Meet Beatrice. She lives in Anywang Village with her husband and four children. For many years, she struggled to support her family. When she was just 15 years old, Beatrice dropped out of school.
About half of the women in Beatrice’s community are illiterate, making it increasingly difficult to escape the cycle of poverty. In 2014, she got the chance to change her life with the opportunity to join THRIVEGulu Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA). Once Beatrice was enrolled in a group with the other women from her village, she started saving. Additionally, she began attending THRIVEGulu business training and literacy classes.
In her first year in the group, Beatrice saved over 100K Ugandan Shillings which she invested back into the group savings. In the second year, Beatrice received over 400K Ugandan Shillings cash in hand from saving! Beatrice was able to use this money to pay the school fees for her children. That year, she took out a loan with the goal to improve the family income by investing in cash crops, such as sugar cane and rice. She successfully paid off that loan.
Today, Beatrice has several acres of sugar cane and rice. She is a farmer! To help break the cycle of poverty, Beatrice and her husband developed a strategy for empowering their children by making education a priority. “We no longer worry about school fees since we now have more than enough to pay the costs,” she said, “Our children are all at school and they are healthy. Group savings showed me the way of hope. I no longer worry about my education because THRIVEGulu has brought us adult literacy. I’m now able to read and write in Acoli!”
