Christine Nansamba, Uganda

Christine Nansamba is an active member of the Kiringente Epicentre and is proud to be one of the first partners of The Hunger Project-Uganda in her village.

“My fortunes began when I became a member of KFFI SACCO (Kiringente’s Savings and Credit Cooperative Society) where I got a loan of UGX300,000 (GB£66.5) to start a poultry unit of 150 chickens in 2007,” explained Christine. She noted, however, that the beginning was not easy. “With support from The Hunger Project-Uganda and the Animator Trainings I attended, I started to realise my vision and put in more effort and resources. I got an additional loan of UGX500,000 (GB£111) from the Rural Bank and increased my poultry.”

To date, she has set up a semi-permanent poultry house which can house more than 1,000 chickens. She now plans to expand the business slowly as she studies the market and develops a plan for managing a larger number of animals.
Christine, a model in her village, works in advising other women on how to manage and market their produce. She was trained at the epicentre as an animator leader and attributes most of her success to the Vision, Commitment and Action Workshops (VCAWs) that “opened her eyes” at a time of personal resignation. “Microfinance Programme trainings have empowered me to be what I am today.”

Prior to partnering with The Hunger Project-Uganda, Christine was dependent upon her husband for everything. Despite being unhappy, she felt incapable of changing her situation. During this time, her children had inadequate schooling and were often without proper clothing. “My husband earned very little to meet our household needs. When I started attending VCAWs, I developed business ideas and started my poultry unit.”

Now, with a sale of 25 trays of eggs on a weekly basis, she is able to earn a weekly income of UGX137,500 (GB£30.5). Recently, they sold 450 broilers at UGX5,000 (GB£1), each fetching UGX2,250,000 (GB£498), which helped to boost the chicken business.

In addition to raising chickens, Christine is now able to farm beans and maize for food, which she stores in her granary. Part of the maize is milled to make chicken food. Additionally, she has three acres devoted to sweet potatoes and a pig sty with eight cross-breed pigs. The sweet potatoes and the leaves supplemented with maize bran are fed to her pigs.
Profit from her business allows her to provide school fees for their four children, and provide good meals for the family, supplemented with eggs daily and chicken on most weekends. Extra money is used to pay labour fees to workers helping in the maize and banana plantation. “Actually, we now have many friends who come to visit and learn from us, and my husband is happy with me as well,” said Christine.

She looks forward to setting up a bigger and more modern poultry unit to rear over 5,000 chickens. “I am completing the third cycle of the microfinance loan I took from our Rural Bank, and thereafter, I will take an individual loan of up to UGX2,000,000 (GB£443), to acquire two heifers for milk production to be able to increase on our family income.”
Christine’s is a story of success. Equipped with the knowledge, resources, motivation and monetary loans required to lift herself and her family out of poverty, she’s created a future beyond getting from one day to the next.

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