By Moses Muwulya

Busy weaving her mat, Jane Nabona drops it to welcome us to her home in Kifamba. The neighborhood is in Kabira Sub County, Kyotera District, known to be worst hit by HIV/AIDS. As she welcomes us, she calls her grandchildren, reminding them of irrigating her passion fruits and vegetable nursery bed, shortly after attending to piggery and poultry projects.
The scene, tells you what has become of Nabona after getting enrolled on the Grand Mothers and OVC support Project in 2019. Before, Nabona, who is physically impaired (walks by crawling), used to do one thing: lamenting over her physical appearance thinking that she cannot do anything.

Nabona, who was enrolled on the project, majorly because of her disability and being HIV positive, is now a different person; in both esteem and livelihood.
“I had feared joining the Solidarity group because I didn’t know where to get money to save weekly,” But when she was told that she can start up projects and generate income, she finally accepted. She started with crafts, which she sold to buy hens and slowly started her poultry project.
One mat fetches her between Shs 8000 and 15000, depending on the type. In a month she can make 10 mats, earning between Shs 80,000 -150,000
She uses this money for saving and investing the rest in projects as the rest buys home supplies. She now wants to borrow from the group to buy Solar and ably do Craft work at night to increase on the number of mats made in a month, but also improve on her standard of living and social wellbeing.

From the group, she doesn’t get monetary rewards alone, but she says it is always good meeting her fellow grannies weekly.’
Emotionally, her esteem was down, sinking in stigma over her disability, but through a series of psychosocial support, involving physical wellbeing, mental and emotional therapies offered by the project counselor is now psychologically well.