Surviving the Streets of Kampala: How 12-Year-Old Nivea is helping Karamoja’s Children stay in school

In Uganda’s Karamoja region, where over 74% of residents live in poverty, 12-year-old Ngorok Nivea has joined the fight against child exploitation. After escaping street work in Kampala, Nivea joined a Child Rights Club supported by her local Child Protection Team. Today, she is enrolled in school and uses her story to campaign for other children to stay safe from trafficking and thrive in their education.

Growing up in Uganda’s poorest region

Karamoja is Uganda's poorest region. It has a poverty rate of over 74%, more than four times the national average. Roughly half of its 1.5 million residents are under 18. Many of these children live in remote, rural communities facing severe child protection crises, chronic hunger, educational collapse, and life-threatening environmental deprivation.

One of these children is 12-year-old Njorok Nivea.  She is a proud Child Rights Club member in the district of Napak. She campaigns to keep children safe from trafficking and exploitation, and to stay in school. 

Surviving the streets of Kampala

Nivea was trafficked from her home in Karamoja by her aunt, who told her she would be helping to look after her young baby. She was taken to Kampala, but instead of helping her aunt, Nivea and her siblings were forced to beg on the streets. They were beaten by thieves who stole their money; they were knocked over by motorbikes on the road and faced regular threats of sexual assault. Food was often scarce, and they were forced to sleep outside.

A widespread crisis for Karamoja’s children

An overwhelming 90% of all children living or begging on the streets of Uganda's capital city, Kampala, are ethnically Karamojong children trafficked from the sub-region. When we surveyed residents of Karamoja’s Napak district, 41.3% of respondents said they have witnessed child trafficking, and 143 households have directly had a child taken. Nearly half of the children interviewed said parents in their community ask children to leave the area to find work. 

Finding safety and a way back to school

When she was eight, Nivea and her older sister were picked up by the authorities and brought back to her home village in Karamoja to live with her elderly grandmother. She was glad to be off the streets, but disappointed not to attend school. She was expected to take over her grandmother’s firewood business, collecting and selling wood in the village. This situation is not abnormal in the Napak area; in fact, 61.7% of children surveyed by The Freedom Fund and Africhild reported they were engaged in child labour. Karamoja also has the highest proportion of child marriage in Uganda, with over half of girls married before the age of 18. 

How peer support is changing lives in Napak

Life began to change for Nivea when she joined her local Child Rights Club, supported by the Child Protection Team in her village. After joining the Child Rights Club, fellow members encouraged her to register at a local school. They spoke to her family about the importance of education, and her older sister took over the firewood business so Nivea could focus on learning.

Nivea is now in her third year at school and is flourishing. She is still a proud member of her Child Rights Club.  Having lived on the streets herself, she encourages children who are considering running away and offers guidance to those who have recently returned. Despite her young age, she has great respect from her peers and uses her experiences to encourage them to stay in school and make positive choices. 

She says she also appreciates the practical life skills training at the Child Rights Club, learning about menstrual hygiene and how to make sanitary pads. This year, her club have also planted vegetables to fund their schooling and encouraged many peers to enrol or return to school through their campaigning.

Child Rights Clubs like Nivea’s are facilitated by Child Protection Teams in Karamoja. These local volunteers, elected by their communities, are trained in child protection and are currently supporting over 6,450 children in their villages. 

Note: Nivea's blog was originally published in November 2025 and updated in October 2026.