Woven narrative sculptures on survivors of human trafficking at omuti kreativ, lweza, wakiso, Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to produce woven sculptures and a visual pocket guide that create awareness about the dangers of human trafficking among young girls at Omuti Kreativ, Lweza, Wakiso district. It was guided by three objectives: 1.) to find out the causes of human trafficking among young girls at Omuti Kreativ, Lweza, Wakiso district, 2.) to create woven sculptures that highlight the dangers of human trafficking among young girls derived from the narratives of survivors at Omuti Kreativ, Lweza, Wakiso district, 3.) to design a visual pocket guide that creates awareness about human trafficking for the youth in Uganda. This study was qualitative in nature, employed a case study research design with focus on Omuti Kreativ where ten female survivors of human trafficking were sampled. The respondents were purposively selected and collection of data was through methods like in-depth interviews, participant observation, focus group discussions, photography and reviewing documentary evidence. Findings revealed that; majority of the survivors were subjected to dangers of human trafficking like forced labour, sexual servitude, smuggling, psychological torture, involuntary servitude and to a lesser extent organ trafficking. These findings were subjected to studio exploration which resulted into production of eight sculptures: five free standing and three relief, wearable sculptures namely imprisoned by the passport, abatambuze (a set of three sculptures), ekyama, ekyambe 1, ekyambe 2 and munyambe. Subsequently, the sculptures were integrated into a visual pocket guide that creates awareness about human trafficking to enable accessibility to more people. The researcher recommended that the survivors need to be educated about their working rights, the law and how best it can protect them within these foreign work destinations, all learning institutions in Uganda ought to emphasize hands-on skills among the youth aimed at producing more job creators than job seekers, law enforcement personnel and policies in regard to human trafficking need to be revised and strengthened, more visual research needs to be conducted on human trafficking through art exhibitions to spark off both internal and external discourse among the publ