Talking ‘savings and loans’

 My final full day in Uganda included a return visit to Acholi Quarters, to spend some more time with the friends there who are so inspirational in their resilience, smile quota, community-focus and self-less and sharing attitude.

My visit started by spending a bit of time doing a video recording of the community through the eyes of some of the teenagers that we support and visiting the bits of the neighbourhood where they like to hang out. So we went to their homes, to the home of the lady who offers some home-schooling support (although she was out, so I didn’t get to meet her), to the football field where all the youngsters tend to gather now that the other sports area has been walled off by the owner, to the market area where they go when collecting food for an evening meal, and to the school that some of them go to – when schools are open. It was fun to walk round the areas with them and hear them chat about the spaces, and I’m pleased to say that I just about kept up with them, although I think they were going slower than usual, especially over some of the particularly lumpy and bumpy bits of ground!

The rest of the time was spent with some of the adults of the Lubanga Ber co-operative, which is the community group that we focus our support through. They had asked me to do some training with them on ‘developing a savings culture’ and ‘how to look after a business loan’ and so this was the two-pronged focus of our discussions.

In order to ensure that the training was relevant to them, I used a question-and-answer format whereby I asked the participants a question to lead into a discussion that was pertinent to their experiences and context. It worked well and it was good to see how much they all engaged in the process. Pretty much everyone joined in with some level of interaction, and there was a lot of sharing of ideas and perspectives. My role was definitely just to facilitate, to throw in some additional thoughts and perspectives, to probe a bit deeper to bring out more defined lines of thinking from them, and generally to lead the group forwards as they explored together how they might do a community savings scheme. 

Ultimately that was what the group were wanting to explore. They have already set up a community savings account and got the bare bones of a savings scheme in place. Miriam is chair, and Jessica and Florence are the other two signatories on the account. 

Members can bring money to the weekly meetings to deposit it. But the take up has been small, and the leaders of the group were keen to have some discussion to try and stimulate more of the members to get into the way of saving, by thinking about the benefits and not just the obstacles. There is no denying that it isn’t easy to save when earnings are so hard to come by, and none of them have reliable jobs or regular income. But it was interesting to hear some of the group urging others to ‘have courage and just put a few shillings in each time, so that slowly by slowly the amount being saved will grow’. 

I’m not sure when will be the next time I’m in Acholi Quarters. Covid continues to impact travel plans, and so everything is much more unpredictable than it was. But my prayer is that, as a result of the conversations that we had today, when I do return I will be greeted with stories of individuals who have managed to save small amounts and then use those savings to make positive changes in their lives.

‘PIF-ing’ launched in Uganda

Today, at a small village in rural Uganda, the PIF project was launched under the umbrella of John Njendahayo’s Nkuru-Nziza Foundation. John came up with the idea of PIF-ing during a period of slight ill-health earlier this year, when he was trying to stay positive and think of all the reasons to be grateful, rather than slip into feeling sorry for himself. The outcome was the ‘Pass It Forward’ whereby people are encouraged to pass forward kindness in the form of intentional actions, with no expectation of that kindness being reciprocated.

The PIF acts could be one-offs or ongoing; they could be related to professional skills or to another gifting that a person has; they could be in the local community or through the work environment – the more John mulled the concept over, the more ideas he got on how it could be put into practice, including in some key areas.

One of those key areas is environmental. In other words, doing intentional acts to make positive changes in the local environment, and encourage others to do the same. So, one person comes up with an idea for an action that benefits the local environment, and through carrying the action out, they Pass It Forward to others, who can then do the same. In so doing a chain of positive actions is started, that benefits the local environment, and as a result will benefit the local community as well.

Today’s launch of PIF was exactly that. A select group of local leaders gathered at the college to receive a simple presentation that I gave around being good stewards of God’s earth, the science behind carbon cycle, greenhouse gases and climate change (done in a very simple way, as I can’t go higher than very simple!), and ending with the question – what can be done to help protect the environment, right here in the local community.

The discussion that followed was enthusiastic, practical and pragmatic. And the outcome was the decision that tree planting needs to become a natural act of all people, and the leaders need to demonstrate this through doing their own tree planting. Education and sensitisation is also important, so that the community members understand the reasons for planting trees, and engage willing in the activity. Another discussion point was around encouraging switching to energy-efficient stoves, and investigating about how to make environmentally-friendly briquettes. In so doing the number of trees being cut down for fuel will be reduced, which, along with an increase in the number of trees being planted, will lead to greater tree cover generally. 

We didn’t touch on cars and fuel emissions, as most of the villagers don’t own a vehicle. And we didn’t touch on home insulation, or electricity providers, or other concepts that might get talked about in different communities, as home insulation isn’t a thing here, the homes don’t have central heating, and many don’t have electricity. We kept it relevant to the local context, and in so doing came up with actions that the leaders are going to take away and pass forward to their community members. It will require the leaders to make some small sacrifices to buy the trees, to take the time to do the educating, but through that they will pass forwards ideas and examples that others can follow. And in so doing, they will be passing forward positive actions to help improve the local environment and do their bit to reduce carbon emissions. 

 

On the grand scale of global carbon emissions, I guess it’s pretty tiny, but, as a certain supermarket likes to say, ‘every little helps!’

One final thought to leave you with – what Pass It Forward action can you take today that will bring positive change to someone else?