Table banks allow widows to borrow small amounts of money to set up a business or buy seed or fertiliser to improve the harvest from their land.
Amongst the widows group at Namboboto one has started a fish business – she goes to nearby Uganda to buy fish and sells it a profit at the local market. Others, with their small loan, have set up businesses selling kerosene, cereals and vegetables. Once they begin to make a profit they start paying back their loan as well as supporting themselves and, often, several grandchildren.
Another group, the Faida Widows, are saving to buy a ‘taxi’ – not a car, but a motorbike which is how most people get around. This will give employment to the grandsons of the widows and bring funds into the group. A motorbike might carry three or four people as well as the ‘driver’! A small amount of help is transforming lives.