Woman in the fight against human trafficking

The 2014 Trafficking in Persons report by the US Department of State placed Uganda as a source, transit and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking.

Although human trafficking is not new, it’s only just receiving official attention from the government. Recently, Gender minister Mary Karooro Okurut claimed Ugandan girls and women working abroad illegally were being sodomised and forced to breastfeed dogs.

Among the team tasked to fight human trafficking at the Department of Immigration is Agnes Igoye, deputy coordinator of The National Prevention of Trafficking in Person’s Office and deputy chairperson of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Taskforce.

As we sit down for the interview, Igoye, jovial and bubbly with youthful excitement, comes off as a woman deeply satisfied with her achievements.

For some people, challenges are occasions that call for worry and anxiety, leaving a taste of bitterness behind.

Not for this 42-year-old. For Igoye, challenges provide the adrenaline that keeps her going.

Growing up in a village deep in Pallisa District that wasn’t excited about the birth of a girl, Igoye stood out tall from an early age.

At school where she strived to excel, she had to endure the taunts of the boys in her class who called her “prostitute”, evidently ignorant of the real meaning of the word.

“When the meaning of that word was explained to me, I promised my mother that I would devote myself towards making a difference in society,” she recounts.

Holding on to her dream

The dream to impact society was almost shattered by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

A shortage of female fighters forced the rebels to kidnap virgins who would double as wives. “My parents tried to hide us but the situation became unbearable.

Government soldiers saw our compound as an ideal place to install their big guns, so it got to a point where we had to plug cotton pads in our ears all day.

When my sister began fainting from the sound of the bullets, we moved to an IDP camp in Pallisa town,” recalls Igoye.

It was in the camp that Igoye came face to face with the horrors of human trafficking. Minimally protected, the camp was vulnerable to rebel attacks. Girls who had escaped came back with sad stories of their experiences as sex slaves.

Listening to these tales, her passion for rescuing abducted women began building.

Luckily, being teachers, after a while, her parents were eventually transferred to Kampala. Coming from the village, fitting in was not easy.

“At Kitante Primary School where we went, we were bullied for our accents and behaviours,” she narrates, adding, “While other children ate bread at break-time, we had the odd sweet potato and porridge.”

But with her dream of changing society firmly in focus, she endured these taunts and made it to Makerere University. “Those days, the word ‘trafficking’ did not exist yet the practice was rampant.

So, to get a deeper understanding of the traffickers’ world, after university, I joined the Immigration Department to help curb this practice that degrades the girl child.”

Finally in the thick of things

Being part of the team that implements government policy on human trafficking, her passion became a lifetime commitment.

“We have initiated a public campaign that has got people talking more openly about sex slavery,” she says. “Victims, who were hoodwinked by people wanting to get them employment abroad, are coming out boldly.”

Her petit frame, more suited to a docile woman, isn’t one to make someone notice anything extraordinary about her.

But in 2013, Igoye was involved in the arrest of a notorious LRA commander who was instrumental in child abduction.

The next morning, she rescued girls he had abducted as wives.

For security reasons, she will not divulge the details of the operation, only conceding the need for one to be on high alert.

Chances of death are high since human traffickers trade in what they term as precious cargo. The profits are ridiculously high and they kill anyone who gets in their way.

Despite this, Igoye refuses to call her job a difficult one. “It’s instead humbling to listen to survivors’ tales,” she says.

“I’m lobbying parliamentarians to build a rehabilitation centre to help survivors revive their lost dreams.

But I’m impatient, so, if they delay, I plan to build it with well-wishers,” she offers.

Lack of rehabilitation centres countrywide prompted her team to approach some Non-Governmental Organisations who now offer temporary housing for victims.

Personally, she supports the victims with their education and highlighting their plight at international fora.

Her passion saw her applying to the University of Minnesota for the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship in 2009 to study human trafficking policy and prevention, while training with the FBI and the San Francisco Police Department.

While there, she kept in close contact with her colleagues so that she would know what kind of information she needed to bring back and train them to make their work better.

Such has been their success that the US Trafficking in Persons report 2014 applauded Uganda as the best performing country in East Africa.

My projects

“In 2011, I applied and got invited to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) where I made a commitment of action with President Bill Clinton to rehabilitate trafficking victims, help children affected by war, and train 1, 000 law enforcement officers.

I have surpassed that number locally and internationally.

“With support from Books for Africa, Sir Emeka Foundation, and well-wishers, I have delivered 69,000 text books to vulnerable children. I also started Chain of Hope rehabilitation centre to provide shelter and education to survivors of the LRA.

“In 2013, I was introduced to a group of homeless women in Gulu town by the LC 1. One, with four daughters, had been kicked out by her in-laws. They blamed her for the kidnap of her husband by the LRA. I suggested we build huts for each woman.

A church gave us land and the women donated poles, water, and grass. Huts of Peace was born that day and has benefitted 22 extended families. I have also donated a plough to the group so that they can grow their own food.

“I’m a member of Sound Artists with Answers (SAWA), volunteers from South Sudan and Uganda, fundraising to support displaced South Sudanese.”

Personal philosophies
Fully immersed in her work, Igoye’s advice to young women is to embrace their careers.

“Women should remove themselves from stereotypes that compartmentalise their lives. Why should one be asked how they balance marriage and work yet men, besides having it all, can even go to the moon?

Life is not just about balancing work and marriage,” she argues.
Igoye attributes her success to flexibility.

“I get frustrated by women who shun training opportunities because they are pregnant.

These are the same women who will grumble when they are passed over for promotions,” she says, and adds, “At CGI, I watched Chelsea Clinton continue with her busy schedule even when she was heavily pregnant.”
Does the glass ceiling exist?
Our limitations come down to the choices we make.

Your ceiling could be the people you associate with. For some women that ceiling does not even exist because they are always aiming higher.

We have to learn to define our own ceilings. I know of a former president who teaches Sunday school. That is his glass ceiling. If you look at Presidents Carter and Clinton, their post-presidency work has made them very popular.

How can a woman stay at the top?
By doing what she is passionate about. They should also learn humility. I have met Presidents Clinton, Carter, and Obama; Beyoncé and Snoop Dogg and what strikes you most about them is their humility.

Who is Igoye?
Igoye attended Kitante Primary School, Trinity College Nabbingo, Makerere University, and University of Minnesota. She credits her parents with exposing her to different cultures which she says helped her live comfortably worldwide.

Uncomfortable about discussing her private life, Igoye says when her late husband proposed that they should get married as soon as she graduated, she told him to wait until she found a job. Marriage was not a priority.

And because their wedding date depended on her getting a job, he helped her look for a job.

“I wanted to enter marriage as an economically empowered woman. Actually, I contributed to our income and even helped him educate some of his relatives.” Even now, although the idea of remarrying hasn’t yet occurred to her, she cannot stand an idle man.
Although she doesn’t have children of her own, Igoye lives with some of her siblings. With the Clintons as role models, they spend their free time volunteering.

This article was first published in the Daily Monitor.