Nepal Flash Floods Response
A Grandmother’s Hope for Education
Brian Mungu
On the slopes of a hilly village in Kamwenge District, Uganda, World Vision is equipping families with tools to overcome poverty. Through household clusters, women and their families are now set on a course to thrive, not just survive.
Among the women in the 25 families that form Dove household cluster is Dinah, a 54‑year‑old grandmother and primary caretaker of 12‑year‑old Javira and his three siblings.
When I was a child, I was not allowed to attend school since school was considered only for boys,” says Dinah. “My dream is that all my children and grandchildren can get a decent education.”
Dinah was a farmer growing corn, cassava, and beans to feed her family. When she had surplus, she sold it to raise income for her family. Yet, with traditional farming methods she used, her harvests never yielded enough to cover education or healthcare, no matter how hard she worked.
Dinah tried everything, including involving her young grandchildren in farmwork, but it was all in vain.
“I knew involving children in farmwork was really robbing their childhood, but I needed to do all that was possible to survive,” says Dinah. “I always wanted to provide a better life for my family, but it was never easy. It felt like I was taking two steps forward and four steps back,” she reflects.
More than twice, Javira was diagnosed with malnutrition, a condition Dinah barely understood. When Javira turned three, Dinah longed to send him to school but struggled to afford fees and materials. Javira waited a full year before Dinah could save enough to take him to school.
Each time Dinah tried to borrow money from money lenders in her village, they would charge exorbitant interest rates from 100 to 150 percent. “Whenever I had pressing needs, I had to sell my produce prematurely to raise money.” Dinah’s premature produce fetched lower prices, “but it was better than going through the stress of paying high interest rates from the money lenders,” she says.
When Javira finally joined school, his joy was short‑lived. Terms were often disrupted by unpaid fees. “I used to feel bad whenever they sent me away from school for overdue school fees,” says Javira.
Hope for the First Time
In 2021, Javira’s life changed when he joined the Child Sponsorship programme. That same year, World Vision introduced the household cluster model, and Dinah became one of its pioneers. Her compound became the meeting ground for the Dove household cluster.
Through household clusters, World Vision empowered community members with models such as Savings for Transformation, Climate-smart Agriculture, and Biblical Empowered Worldview.
“After the World Vision trainings, I began to see the world differently,” says Dinah. “For the first time I knew that my family had hope for a better future,” she continues. “After the World Vision training, I learned how to make kitchen gardens. Now my grandchildren eat vegetables all the time, and we no longer suffer from malnutrition.”
World Vision teaches each family to save 0.56USD per week. Each household acts as an accountability partner for the others, ensuring everyone runs an income generating activity and saves weekly. From the savings, families can borrow at less than 5% interest, and profits are shared at the end of the year.
One of the objectives of the household cluster is to ensure every child has access to quality education. “The savings group has helped me keep Javira and his siblings in school. Whenever I run out of money for school fees, I borrow from the group and repay later,” says Dinah. “I no longer have to worry about moneylenders or selling my produce prematurely; I can wait for it to mature and sell at a better price,” she adds.
Today, Dinah can afford to keep Javira in school and provide for his healthcare. She is determined to give her children and grandchildren the life she has always dreamed of.
