Meet Peace from Uganda Peace, 57, lives in Katojo village, in the western Uganda Kanungu district. She lives with her two grandchildren, Tukamushaba Sheilah (10) and Nahurira Violah (7), who she became caregiver for after her daughter passed away.
Peace participates in a WE-funded microfinance program with our partner, Nyaka. She was lucky to have acquired tailoring skills, and she borrowed 500,000UGX (Ugandan Shillings; approximately $139) from her granny group to buy a sewing machine. The money was not enough, so she sold her piglets to pay for the balance.
Peace is diabetic, so some of her profits from her tailored clothes must go to her medical bills instead of back into her business, thus slowing the growth of her business to the heights it could potentially reach. However, she is always able to make payments on the loan in time. She is well known in her community for her expertise in tailoring, and schools from nearby engage her in making uniforms. Peace has also continued to rear pigs, which adds to her income and helps pay for fees so she can see her grandchildren through school. She says her elder grandchild dreams of becoming a doctor and the youngest dreams of becoming a teacher. She is optimistic that with her participation in the microfinance program, their dreams will be fulfilled.
Kabaami Aisha is 66 years old and is from Rwemisisi cell, Kihihi town parish, Kihihi T/council,
Kanungu district. She lives with three grandchildren of her late son. These came to the grandmother’s home after the death of their father who had already separated with the wife. The mother’s whereabouts are not known. Aisha has been running a business of tailoring, but after joining Nyaka grandmother group and receiving training in financial literacy, she decided to start selling second hand clothes like bed sheets, towels, children clothes, skirts and dresses.
Aisha also realized that she was wasting part of her rented room where she only operated her sewing machine yet she could use it to sell soft drinks. Aisha is one of the lucky grandmothers who has benefited from WE funds worth 500,000UGX. She used the money to buy clothes and some soft drinks to add on her tailoring business. Aisha is also planning to start selling fabric since people come to her shop for tailoring services. Aisha is able to use her loan with confidence due to its low interest rates and no additional costs in acquiring it. She is able to repay her loan using the profits she gets after selling her clothes, repairing clothes and this has helped her to support her grandchildren.
Jane Batsitire was 62 when she lost her son and began caring for her five grandchildren, ranging in age from six to 16. She worries about educating her grandkids as school in Uganda is not free. But even a loan as small as $14 is enough to launch a modest enterprise in Uganda.
WE-funded loans, plenty of hard work and a busy pig rearing business have now changed the lives of this family. It began with a small loan to purchase four piglets. With two litters a year, and five to six piglets in each, she is able to sell these pigs for a profit and reinvest in a new coffee business.
While life is certainly hard, her grandkids are in school and she is able to provide for family necessities. Jane, like thousands of other grandmothers in Uganda, now dreams for more for her kids and step by step, is building her business and family income.
