The issue of child domestic workers, fondly referred to as house girls and houseboys in our society is no new phenomenon. Sure like tomorrow's sunrise, every one of us has either employed one or been in a household employing one and so their ways and works need no further description.

The sometimes-dehumanising way these little children, majority of whom are girls, are treated calls for an abolition of the practice of having a child domestic worker by way of criminalizing it as was done to slavery. "I dropped out of school and got a job as a house girl," narrates Nakabugo Fiona, a former house girl now under rehabilitation with Women and Youth services (WAYS), a local non governmental organisation that campaigns against all forms of child labour.

"I used to cook for the family, fetch water, clean the house and so many other tasks. I was only paid Shs8, 000 and sometimes I was not paid at all," she adds.

Like the gruelling experience of child labour is not bad enough, sexual abuse of these children compounds the problem making the victims suffer long spells of psychosocial disorders leading in most cases to a bleak future.

A research by WAYS indicates that sexual abuse of child domestic workers does not affect only the girl-child but the boy child too.

However statistics indicate an exponentially high difference in percentage between the girls and boys that face this kind of abuse.

It was found that 81.1% of the girls are sexually abused as compared to 18.9% of the boys making the affection ratio of girls to boys 5:1.

This partly explained by the fact that the girls are powerless rendering them more vulnerable to sexual abuse. This is compounded by the fact that the main perpetuators of this are male adults in households. "These girls are subjected to this in households by their masters, older boys in the household or neighbourhood and or fellow workers like shamba boys," said Margaret Happy Akiki, programme manager WAYS.

The plight of the victims is compounded by their ignorance, which incapacitates them from seeking legal redress even as basic as reporting to the Police.

"Many will not tell anyone what they are going through, but through programmes like ours, you find them opening up and sharing their bitter experiences," said Vincent Kakooza, the project coordinator WAYS.

But with WAYS and other organisations in the same trade, all is not lost.

Here they are equipped with vocational skills like tailoring, catering, Music dance and drama for the girls and the boys are linked to artisans who train them in crafts workmanship. They also undergo counselling and later are re-integrated back to their societies..