Kampala Sex Workers | Urgent COVID19 Relief Fund

Lady Mermaids Bureau, a sex worker led organization, along with Trans Positives Uganda, an organization for trans sex workers, have joined efforts to raise funds in support of Ugandan sex workers during the pandemic. The COVID-19 virus has, overnight, devastated the livelihood of thousands of working professionals in Kampala, leaving them and their dependants in severe economic crisis.

We, the campaign team, are fundraising to secure the critical basics for Ugandan sex workers who are vulnerable and struggling during these strange and disorienting circumstances imposed on the world by COVID-19. Basics include: Food,  medicines, rent support and sanitation. We are especially focused on supporting the low income female and trans sex workers in streets,
brothels, bars and slums in the Kampala Capital area.

The emergency fund will be used to provide emergency food kits, sanitizers, rent support, sanitary pads, airtime for phone and internet, and to provide fuel to distribute ARVs to sex workers living with HIV, who cannot access health facilities due to the lock down of public transport. For sex workers living with HIV it is crucial to maintain stable medication and given that the risk of severe COVID-19 may be greater in people who are not on antiretroviral treatment, we would not want our positive colleagues to stop taking their medicine.

We believe these efforts will help in the prevention of COVID 19, keeping sex workers and their families secure, and to minimize the spread of the virus via client interactions.

As experienced activists and community leaders, we are well placed to distribute the funds where it is most needed. We are calling for solidarity and support in these pressing times. Every small contribution counts.

On behalf of the campaign team,

Sanyu Hajjara Batte - Executive Director, Lady Mermaid's Bureau
Keem Love Black - Founder and Executive Director, Trans Positives Uganda

&  Paula Pönkänen - Campaign Support

For more information and previous activities, please visit Lady Mermaid's Facebook page , and check out Trans Positives Uganda's Twitter account .