Fieldwork Day Three: Umoja ni Nguvu Wakulima and Pamoja Tunaweza

How to Survive

by Specioza Mukandekezi

Specioza came to Nakivale in the year 2000 with two children. After four years she decided she should marry and she found a man and started taking care of the children together. Her husband was a loving man, but he died and Specioza became mentally unwell, which culminated in a week in prison for her. Upon her release she sold items left to her by her late husband but struggled to find food and survive. She was encouraged by her neighbours to join a group and started to learn about farming, irrigating crops and harvesting. She began to farm and harvested good yields.

Unbeknownst to her, she had high blood pressure and spent a week in hospital. Upon leaving she sold her produce and used the money to buy an animal. The group helped her to learn how to survive.

Francis is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo and reached Kampala as an urban refugee but the challenges of finding money for rent and food for his wife and child were such that he requested a transfer to Nakivale Upon arrival he was supported by a well-wisher with somewhere to sleep A friend lent him 20,000 UGX and he started a shoe selling business which unfortunately failed owing to the Covid break out

He went to a friend for advice and he suggested that they form a group so that they could join together and pool resources Mobilising more people, this was the birth of the Pamoja Tunaweza group, where they saved and borrowed money amongst themselves

They requested OBUL to provide training for the group in financial literacy He sees the group as a means to getting to know people from other nationalities - Rwandese, Congolese, Burundians - and construct a spirit of brotherhood With the training and access to financial services, Francis aims to set up a piggery farming project