“Here, we love one another”: a story of resilience in Barr Village
Cents for Seeds is our micro-loan project that equips women in northern Uganda with the seeds, training, and support to break the cycle of poverty. Beginning in 2010 with just 100 women, Cents for Seeds has grown to reach over 32,000 women and counting! The following video tells the story of Lilly, who successfully started her own business before graduating from the program in 2020, alongside her community.
Read the full transcript below
“Here in Barr Acuga the people are lovely.”
“As a community we do things together, we support one another. Here, we love one another. We help one another. That is what we do in this community.
But before Love Mercy, people could not come together. There was no unity.
We were hungry because we did not have money to buy food. We didn’t have clean water to drink. We didn’t even have money to go to the hospital when we were sick.
I first received seeds from Love Mercy in 2015. My first harvest yielded well – I got 9 basins [90kg] of soya beans!
The yields from my harvest helped me pay two years of school fees for my children. I also joined Love Mercy’s VSLA program in 2017. I saved and borrowed money through this program. It has allowed me to buy 12 goats, chickens, and start my own business.
The savings group has helped me in many ways – we borrow from each other and we always pay it back. One of my children was even able to complete a driving and mechanic school as a result of the support from VSLA.
As a result of Love Mercy starting a project here, our community is now united. Love Mercy helped us come together as a community by forming VSLA groups.
Our community graduated from the program in 2020. Though we graduated, our VSLA group is still continuing. We still borrow money from each other, the money still supports our families and community. We have grown the money from 600,000 shillings to over 1,000,000 shillings, and have also grown from 8 goats to 18 goats.
The biggest issue we currently face is drought and famine. It is the biggest problem in our community because we depend on farming. What we have cultivated this season has all dried up because of drought. We did not receive enough rain to support our crops. This makes it challenging to find enough food to eat. But, we can still use the VSLA savings in order to buy food, and that is what we are doing.
Thank you for supporting us. I hope that you all continue supporting other communities, and come to encourage us also.”
Village Savings and Loan Associations compliment the Cents for Seeds program by building financial literacy skills and granting participants access to savings and loan options. With this, women can save a portion of their income from harvests, providing a safety net for the future and ensuring communities remain resilient in the face of a changing climate.
For just $30, you too can empower a woman through Cents for Seeds. Make a tax-deductible gift before June 30 and make your impact count.