Our Mission
Lushomo Trust is born out of the vision of its founder, Mr. Antony Ranjan who was involved at that time with a project called Kwenuha ( the Lozi dialect word for change) for commercial sex workers. The story of a 16-year-old girl with the Kwenuha project made a turning point in the life of Mr. Ranjan. The 16-year-old girl narrated how she was sexually abused by her uncle for 2 years from the age of 8. The unfortunate thing is that her aunt knew but did nothing to protect her because the offender was the bread winner for the family.
After being tortured and losing her self-esteem and trust, she decided to run away looking for money to support herself and hence found herself on the streets where people “admired” her and she then decided to sell her body for sex. She became infected with HIV which developed into full blown AIDS. Despite her status, she continued selling sex because she had nowhere to go and nobody accepted her until she found Kwenuha which changed her life style.
After the story, Mr. Ranjan was very concerned and determined to do something to protect more girls from such abuse. He presented his case to the Victim Support Unit of the police, the Department of Social Welfare, YWCA, the legal fraternity, the church and other stakeholders, who were very supportive of his concern. With their support, the Lushomo Trust was created.
MAKE A CHANGE
"In many instances of sexual abuse, girls fear to report to authorities because they are threatened by the abuser or the family blames them for the abuse. Where cases do come to light, there is sometimes a need to remove the girl from the home situation until the offender is convicted in court and a suitable shelter with family members can be found."