Light at the End of the Tunnel
“My name is Janet. I am 7 years old and I am from the Syanyonja parish in Busitema sub-county. I have a brother, James, who is 5 years old, and we all live with our grandmother in a small hut. We lost our mother when I was 4 years old, and our father abandoned us with our grandmother. Since then, we have been living with our grandmother who is our current breadwinner. She suffers from painful joints, especially after vigorous activity. My grandmother and I solely depended on farming on a small unit of land for our livelihood. Our harvest was low, which forced us to survive on one meal a day. In 2019, World Vision introduced household communities, and our family was included in the communities. My grandmother was excited about being a community member.
" All community members, including my grandmother, received training in kitchen gardening. Later on, through her, I was able to participate in a kitchen garden establishment where we planted Dodo, Sukuma wiki, eggplant and others. We regularly monitored our garden and I learnt how to produce vegetables, make manure and other activities. We now eat vegetables in at least 3 meals a day and that improved our health and our wellbeing as a family. My grandmother later joined a savings club within the community, where she saves 2,000 UGX per week from the sale of our vegetables. The remaining amount is used for buying basic needs like soap, meat, and school supplies. This encouraged me to work hard in school to achieve my dream of becoming a teacher. Now my grandmother is saving hard for iron sheets because she wants to build a strong, permanent house. My family saw a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel and that was very inspiring for our family. My grandmother has since increased her savings to 5,000 UGX a week’’, said Janet.
* Picture: Janet (wearing a red and black dress) participating in the children’s training of the Kitchen Garden orientation.