Irene tells us how the Social Action Projects (SAP) gave her the skills, voice and purpose to rebuild her life and protect others from the trap she fell into.
Irene left university full of ambition. Jobs were scarce, and when a friend in Abu Dhabi mentioned an opening with Fly Emirates, it felt like the opportunity she had been waiting for. She trusted the connection, moved through the process, cleared the airport, and arrived ready to begin. Within hours, everything changed. Her documents were confiscated. She was transferred without explanation to a company forcing young women into prostitution.
Irene refused.
What followed were three of the hardest months of her life. Threatened, displaced from her accommodation and left with nowhere to go, she survived on the streets of Dubai before a stranger took her in. It was, she says, the lowest point she had ever known. But she did not give up. A friend in Germany advised her to present herself to the courts in Dubai. She did and recovered her documents, received partial compensation, and eventually made her way home to her mother in Inkozi, determined to start again.
56,666 people in Uganda reached in person through safe migration advocacy campaigns.
That determination found direction when a friend introduced her to the Social Action Projects (SAP), a part of Better Migration Management (BMM). Supported by the British Council, SAP equips young people with skills, awareness and pathways to sustainable livelihoods, precisely what Irene had lacked when she first went looking for work.
‘If only I had known this before,’ she reflects, ‘I might have avoided the nightmare I went through.’
But Irene has found purpose in her experience. When she discovered her cousin was on the verge of being trafficked, she intervened, telling him exactly what to expect, what questions to ask, and how to protect himself. The knowledge the programme gave her did not stay with her. It travelled. Since 2021 she has been rebuilding, step by step. The SAP programme has given her skills, restored her confidence, and handed her something she did not have before, a voice. ‘I have experience that can protect others,’ she says. ‘I’m not where I want to be yet. But I’m no longer where I was. And that’s something worth fighting for.’
Our Impact Stories is a curated collection of individual stories showcasing the impact of British Council programmes across Arts and Culture, English and Schools Education, Higher Education, Non-Formal Education, and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) across Sub-Saharan Africa. From fashion entrepreneurs in Ethiopia and Kenya to educators in Rwanda, animators in Nigeria, and heritage preservationists in Zimbabwe, the book captures the breadth and depth of what our programmes make possible when ability meets opportunity.
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