Misery is nearly inevitable when families grow large to include dependent extended relatives and worse off when the earnings of the sole breadwinner collapse. This may further be aggravated by the cultural and religious restrictions the family members accord with. In the case of Zuliyat (38), we can say, “she is reveling in her revealed potential”.

Zuliyat is married with 4 children and 6 dependants who are orphans of her late siblings. “Life was miserable and horrible when my husband lost his job yet we had all these children to take care of. A meal a day was by God’s grace while at times we would go on empty stomachs. This forced my children to begin doing odd jobs on the streets at an early age for just a small pay, if any. Worse still, they dropped out of school because I could not provide scholastic materials,” recalls Zuliyat.

In 2015, CRO social workers went on door-to-door home visits in Bubetsye village and mobilized residents for a meeting focusing on how to improve livelihoods in their community through the Self Help Group Approach. Zuliyat’s husband attended the community meeting and this helped him to clearly understand the intentions of the project.

Zuliyat says, “My husband allowed me to join a Self Help Group. I thanked my God because a Moslem man regards it as a taboo for a woman to begin leaving home to go and fend for the family.”

Zuliyat has so far accessed loans from the SHG four times. In 2015, she secured a loan of Ushs 30, 000 to put up a small grocery stall and after paying back, she got a second loan of Ushs 30, 000 to expand it. With confidence, she took yet another loan of 80,000 shillings to pay for her children’s school dues. Courageously, she got a fourth loan of Ushs 50,000 to reinvest in her grocery business due to the growing demand and the experience she had acquired in the business.

On a wonderful day such as a market day, she would make up to Ushs 5000 in profit.

In 2016, she acquired loans twice one amounting to Ushs 120,000 to set up a food kiosk since the area was a developing trading centre where Boda Boda cyclists are her biggest customers. She was able to put up a small structure and also purchase utensils to run the food kiosk. She got another loan of Ushs 50,000 to buy some food stuffs for the business.

Everyday Zuliyat makes about Ushs 14,000 as profit.

She says, “SHG concept has quenched the thirst and emptiness in my life. I am now full of potential and energy. I am able to save Ushs 1000 on a weekly basis as well as access credit from my SHG. Most importantly, my husband’s attitude totally changed for the better and our relationship has greatly improved because I also now cost share on household expenses which was always causing us disagreements leading to domestic violence”

“I have personally gained confidence to speak in public without shying due to the rotational leadership that we do practice during the SHG sessions. I have self esteem and I believe in doing greater things. I have now a total savings of 380,000 shillings. Belonging to an SHG as well as participating in the savings and credit has helped me provide scholastic materials, tuition, medical care, food and clothing to my family, “she adds.

Zuliyat’s gratitude extends to CRO, too. “Long live CRO! You unlocked my brains and transformed my attitude towards working with others through SHGs. My potential has been unraveled to fight against poverty to improve the livelihood of my family. My ambition,” she says,” is to set up a more advanced food kiosk in the center of Mbale town and to buy a plot of land to be able to do agriculture to enhance my household food security.”