Improving Lives through Village Saving & Loan Association (VSLA)Nakatesi’s Story

For over 20 years, SSHJM, through Children in Need (CHIN), have worked with vulnerable rural communities in Mukono District, where most households depend on small-scale agriculture and micro-enterprises for their livelihoods. Many of the households supported include children with disabilities and experience chronic food insecurity, malnutrition, and low household incomes.

With support from Misean Cara, SSHJM-CHIN is strengthening the resilience of vulnerable households through climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agriculture. Annually the programme supports 145 farming households into 17 farmer groups on Farming as a Business (FaaB), climate-smart agricultural practices, urban farming, and Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA). Farmers have adopted sustainable technologies such as the use of Indigenous Micro-Organisms (IMO), cultivation of drought-tolerant crops, rainwater harvesting for irrigation, integrated crop-livestock production, and diversified vegetable production.

To enhance access to quality planting materials, CHIN established a seed multiplication garden that recently harvested 25 kg of spider plant seed, 50 kg of cowpea seed, and 10 kg of green amaranth seed, strengthening the organization's indigenous vegetable seed bank. These interventions have improved household food availability, dietary diversity, climate resilience, and incomes by enabling families to increase agricultural production, market surplus produce, and generate savings while retaining adequate food for household nutrition.

Fatumah in her model nursery bed preparing seedlings for her customers

Fatumah Nakatesi, a resilient single mother of ten children, including two pairs of twins, living in Lwanyonyi Village, Namubiru Parish, Nama Subcounty, in Mukono District, central Uganda. For years, life was a relentless struggle. After her husband passed away, Fatumah was left alone to raise her children with no stable income. Feeding and educating them became a daily challenge. But where others saw despair, she began to look for a seed of hope, a way to lift her family out of poverty.

SSHJM-CHIN is promoting sustainable livelihoods among single mothers, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups by equipping them with agricultural knowledge and financial literacy. These initiatives are implemented through farmer groups and VSLA programs. With support from SSHJM-CHIN staff, Fatumah joined a group of 12 women who received hands-on training in vegetable growing, crop management, and financial literacy in Lwanyonyi. These efforts encouraged participants to form farmer groups and VSLAs as a foundation for sustainable income and community empowerment.

In response, Fatumah and her peers formed the Self Help Initiative Lwanyonyi farmer group with a motto "Pray to God and see things change" where Fatumah was appointed as Chairperson. As a group, they were provided with a variety of vegetable seeds, including nakati, ebbuga, ejjobyo, onions, dodo (amaranths), and sukuma wiki, to support their farming endeavors.

Kitchen gardens at her house hold which supports her family with daily income

Fatumah began by creating a kitchen garden infront of her modest home using the skills she gained from the training. Starting small with greens like nakati, ebbuga, ejjobyo, onions, dodo (amaranths) and onions she repurposed old sacks into grow bags and used locally available materials to build a shaded nursery. What began as a solution to feed her children soon turned into a blossoming opportunity.

Her kitchen garden thrived not only feeding her family but attracting attention from neighbors interested in her produce. With every small sale, she reinvested into the vegetable garden. She learned to make organic compost, saved seeds for future planting, and she even taught her children how to care for the crops. Her garden became more than a source of food it became a symbol of resilience, knowledge, and community.

“Before I started growing vegetables, I used to grow maize, beans, and tomatoes. But I earned very little from them because I only had access to half an acre of rented land, and they didn’t have a reliable market,” Fatumah recalls.

Now, with just a small space in front her house, she is harvesting regularly. Her garden ensures food security for her family and gives her the ability to save money through her VSLA group. With determination, Fatumah plans to use her savings to start a piggery project with at least two piglets by the end of December 2025.

“I love growing amaranths (dodo), ebbuga, and ejjobyo because they mature in just 21 days and are ready for the market. The best part is, I only harvest the leaves and branches two weeks later, new ones grow, and I can harvest again. This continues for a whole year.”

Fatumah overcame numerous challenges like pests, poor weather, and limited resources to build a thriving garden and a life of purpose. Her determination and resilience transformed her into a respected model farmer who inspires others by sharing her knowledge and promoting farmer groups and VSLAs. What began as a fight for survival blossomed into a story of empowerment, self-reliance, and hope, showing that even the toughest circumstances can lead to a beautiful, lasting impact.