Dedicated to serve my community.
Meet 81 year old change agent, Mr. Christopher Ayeba.
"My journey with ActionAid began in 2012 when I was trained on Gender Based Violence (GBV) protocols which include client interviewing, counselling, and case mediation. This ignited an interest within me to help women and children who are victims of GBV. I would convene mediations among them and have the points of controversy ironed out.
The one case that really stood out for me was that of Sarah Chebet (not real name). The mother of five approached us at the shelter with a case regarding her late father’s land which had been taken over by her paternal uncle in 1988, under the guise of looking after Sarah and her siblings as they had been underage at the time.
The Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) came to later construct the Kween-Bukwo road and it so happened that the new road passed through the land that had been previously owned by Sarah’s late father.
Her Uncle, as the land’s caretaker had been compensated by UNRA with a total sum of UGX.9M (Nine Million shillings) and Sarah was for many years denied any access to the issued amount even though her and her siblings were the rightful owners of this land.
After I convened a series of mediations with Sarah and her uncle, together with ActionAid staff, a compromise was struck, and the lady was issued a sum of UGX.5M (Five Million shillings) by her uncle to purchase another portion of land."
In Uganda, majority of the societies are patriarchal and therefore, ownership of communal land is vested in the hands of men. Although Sarah and her siblings are the rightful heirs to their father's property, their Uncle, a senior male is considered the more acceptable landowner in the typical African society.
Through his mediation skills, Mr. Ayeba was able to get Sarah and her siblings the larger portion of the compensation awarded by UNRA to their Uncle, from their father's land.
"For the longest time in my Sebei community, women have been oppressed and seeing a woman like Sarah successfully get something like this from a man who had realized his fault made my heart leap with joy. This is a motivator for me to continue serving my community until my last breath.”