The ladies of GrassRootsUganda.com

Margaret Aloyo
Margaret is a widow, HIV+ and has lost many relatives to the rebel group in Northern Uganda.  Her son spent 7 years as a forced child soldier before finally escaping.

Read Margaret's full story here. 

Rose Lamwata
Rose is 46 years old and has lost two children - one to malaria and one to meningitis.   The rebel group in Northern Uganda raided Rose's village and she was forced to move into the harsh conditions of an IDP camp (Internally Displaced Person camp).

Read Roses full story here. 

Grace Akech Olobo 
Grace used to run a business retailing clothes, but the LRA came one day and destroyed it all.  Her husband used to work at the local hospital until he was made redundant.  He occasionally gets work as a road grader.

Read Grace's full story here. 

Helen Oting
Helen is 54 years old and has numerous interactions with the rebel group in Northern Uganda and the nomadic Karamajong tribe.  She once had to run out through the flaming front door of her hut.  Helen also suffers from cancer and spends most of her days looking after her mother

Read Florence's full story here. 

Florence Acan
Florence is 26 years old widow and is mother to four children.  Florence has lost many brothers and their sons to the rebel group in Northern Uganda.  Florence herself had to flee to an Internally Displaced People camp before moving to Kitgum itself.

Read Florence's full story here. 

Esther Akonog
Esther is 47 years and mother to three children.  She also takes care of her sister's eight orphaned children.  She once had to watch her son being killed and had to carry him back to Kitgum

Read Esther's full story here. 

Jacqueline Amono
Jacqueline is 20 years old and used to sleep in the night shelters of Kitgum to avoid being kidnapped by the rebel group in Northern Uganda.  Jacqueline was caught up a vehicle ambush.  She herself was - mercifully - spared but many of the many were taken by the rebel group.

Read Jacqueline's full story here.

Paska Alal
Paska Alal is forty years old and has given birth to eight children (aged ten to twenty-seven).  Alal, along with her last-born are HIV positive.  She lost her husband to AIDS as well.

Paska spends all day in the quarry pits, breaking rocks into gravel which is then used by the building industry.  Her only break is the Sunday morning church services she attends.   

Read Paska's full story here.

Rosa Lakot
Rosa is fifty-five year widow (her husband was a soldier who died in a battle with the LRA) and has six children aged fifteen to twenty five.  She also takes care of one of her grandsons - the mother of which died during childbirth.  

Rosa makes her money as a retailer of sardines.  During the wet season she also sells tomatoes.

On the 16th of June 2002, the LRA raided her village.  They were going to take her youngest daughter, but she insisted they take her instead. The LRA agreed as her daughter was lame due to an earlier bout of Polio.  The LRA took everything of value from her village and broke all the village bicycles so no one could quickly inform the government soldiers.

Read Rosa's full story here.

Santa Atto
Santa is forty-nine years old as has eight children aged fifteen to twenty-five.  She has lost three children.  One died of malaria, and another two were miscarriages.

One of the miscarriages came about when she was collecting firewood near the river.  The LRA chanced upon her and beat her severely.

One of Santa's biggest issues is her ongoing health problems.  Many of the problems stem from an LRA ambush she was caught up in during 2003.  When she was traveling back from Gulu, the LRA shot and killed the driver of the van she was traveling in.  The van overturned.  She survived, but with serious injuries.  She suffered serious injuries to her chest, one of her lungs collapsed and she broke a leg.  Her intestines got twisted as well - she is still waiting for the operation to straighten them.  

Read Santa's full story here.

Rosie Achiro
Rosie is forty-nine years old and takes care of ten children.  Six of them are her own, and four of them are her orphaned grandchildren.  Their parents all died of AIDS.

Rosie was fetching water in 1996 when she stepped on a landmine that was planted by the LRA.  She lost most of her left leg as a result.  It was amputated above the knee.

As a result, Rosie finds it very hard to earn money.  Many women dig the fields for money in Kitgum, but Rosie is unable to due to her leg.  She makes a little money retailing sardines.  Her son helps out in the holidays by making bricks.  Her husband is unemployed.

Read Rosie's full story here.

Florence Acca
Florance is forty-two years old and has six children of her own, aged five to twenty-two.  Her husband has two other wives and a total of eighteen children.  The family also takes care of about six other dependants.

The father recently lost his job and is not really struggling to take care of his children.  Perhaps someone should of mentioned the word "condom" to him a few years ago...

Florance helps feed the numerous children by making a local alcoholic brew which she sells to the government soldiers.  She also walks many miles to collect firewood for sale and gets the odd job laying bricks.

Read Florance's full story here.

Sarah Achola
Sarah is twenty five years old and mother to four children aged one to nine years old.

Sarah was abducted by the LRA in 1995 when she was only fourteen years old.  She was kidnapped along with nine of her schoolmates when they were on their way to school.  Three of her schoolmates died, three have escaped and the rest are still with the LRA.

When she arrived in Southern Sudan, she was made the wife of one of the LRA commanders.  She was the youngest of the commanders six wives.  Sarah says that her and the other wives all lived together very peacefully - they were like sisters.  Every one of the wives had been abducted. Quarrelling with the co-wives was a dangerous business anyway - it meant an execution style death.

Read Sarah's full story here.

Chrstine Labuk
Christine is forty-eight years old and takes care of eleven children.  Nine of them are her own, and two are her orphaned nephews.  Her brother was killed by the LRA in 1986, and his wife died of cholera.

Her husband died of AIDS while Christine was pregnant.  The child that was born just grew smaller and smaller until it passed away.  No one in her family has been tested for HIV.

Read Christine's full story here.

Fausta Nabuynuga
Fausta left her husband seven years ago when he got a girlfriend.  He promised to look after his children, but never did and they returned to Fausta one by one.  Fausta earns money by digging other people's land.

Read Fausta's full story here. 

Janet Babisewano
Janet has been a widow since 1995.  She shares her home with her daughter and her two children.  Janet grows fruit and sells it to retailers.  She also owns some livestock (three pigs and three goats) which she hopes to sell for school fees.

Read Janet's full story here. 

Fadd Banutamba
Fadd is the 2nd eldest of eight children.  Fadd had to drop out of school in the 6th year of primary school because her parents could not afford her school fees.  Her family runs a small store selling general merchandise, but it is not making enough money.  Fadd and her family only have one meal a day.

Read Fadd's full story here. 

Jane Mbabazi
Jane returned home to Buvunya after a series of unfortunate events.  Her brother was killed during the war, her small business failed, and her husband left her after she got pregnant.  She had been trying for a baby for many years.  She now takes care of her mother who has a serious heart condition.

Read Jane's full story here. 

Majorine Nankya
Majorine is fifteen years old and lives with her Mama and Papa and her eleven siblings.  Her long term dream is to move from the village and open her own hairdressing salon.

Read Majorine's full story here. 

Mastula Nanyombi
Mastula is fifteen years old and had to drop out of school in the 6th year of primary school because her parents could not afford her school fees.  She spends most of the day helping her Mama with general chores.  She does not want to get married.  She feels marriage has a lot of problems like the man will beat you and won't earn enough money to feed her family.

Read Mastula's full story here. 

Isabirya Sauda
Isabirya is 45 years old and lives with her husband and their seven children.  She cannot afford to send all of her children to school.  Her husband buys crops from local growers and tries to sell them to the bigger markets using his motorcycle.  It is hard work, but he does manage to bring home between ush10,000 ($US5.04) and ush20,000 ($US10.08) a week.

Read Isabirya's full story here. 

Basemath (Bess) Nakubulwa
Bess is thirty years old, mother to Marvin - a four year old bouncy baby boy, and a single mother.  Marvin's father rarely helps with the baby and lives somewhere else.  Bess (and Marvin) hardly ever see him.  Marvin gets malaria about once or twice every month.  Sometimes he is so weak from the malaria and the medication, that he cannot go to school for an entire week. 

Read Bess' full story here. 

Catherine Nambi
Catherine is a widow with five children - two sons and three daughters.  Her husband passed away of AIDS three years ago.  She herself has been tested for HIV four times but - thankfully - has came up negative every time.  She feels one of her major problems is that she works a lot, yet all of her money is spent on keeping the house running.  She thinks it would be great for people to support GrassRootsUganda.com as it would make her life a little bit easier as a single mother.

Read Catherine's full story here. 

Haawa Namukasa
Haawa is forty-seven years old, mother to six children, and a widow - her husband died of AIDS last year.  She looks after three of the children herself, and the rest are looked after by her mother in a nearby town.  Haawa has recently taken out a loan for ush150,000 ($81.08) to help her set up a business.  At the moment she is selling: Mats (made by her), cassava chips (very yummy by the way), jipatis, samosas, greens and cassavas.

Read Haawa'a full story here. 

Juliet Nabrirmua
Juliet is twenty-four years old and stays with her elder sister, her brother-in-law and their five children.

Juliet has two children of her own, a three year old boy and a nine year old girl.  Juliet is a widow.  Her husband was knocked down and killed by a speeding taxi - an all too common occurrence in Uganda.

Read Juliet's full story here. 

Aisha Nanyombi
Aisha is sixty-five years old spends a lot of her time looking after Masitula - her severely mentally challenged twenty year old daugher.

Aisha had some success at getting Masitula in school, but it proved to very difficult as Masitula cannot a lot trouble even speaking.  Aisha is trying to teach Masitula some crafts such as mat weaving and basket makings, but Masitula really struggles.  She is unable to roll beads.

Read Aisha's full story here. 

Loy Nabatanzi
Loy is thirty-eight years old and lives with her mother, brother and her two children - a nine year old son, and a eleven year old daughter.

Loy's husband died in 2003.  She suspects it was AIDS, although he was never actually tested.

Loy really struggles to earn any money at all.  She does have two piglets which she hopes to sell for ush10,000 ($US5.41) each to raise some school fees.

Read Loy's full story here. 

Hajara Naiki
Hajara is thirty six old and takes care of her six children.  Hajara's husband abandoned her and her family to be with another woman.  

Hajara works very hard to keep her children in school.  Sometimes it is just too hard and the children get sent home from school because they haven't paid their school fees.

Hajara rents a small piece of land for ush10,000 ($US5.41) a month.  She has signed a three month lease.  On the land she grows cassava, beans and sweet potato.  She uses all that she grows to ensure that here family eats at least twice a day - usually lunch and supper.

Read Hajara's full story here. 

Scovia Nassazi
Scovia is twenty-seven years old and it the mother to three children.  She is also a widow - her husband died of AIDS two years ago.

The only income Scovia receives is from making mats.  She sells them for ush2,500 ($US1.35) each and sells between three and four a month.

When she is not making mats, Scovia works hard on the farm to ensure that her children can eat at least twice a day - usually lunch and supper.  They usually eat cassava, potato and posho.

Read Sconia's full story here. 

Hellen Namaalwa

Hellen is thirty-six years old and lives with her five children - aged four to sixteen.  Hellen also takes care of her Mama who suffered from a stroke and is paralyzed down her back and in one of her legs.

Hellens husband - tragically - suffer from mental health problems and took his own life.  Hellen could no longer afford a rented house after her husbands breakdown and subsequent death and now has to live in a single rented room.

Read Hellen's full story here. 

Harrite Namambwe
Harrite is twenty-four and stays with her mother.  She has two children of her own, aged four and six years old.

Harrite used to live with the father of her children in a far away place.  She chose to bring her children and herself back to her own village.  She rarely sees the father.

Harrite had Polio when she was younger and this left her with one paralyzed leg.  She now walks with a crutch.  

Read Harrite's full story here. 

Rehema Nakku
Rehema is forty year old and has four children ages six to ten years.  

Rehema's husband passed away from AIDS nine years ago.  Rehema's husband died before he could finish constructing the house that were going to live in.  Her dearest wish is to have a house of her own as her family are currently living in a rented room.

Rehema makes a living by making and selling mats.  She sells each mat for ush3,000 ($US1.62) and sells between three and four a month.

Read Rehema's full story here. 

Caroline Nalule
Caroline is thirty-six years old and lives in a rented house with her husband and their three children.

Caroline's husband is thirty eight years old and has two other wives (polygamy is common in Uganda).  He has a twenty-two children (!).  He refuses to pay any of the school fees, so Caroline has to cover them all herself.

Her husband owns a small piece of land which he has been forever promising to build a house for Caroline and her children on.  Rose has been trying hard to save enough money to buy her own house.

Read Caroline's full story here. 

Ddamba Naume
DDamba stays with her husband and her youngest child (17).  Two of her older sons and their wives died of HIV and so is taking care of their children as well.

Ddama owns some land where she grows cassava, maize and sweet potato.  She eats some of it and sells some of it.  She also owns a cow.  She sells the milk from the cow.

Ddama is also a trained tailor and often hires sewing machine to work with for ush7,000 ($US3.78) a month.  Her legs are paining her due to the constant pedaling she has to do on the sewing machine.  

Read Ddamba's full story here. 

Robinah Kikwalk
Robinah lives at home with her husband and her five children aged from six months to seven years.

Robinah and her husband struggle to raise the money for the two children who are old enough to go to school, though at the moment they're managing it.  School fees are ush17,000 ($US 9.19) per term. 

They rent a piece of land for ush10,000 ($US 5.13) per year and grow matooke (green banana) and sweet potato.  They would like to use fertilizers and pesticides, but cannot afford it.  The eat most of the food they grow, and sell some of it when they can.  

Read Robinah's full story here. 

Alasia Nandudu
Alaisa lives in a single room with her husband and three of their own children.  Her sister and her brother-in-law both died of AIDS and Alaisa is looking after their two children as well.  Her nephew is HIV positive - he is very prone to malaria and misses many days of school.

Her husband can sometimes get work digging the soil on other people's farm for ush1,000 ($US0.54) a day.  He is happy to get ten days of work every month, but would like more. 

Read Alasia's full story here. 

Annet Atheino
Annet is eighteen years old and was forced to drop of of school in her third year of high school due to lack of funds.  She would like to return to school one day and finish her studies.  Ideally, she would like to go to university and study business management.  She understands that this will almost certainly be just a dream - the fees are just too high.

Annet would love to get married one day and have some children of her own.  She would love to have four children - two boys and two girls.

Read Annet's full story here. 

Madalyn Namierembe
Madalyn lives with her husband and their seven children - aged from one to seventeen years.  Two of her children are unable to go to school due to economic reasons.

They own their own farm and cultivate cassava, beans, potato and maize.  They also grew coffee, but their entire crop was destroyed by a virus.   Most of what they grow is consumed with a small portion sold at that local market.  They have two meals a day - breakfast and supper.  During the dry seasons  - when  the crops are much less productive - they are reduced to one meal a day.
Read Madalyn's full story here. 

Harriet Nantale
Harriet lives with her husband and their seven children.

They farm a small piece of land and consume all that they grow.  They do not have any spare food that they could sell at the market.

Harriet does own some livestock.  She has four pigs and two goats.  She will sell them soon to pay for school fees.  She used to have fifteen chickens, but a local dog attacked and killed seven of them.  She sells a chicken whenever she gets desperate for money.

Read Harriets full story here. 

Jastini Nalonga
Jastini is thirty-nine years and shares her home with her husband and her ten children.  Her youngest child is fifteen months old and her eldest is twenty-two years old.

Six of her children have been unable to attend school due to financial reasons.

Jastini tend to the farm, which provides enough food for her family to have two meals a day.  A small portion of what is grown is sold at market.

Read Jastini's full story here. 

Rose Nansubuga
Rose is twenty-three years old, married and mother to three beautiful children aged from seven months old to four years old.

Rose and her family are lucky enough to eat three meals a day.  Sometimes they even can afford to buy some posho and maybe meat once a week.

The rent a small farm to grow cassava, maize and beans on.  Rose says that one of their big problems is that they farm is a long one mile walk away from her house.

Rose also walks forty minutes each day to collect the two jerry cans of water her family needs.  She is not physically able to carry two jerry cans by herself and her children are too young to help.  She either has to pay a local child to help her, or make the forty minute track twice a day.  African men do not carry water... 

Read Rose's full story here. 

Deborah Nansubuga
Deborah is forty-three years old and a widow.  Her husband passed away from AIDS in 2000.

Most of her children have moved away from her home, but she is still looking after her twelve and four year olds.  She is also looking after two of her orphaned grandchildren.  Their parents both passed away from AIDS.  Fortunately, both her grandchildren are HIV negative.

Deborah keeps livestock.  She had one large pig which produces piglets, ten chickens that produce baby chicks and - rather uniquely for Buvunya - a female rabbit that produces small rabbits.  She sells the piglets, chicks and rabbits to pay for school fees and educational supplies.

Read Deborahs full story here. 

Ajuleta Achayo
The family lives in Danida.  There are 9 in the household which includes her husband, 6 of her own children ages 5 months to 13, plus a niece (child of her sister whose father died). 

Her husband does occasional contract work picking up scrap to sell to a steel rolling company.  She makes beads.

Read Ajuleta's full story here. 

Amone Agnes
Agnes has been married for 14 years and  has four children ranging from 5 to 13.

She is from Gulu and came to Jinja in 1992. She fled when the LRA took her sister from her village

Read Amone's full story here. 

Anna Angom
Anna is 30 years old  and has 2 young boys.  She’s married but her husband left her last year.

She is from Lira. She fled because of the LRA. She has financial issues

Read Anna's full story here. 

Beatrice Aber
Beatrice is 40 years old and has been a widow for 14 years. She had 3 children  but one has passed away from malaria.

She comes from Gulu and fled to Jinja in 1993 because of the rebels. The rebels burned down her house and killed her husband in Gulu. .

Read Beatrices's full story here. 

Catherine Achan
Catherine is 42 and lives with 6 children, 4 are hers and 2 were orphaned when rebels killed their parents.  Her husband was also killed by the rebels.

Catherine is from Kitgum, near Sudan.  She now lives in Jinja.

Catherine works with Nileply and also makes beads.  She hopes the beads become popular so she’ll be able to educate her children. 

Read Catherine's full story here. 

Christine Latigo
Christine is 46, married, and has 8 kids.
She also takes care of her nephews since their father died of AIDS.

She came from Gulu to Jinja 20 years ago to flee from the rebels and LRA.

Read Christine's full story here. 

Daisy Odida

Daisy lives with her family in Jinja, she is originally from Gulu District (Lacor village). She earns a living  by selling and she one of the beaders . Daisy has six children 3 girls and 3 boys their range between 18 and 26 years of age. 

She has lived in Njru (Mukono District) since 1986 when she came here because of the war.  Her husband was already here.  Before the war, up north her family grew crops for their own use.

Read Daisy's full story here. 

Emily Achiro
Emily lives in a rented, self-contained sitting room and bedroom in the Walukuba section of Jinja.  There are two other younger grandsons also living in the household.  Emily is a widow who is also suffering from AIDS.

Emily moved from Attiak in the Gulu district, to Jinja about 20 years ago as a refugee from the war in northern Uganda.  All her mother’s siblings died in the war. 

Read Emily's full story here. 

Read Esther's full story here.