Grannies weaving mats as the buy time to wait for the fellows. ALL PHOTOS BY MOSES MUWULYA
By Moses Muwulya,Communications Officer.
KYOTERA. Seated under a tree, ‘Bakadde Twezimbe’ solidarity group members weave mats as they wait for fellow grannies for a group saving meeting which starts at 4 pm. Following the trainings, the aged- health looking grannies don’t want to be redundant as they wait for their fellows. They move with their unfinished crafts and do the weaving from there.
With their attention put on weaving, the not so busy grandmothers share seemingly amusing stories that spark of happiness among them.
The weekly solidarity group meetings have since become a center of socialization, sharing inexpressible moments of joy which is progressively warding off grief and trauma as one of the group member, Margret Nakyanzi notes.
The 72-year-old says before Kitovu Mobile rolled out the Grandmothers and OVC support project, they never used to have such moments.
“We could confine ourselves in our homes with no one to talk to which mounted grief for the loss of loved ones” Namugerwa shares as she weaves her mat.
The group is one of the eight newly created solidarity groups in phase one in Kabira sub county, Kyotera District where the Grandmothers and OVC project was launched early this year. It started with 16 members.
However,anticipated benefits as Paul Jjuuko, the group contact person shares, forced them (the two contact persons) to join them, making a total of twenty members.
A grandmother collects members’ weekly savings. Members have embraced saving since they engage in crafts making business. According to Jjuuko, members on a weekly basis save between Shs 500 to 1000. He says in just 22 sittings they have managed to save Shs 270,000. Out of this, Shs 17000 was lent to members; and proudly notes that members are ably paying back.
“This is so because many of them borrow to buy materials for their crafts and after selling their products, they get what to save and the surplus services their loan”
Contact person takes savings records.
Generally, the grannies say the project activities, like bereavement counseling, hygiene promotion and economic empowerment has ousted hopelessness, laziness and poor hygiene in their homes.
With conviction, grannies note to have lived such a situation for so long until Kitovu Mobile mobilized them for empowerment “We are now different and still changing for the best.
Jane Nasiwa says the training on hygiene has been greatly adopted. She says every Saturday she mobilizes her grandchildren for through house cleaning.
“Can you imagine we could often fell sick because of poor hygiene? Bedbugs had become a problem, grandchildren could develop skin rushes; all as a result of poor hygiene” Nasiwa shares as her peers laugh off, adding that even drinking boiled water was never their practice.
A widow, who has just lost her husband, Nasiwa says she saw solidarity from fellow members who were they for her and felt soothed during the trying moment.
For Jane Namugerwa, 67, her fortune is more pronounced in being able to work hard so as to get what to save and later borrow to make buy materials and make more crafts.