Meet Evalyn
November 4, 2015
Evalyn Akklongo, aged 33, is Head of Loans in the VSLA at the Olaa Amilobo School Demonstration Garden in Oguru, Amuru District. Evalyn has eight children herself, and is responsible for the four children of her husbands’ brother – orphaned after both their parents died of AIDs-related illnesses. Evalyn’s husband is an alcoholic and, while he is never violent towards her, he does not contribute to the family income. This means that 80% of the household work is left to Evalyn, who not only cares for the children, but also tends to their farm, growing cassava and beans, and runs a small business buying and selling dried fish.
In her role in the VSLA, Evalyn distributes and keeps track of loans and communicates the information to other group members. She enjoys her role and is “very happy because I feel like the members felt I could manage the role and trusted me”.
The VSLA is now where Evalyn keeps her money. She doesn’t have a formal bank account and before the scheme was introduced in August 2015, she had no proper way to save. With the VSLA, she is now able to meet more of her family’s needs. Furthermore, the VSLA group and the parents’ garden have provided Evalyn with a social support system that she lacks at home, and it’s helping to empower her as an individual; “sharing experiences with the rest of the group members is making me also quite motivated to stand on my own, ignoring what my husband is doing”.
Evalyn has already used the loan system to boost her business. Most recently, she took a loan of 50,000 Ugandan Shillings (£9, 95kr). She brought ocra from the village community for 40,000 (£7, 76kr) and used 10,000 (£2, 19kr) for transport to Nimule (a town at the border to South Sudan where the demand for agricultural produce is higher than in Amuru district). There, she sold the ocra and made a revenue of 105,000 (£19, 200kr). She returned to Oguru, repaid the loan with five percent interest – emerging with a profit of 50,000 Ugandan Shillings (£9, 95kr)!
However, she was gone for several days and when she got home, she discovered that two of her children had been sent home from school due to unpaid tuition; so she used a portion of the profits to pay the school fees and enable her children to return to their education.
In the future Evalyn has many plans:
“I want to continue and continue saving, and also to make my savings grow so that at one point I can have a bank account in town so I can access bigger loans and grow my business and farming activities”.
She wants to prioritise buying cattle, which would provide both a source of milk and assist in ploughing the fields, cutting down on manual labour. She would also diversify the crops she plants, with the ultimate aim of becoming a successful producer. In total, the family has 30 acres of land, much of which is currently not in use – so the potential is there for Evalyn to expand her farming activities and build a flourishing home-based enterprise. With her natural business acumen, which has been enhanced by her involvement in the VSLA, we are sure she will succeed and secure a bright future for herself and her children.
