Augustin Nibitebeka reports:

"The women who need the most protection live in extremely difficult conditions; they often have only one meal a day and face many other problems as a result of illness. Young, educated people without jobs are at risk of committing theft or turning to drugs to escape the hopelessness. ... It is progress if we work specifically with women and young people instead of viewing them as a vulnerable group."

In order to have a more balanced diet and to become a little less dependent on the weather, the next groups started keeping pigs after the first. This meant that the part of the rice that people could not eat could be fed to the pigs and the pig droppings reduced the cost of expensive but necessary artificial fertilizer. The first piglets were then passed on to the next families in need. Little by little, the families started sending their children to school themselves. This did not happen immediately or fully, but from year to year the situation improved and the socioeconomic situation became more stable. The children enjoyed going to school and saw it as an opportunity.

Mr. Nibitegeka was lucky enough to receive a rice mill donated by a German foundation for microfinance work. In the spirit of KETAAKETI, he then used the profits himself to provide microfinance for new people in need. Because of the great and sustained success, this same foundation made another large donation to a second rice mill a year later.

UMUCO started microfinance with pigs and then added rice cultivation. From the beginning, this NGO has been concerned about children's education. But not just their own education - as soon as the women realized that they could make a difference themselves, they started thinking about the children and young people who, without an education, can only beg or steal if they want to survive.

UMUCO gathered young people and children from the street and began to teach them. They really wanted to teach the young people how to sew, a little economics, English and French so that they could survive on their own after school. But how can that work if there is no money for sewing machines? Through RestCent Bremen they received a grant for sewing machines and for the first microfinances, so that a growing group of young people from the street not only learn to read and write, but also receive a solid education that will enable them to earn a living in the future.

As of 2023, UMUCO has given approximately 280 families the chance to benefit from microfinance and many, many more children seeking to educate them.

“I am a woman from the microfinance group in our village. With the start-up money I started selling local bananas and was able to buy a piglet with the money I earned.

The pig is big now and I use the compost to fertilize my fields.

I can now pay back the entry fee and it will be passed on to the next women. I am very happy that my children now have school materials and also enough clothes and shoes."

We women from Vugizo have undertaken various activities to earn an income. Today we want to hand over the money to the new women's group, which in turn implements various business ideas so that the women can support their families.

Now is the moment when the old group hands over the money to the new group.

"I am the leader of this women's group that you see here. At the beginning we were all very skeptical, whether we can really be successful if we start a small business with microfinance

But we held some meetings and tried it. Now there are many various business ideas of women in agriculture and animal husbandry. Slowly improved life changes for us. The children can go to school, they also have enough clothes. The

Women feel responsible for what they do. We are very happy about that."

"I am very happy to have received this support. I believe that microfinance will enable us to support our families. We women can use it to help our men provide for the family. We believe that we as women now have much more opportunities to do this. The children also benefit a lot. We are very motivated to make something big out of this!