Update from BHW Uganda Partnership Facilitator

I have had a number of communications with Thomas recently. He is going to send me an updated report following significant numbers of trainings in both Foundations for Farming and Trauma and Healing in the refugee camps in northern Uganda, and also more locally in Kamuli and on Buvuma Island in Lake Victoria. However, the reports and photos that I have received to date are very encouraging. 

Recent Events

Personal 

Both Thomas and Joyce have struggled with health issues at various times recently. They were sick with salmonella over Easter, and they have also struggled with malaria and typhoid over recent months. Joyce has also been having significant pain in her legs, and Thomas has ongoing issues with his previous back ailment. Both have also continued to experience a lot of trauma following the loss of their son Taban which has been reported on previously. We were able to support them to have a healing retreat late last year, which was helpful in this area. Because Thomas is also involved in Trauma and Healing workshops and training, he does have some insight into the issues although he has said to me that he never fully understood the depth of pain and suffering that people can go through, until they encountered the brutal murder of their son.

They have also suffered another significant bereavement, which has affected them deeply. They brought up a young woman during the early years of their marriage, who subsequently had a child which, it would appear, has recently been murdered by poisoning. 

Loan Programme

I have had a number of discussions with Thomas in recent times regarding the Jinja microfinance loan programme. In Thomas' words this programme is not able to be resurrected in its present form without taking legal action against some of the previous defaulting borrowers. I have told Thomas in my most recent discussion, and earlier, that it would not be appropriate to do that. Thomas also understands that if there is to be any progress with a microfinance programme in Jinja, then the programme needs to be based on table banking, possibly with training involved. 

He is familiar with this because he is supporting a group of widows and pastors’ wives in Koboko who are presently running a microfinance table banking savings and loan programme. He has also asked for a boost support for this programme and is in the process of providing me with details of the borrowers, and how that is progressing so we can evaluate this. This programme does seem to be well run and operating well. Apparently, the records and fund finances are kept in a box which is shifted from house to house regularly for security reasons, and the individual borrowers are not familiar with where those records are held. This is very similar to what we saw with the programme in Ngora, near Soroti, in 2019. Bright Hope World certainly considers that table banking is the way of the future for microfinance and would be hopeful that we could also run some training in Jinja or Mukono in 2025 to assist people to fully understand and implement this.

In regard to the previous Jinja loan programme, there is a small core of borrowers that are still continuing and are still faithful. However, it does not provide a basis for this programme to continue further. I have previously sent Thomas a copy of Jacklyne Ogutu’s (KEN11) resources on business/table banking and our observations on the Ngora table banking programme. He has reviewed these and is generally in agreement with the observations and direction. 

Ideas for the Future

Thomas asked me to raise the following proposal for consideration:

In Koboko there is a group of pastors' wives and widows who are already doing business in a very small way. They have started their own very small savings and loan programme (a type of table banking). It is still very small and is run by the women who are in the attached photos. There are 50 women in this group, but the group has developed from within, as a cooperative, which is encouraging. It presently has no external support. There is a leadership team, which is very committed and Thomas, because he is in Koboko regularly, would help supervise this group. The types of businesses that are being run include reselling of fish, produce, and flour. He believes that this group would strongly benefit from a top up of US$2,000–3,000. This would enable them to expand their businesses and not simply live completely at a subsistence level. All of the women are pastors' wives, widows, or married to people who are involved in ministry. These are the people that Thomas has referred to as being disfigured by their suffering. They are part of the Life Gospel Ministries (LGM) network and the Koboko Pentecostal Church which was established by LGM in 1990. He believes that this loan programme needs a boost, and I am quite positive about this. I certainly think that the group would benefit from it and I would hope that I would be able to travel to the north of Uganda, hopefully with a colleague, in the New Year to review this. I have asked Thomas for a full list of the loan beneficiaries and the businesses they are doing.

The two photos attached to this report are of the secretary of the programme, and also the treasurers. The fact that they have two people keeping the financial records, and a secretary and leader of the programme would suggest that they have been well trained in table banking and savings and loan prices. It certainly gives me significant confidence to support Thomas' proposal.