If you recall late last year, we wrote a
blog about our new partnership with YOFAFO. This week, let’s pay our lovely
friends in Uganda a visit to see what is happening in that part of the world.
Most people would have never heard of the
small and quiet village of Bulumagi. This is where your donations
brought about a burst of exciting activities. ESTC provided a fund of $5,000,
which went towards YOFAFO’s microfinance loan and cow give-away project.
If you are not already familiar with the
concept of microfinance loans, these are small loans conferred to people with few resources to
help them kick off a business. The response to the project
has been overwhelming. Using part of the fund, YOFAFO also ran a loan seminar
to provide training about the duties of loan recipients and cashiers, microfinance best practices
for cashiers, and small business tips for clients.
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| Microfinance loan conference |
One of the beneficiaries of this loan is Nalongo
and her family. Two years ago, Nalongo and her husband bought a piece of land for their family. Nalongo worked hard tilling the land from morning till
dusk but yielded very little produce. With a microfinance
loan from ESTC, her family has now managed to get hired help to work on the land. As a result, their
yield increased significantly and she has bought a bicycle to transport the goods to the market
instead of having to carry them on her head, thereby increasing her efficiency.
With the additional income on hand, she is now able to provide better education
for her children.
The cow give-away project is a longer-term venture.
With the funds provided, YAFAFO gave away three pregnant heifers to a women's group in the village. It
wasn’t a case of the village just receiving the aid. The event spurred the
community to get together to plant elephant grass and even build a cow shelter
to feed and house each cow. On top of that, they raised the funds themselves to
do this.
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| One of the heifers |
Village income has been boosted through
many ways: milk production as a new source of income and manure to increase the
fertility of the land, leading to higher yields of more food.
This project has shifted the paradigm of
the entire village. They used to believe that heifers were meant only for the
rich. With training provided, now they know that anyone can care for heifers
and greater incomes will result if the animals are well looked after. The whole community group members are now
ready to do all it takes for the animals to thrive.
Moving forward, the aim of YAFAFO is to
generate sufficient income through repayment of loans and interests so that the
microfinance project can expand itself without outside donations.
With the cow give-away project, we are hoping
to be able to buy another two or three heifers to maintain enthusiasm and increase
the multiplier effect. We will be fundraising for this later this month so watch this space!
~ Michelle and the ESTC team
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