To supplement her income earnings, she initially also did other odd casual jobs because she needed to pay school fees for her daughter who was in tertiary school (YMCA). When her savings accumulated, she requested for a loan to start her local restaurant. By this point in time, she had taken on the role of paying school fees for her children and grandchildren, who still have a long way to go until they finish their studies.
Babirye Nabanja told us that, together with some of the ladies who are now a part of Pendeza Uganda, they had tried saving with a few Village Savings schemes which apparently fell short in fulfilling the promises made to them. Let us fast-forward this story to when Babirye decided that she needed something to call her own.
She has lived her entire life in the slum and been a tenant all the while. She figured out that possessing land, and perhaps a house was what she needed. In 2017, which was at least 4 years since joining Pendeza Uganda, she shared with the team her desire and started a hunt for land. Of course, this meant that she needed to increase the amount she was saving.
This challenge was something that Babirye had already been prepared for, through years of the training that Pendeza Uganda had equipped her with. She worked tirelessly, and often did not have time to bring her savings by herself but sent her older children on a regular basis, each week. In mid-2018, she was made aware of a piece of land with an already built house, in Kayunga. She was extremely excited about this because, as much as Kayunga is far from Kampala, at least she knew that acquiring this property meant having a place to call home, other than the slum in Kampala.
This being a developing story, we would like to report that Babirye – a very happy Babirye, is the proud owner of this property and has now embarked on a journey to repay her loan. Nothing brings us more satisfaction than knowing that lives are changed by our practical service of love to the least fortunate. More lives can be changed for the better, and you who are reading this can be a part of it. Follow our different platforms for ways in which you can donate or sponsor a child/family or Pendeza Uganda in general.
