Uganda | Women's Empowerment International

Georgia | Uganda

Jul 30, 2023 | Featured News/ Events, Uganda, Women Stories

Meet Georgia K., a resilient 58-year-old widow from Burandami village in Uganda. She is the caregiver of her four grandchildren, aged between 7 months and 10 years, as her daughter left them to search for a job but then never returned. Despite facing adversity, Georgia found hope through a loan of 500,000UGX (~$139) from Nyaka’s Grandmother Program, supported by WE funds.

With this loan, Georgia invested in her long-cherished dream of starting a goat-keeping project. The goat she bought gave birth to twins twice, rapidly increasing her goat herd to five within a year. Georgia sold three goats and purchased a calf, which has grown into a healthy cow. The cow also gave birth to a calf, adding to her growing livestock.

Georgia’s ingenuity didn’t stop there. She strategically uses goat manure to enrich her vegetable garden and banana plantation, ensuring a steady supply of nutritious food for herself and her grandchildren. Moreover, she enjoys a regular income from milk sales, providing her grandchildren with fresh milk.

Thanks to the support of WE funds, Georgia’s standard of living has significantly improved, earning her admiration and respect within her community. With determination and hard work, she repaid her loan from the income generated by her milk sales and banana plantation.

Today, Georgia’s assets include five goats valued at 1,000,000UGX (~$278) and two cows worth 2,700,000UGX (~$750). Grateful to Nyaka and WE, she proclaims, “Because of the loan I received, I am able to provide for my grandchildren.”

Georgia is an active member of the Kanungu Southern Ward Granny Group, soon to graduate from receiving revolving funds from Nyaka, marking another milestone in her inspiring journey of empowerment.

About Nyaka:

Uganda continues to face challenges such as a fragile economy affected by the Ebola outbreak, violence, and harsh weather conditions, which also affected agriculture and food access. Nyaka works with communities to nurture and protect children, so they can learn, grow, and thrive. WE supports its Grandmother program, which assists in caregiving, subverting sexual-based violence, and helping the grannies increase their earnings through microloans and investments. With WE support, the number of grandmothers with access to microfinancing, trainings, and support increases each year. These grannies have increased their household income and the economic wellbeing of their grandchildren, kept the children in school, and increased their own financial literacy. For every $40 invested into a grandmother-led household, there is a 285% return on investment within 36 months.

Norah | Uganda

Feb 14, 2023 | Featured News/ Events, Our Impact Page, Uganda, Women Stories

Norah K. from Uganda

A story of resilience & perseverance

Norah K., 72, lives in Nyamirama subcounty in southwestern Uganda and is a member of the Kigarama Granny Group, coordinated and supported by WE grant partner, Nyaka. She operates a retail shop at Karonde Trading Centre and takes care of two grandchildren. The children belong to Norah’s daughter, who left them under their grandmother’s care after giving birth to them at an early age. Norah’s daily routine begins at 6AM with chores, after which she prepares pancakes and popcorn for sale. Norah also packs some pancakes and popcorn as a snack for school for her grandchildren. Through the pandemic, her snack sales fell due to school closures and an increase in competition.

Through her retail business, however, (which is supported by microloans from the granny group) Norah has been able to:

Start a poultry project in which she sells eggs and hens to supplement her shop sales
Pay casual laborers who work on her gardens
Be in a position to always restock her shop
Become more financially independent, not depending on her children for financial survival, while meeting her scholastic needs of her grandchildren.

In the future, she dreams of seeing her business grow and compete successfully with other retail shops in her trading center, starting a goat farm, and building a permanent structure for her shop, which she hopes will be her legacy. Women like Norah in Nyaka’s Grandmothers program face many challenges on a daily basis, experiencing poverty and extreme poverty, working to overcome their situations and gain their independence, send their grandchildren to school, and enable them to thrive. They are strong, resilient, and empowered, working to build a reality where they and their grandchildren can dream big and achieve their goals.

Jane K. | Uganda

Jun 28, 2022 | Uganda, Women Stories

Jane, 62, belongs to a Nyaka Grandmother group in the Kanungu district of Uganda, which WE supports with funding for their microfinance program. Jane cares for three grandchildren, two of whom are from her son who passed away. She operates a small restaurant at a bus stop stage. She prepares breakfast and lunch for the boda (motorcycle riders) who park next to her restaurant. With a recent loan of 700,000 UGX (approximately $188), she was able to pay rent on the verandah space and acquire some materials like sauce pans, utensils, and food supplies. During the COVID-19 lockdown throughout the country, her business suffered with fewer motorists as customers.

Now, with things opening up again, she wakes up at 5:30 every morning to go to the restaurant and start preparing the meals. Her daily sales are now up to almost $19/day, and she has been able to send all of her grandchildren to school, pay back her loan, and rear and sell pigs at home to boost her income. She is working hard to grow her business, so she can acquire a plot of land of her own for the restaurant and become a landlord herself, charging rent to others.

Your support represents a chance for women like Jane to create her own opportunities and has a life-changing impact for generations to come.

Peace | Uganda

Apr 7, 2022 | Uganda

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 | Uganda

Mar 1, 2022 | Our Impact Page, Uganda

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 | Uganda

Feb 28, 2022 | Uganda

Jane cares for five 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.

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