How Clover Foundation Changed the Life of This Ugandan Mother
Your gift to Clover Foundation impacts students and their education, but also goes well beyond that. While our end goal is to empower the underserved children of Busega, Kampala, we realize that to do this, our efforts must reach deep into the community to support families in becoming more independent, providing better homes for themselves and their children and, eventually, giving back to their communities too.
Take for example, Nansamba Harriet, a mother of three. Working as a day laborer in a small farming village to support her family, Harriet made the difficult decision to send her children to live with their grandmother in Busega where she felt they could be better cared for. It’s here where we met her sons, Joseph and Lawrence, learned their family’s story, and enrolled them in the Clover Preschool.
It wasn’t long before Harriet came to join the family in Kampala to work in her mother’s produce stand. She applied to join Clover’s Kisoboka Nano-Finance Initiative, which gives small interest-free business loans to Clover mothers. With her first loan, about $20USD, Harriet added to the stand’s inventory, gradually expanding the business and turning it into her sole source of income. She used her business acumen to help other mothers in the community start or improve their own businesses, and was soon elected by her peers to be the Kisoboka Assistant Coordinator. Harriet also used her skills in farming and leadership to spearhead a cooperative community garden that provides free produce to the Clover community. Today, Harriet has paid back over a dozen loans and her produce stand has expanded substantially.
“Kisoboka increased my income and independence significantly,” says Harriet. “Not only am I able to provide for the basic needs of my family, I’ve been able to send my youngest child to school myself and may even be able to pay for a portion of my sons’ secondary school education.”
Harriet is just one of the many mothers Clover Foundation has helped become financially independent with just a small investment and support. It’s hard to believe that just $20 changed the life of Harriet’s entire family and now she’s sharing her experience and knowledge with other mothers who are looking to do the same.
Please give the gift of independence today to help these families build a brighter future.
