Sarah Nabagega aged 32 years, is a resident of Buluguyi village, Buluguyi subcounty, Bugiri district, a housewife, mother of four young children and married to a loving husband who worked in another district from where the family lived. Life for Sarah has always been of lack and struggle to take care of the family while the husband was away working at a job that fetched very little salary to meet the needs of the family. She was forced to borrow money to keep up with the necessities of the home like food, education and health needs for herself and the children. As a result, she was always choking on debts and yet still did not have enough money. The children for example had to go without food for the whole day as she could not afford to pack them food from home or to pay for school meals dues, which greatly affected their learning outcomes.
“I also just didn’t know what to do to change my situation, I lacked the motivation, confidence, courage and knowledge and skills to change my life from this state. I always felt defeated in life”.
Hope comes knocking
One day officials from UCOBAC visited Nambiya Primary School, a local government aided school in her village where her children studied. UCOBAC was identifying the most vulnerable children to support in their education program and my child was among those identified to benefit from this program. It is at this point that point that my life started to change. The child received scholastic materials and the organization involved the parents of the children in other livelihoods program activities and she received financial literacy skills, climate smart and agronomic farming practices training, business training, and she also received a small grant to start a small business where she sells popcorn. She also joined a village savings and loans Association group started by fellow parents that were participating in the program called “Basseka-Majja saving group” and was able to save 10,000 Uganda shillings (approximately $10) per week in this savings group.
Living the desired fulfilling life
“With the knowledge, skills and resources i have been able to access this program, I am now empowered and in charge of my life. My children have a better life, I can afford to provide for them for their food, education and health needs. I do not have to wait on my husband to provide when he can but we are working together to improve the conditions in my home.”
Not all is Gold
Like any business, Ms Nabagega says, business has good and bad times. Sometimes there are profits and sometime not. Also, she faces challenges of pests that affect her cassava plantation. Despite the several challenges at hand, she has dream of becoming a large-scale farmer and has plans of buying more land to grow rice and yams among other cash crops.
Nabagega’s Words of Wisdom and Appreciation
Ms Nabagega believes education is key to success and encourages women to believe in their power and work hard and ensure their children stay in school.
“I thank UCOBAC for walking this journey with me. I am now valued and respected by my husband and community members as a partner and not a beneficiary or burden. I also thank Canadian Feed The Children (CFTC) for supporting our communities.”
