid her struggle, one of her uncles offered her a small piece of land where she could grow food to support her children. Around the same time, her village was benefiting from the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF). Through the program, she received UGX 160,000 (about USD 45), which she used to buy materials and build a small grass-thatched house away from her husband. 

It was during this period in early 2021 that Rhoda first learned about the Spotlight Initiative through a friend involved in the project “Make Happiness, Not Violence,” implemented in Amudat by UN Women’s partner, the Communication for Development Foundation Uganda (CDFU), with funding from the European Union. 

“I never thought that as a mother I could support a family single-handedly, free from violence,” she says. 

Through CDFU sessions, Rhoda received counseling and encouragement and was linked to a partner, the National Association of Women’s Organisations in Uganda (NAWOU). With their support, and after completing business skills training with a focus on the Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) model, she gained the confidence to start a small business knitting and selling traditional Pokot attire at the weekly market.“On a good day, I can make a profit of between UGX 100,000 and 200,000 (about USD 42–57),” she explains proudly. 

From her savings, Rhoda was able to buy four goats, which have since multiplied to 15. She has also managed to pay her son’s school fees at a boarding school in Amudat District. 

Yet even with some economic independence, Rhoda’s nightmare was far from over. Her husband continued to harass her—even at the marketplace. “At one point, I thought of ending my life because everything felt worthless. But then I changed my mind—for the sake of my children,” she recalls, her face clouded with sadness. 

However, during one of CDFU’s community sensitization sessions, a member of the Natukuman Women Drama Group—which translates to “Seeing from Above” in the Pokot dialect—encouraged her to formally report her case to the Family Division of the Uganda Police in Amudat District. 

“Although he refused to appear at police, he stopped harassing me after that, because he realized there are laws that protect women against such violence,” Rhoda says. 

The Spotlight Initiative is a major multi-year programme by the European Union and United Nations, dedicated to eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG), including harmful practices like child marriage and FGM, and strengthening survivors’ access to services. 

In Uganda, it’s implemented through a strong partnership among seven UN agencies—including UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, and UNHCR—alongside the Government and civil society.