Dear friends,
Our November visit to our GLOW groups in Kabale and Rubanda Districts was very rewarding! We focused on business training, literacy, health initiatives, rewards from saving, and family cohesion.
In our business skills development training, we focused on saving and planning, as well as how to make a business plan. We encouraged them with scripture and had the women write and perform skits to show the importance of saving and planning. It was so much fun!! We also trained them on how to use a cash book and gave them one for keeping proper loan records. Thirty-one women received loans after signing loan agreements.
Every member received a notebook and pen. The literacy levels are very low, and some of the women cannot even write their names. We taught them how to grip the pen correctly, and with a lot of encouragement, their confidence to attempt reading and writing grew. It was such a joy seeing some of them writing their names and their first sentence ever! We hope to begin literacy classes next year.
In our previous health initiatives, we discovered that blood pressure was a problem among our women. We received a donation of automatic blood pressure monitors when we were in the U.S. in September, which allowed us to provide each GLOW group with a machine. Two members in each group were trained by a health worker on how to use it, as well as appropriate ranges for blood pressure. This will allow women to closely monitor their blood pressure and seek early treatment. The women really were so happy about it.
We love the change that we see in women. In the GLOW Buremba group, the women bought mattresses, blankets, and other household items with their savings. They organized a ceremony and meal and invited their husbands to be present and receive together with the purchases made from their small savings. It was such a joy listening to the men praise and appreciate their wives. I cannot express in words the beauty and family unity that this event sparked. The husbands were so happy that our aims support the family and not only women. We emphasized the need to save more and plan for their families. The men were so happy and thankful that they pledged to contribute about $2 per year to their wives’ savings. Family relations have improved and domestic violence has notably reduced in our groups.
This was such a great visit. There is so much progress socially and economically happening in all our GLOW groups. These women have risen from shy, timid, and hopeless to women of virtue. You should have seen how surprised their husbands were when the women started pulling out mattresses, chairs, and blankets! Every woman that gave testimony thanked GLOW for opening their eyes.
Thank you for being part of the pillars lifting these women up.
It is not in vain.
Ammabel
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