Susan Nampijja, age 67, is not originally from Uganda but moved here with her daughter and 2 grandchildren. They used to live a very hard life with little food and not enough land to grow food on, so they moved in hopes of finding a more stable source of income. Today, they have a cow and a reliable source of income.
My family moved to Uganda 20 years ago because of the civil wars back home and the lack of reliable income. After working for many years, we managed to acquire a small piece of land on which we built a grass-thatched house leaving limited space to grow food crops. With working for other people as farmhands we were able to have enough money to purchase food for two small meals each day.
Thanks to MADDO we received an in-calf cow. They first trained us in sustainable agriculture and livestock management while all our farmer-group members gave us the materials we used to construct the cow shed.
Now our cow is producing over 10 liters of milk each day. We always drink a liter at home and sell whatever is surplus to earn us a daily income. With all the income from the milk sales we afforded to re-roof both our main house and cowshed that were previously grass thatched. As well, we can comfortably pay for my grandchildren’s school fees. Our dream is to build metal doors, install glass windows and furnish our small house.
– Susan Nampijja