Making a difference with 18,000/-
Ever imagined how eighteen thousand shillings could change someone’s life?

Ask Mr. Munyonge Hussein, a person living with HIV in Biharamulo district, who is also a member of UWABI (Umoja wa Watu Wanaoishi na VVU Biharamulo).  He knows his status, and is open about it.

Living with four Most Vulnerable Children, Hussein needed some kind of income that would help him be able to pay for the basic needs of his children.  Luckily, he received support from his group amounting to 18,000 shillings to start an income generating activity in January 2009.

With the money, Hussein decided to establish a duck-keeping activity.  He bought five ducks for 15,000 shillings each, whereby each duck cost 3,000 shillings  he built a mud cage for the ducks, and due to good management to his project, by July 2009 he had a total of 70 ducks.  He then sold 35 of them for 4,000 shillings each and obtained a total of 140,000 shillings out of it.

“This money has helped me to purchase school materials for my children, such as pairs of uniform, exercise books and shoes,” says Hussein, adding that he spent the remaining money on basic needs for his home.

“Apart from selling the ducks, I also got eggs for home use, and especially for health improvement.  I congratulate UWABI for supporting my family,” he explains sincerely.

And Hussein does not only think about himself:  “My plan is to distribute one duck to each group member after hatching, to make sure that every member is also enjoying and benefiting from this project,” he says happily.

The UWABI group was established By People living with HIV in Biharamulo district, with the aim of solving their problems regarding to their health, supporting Most Vulnerable Children, HIV/AIDS awareness among the community, as well as protect their rights.  The group was established on May 14, 2004, and has 300 members.

UWABI is supported by the Human Development Trust (HDT), a national not for profit, non-government organization (NGO) registered in Tanzania under society ordinance 1954 (Rule 5) with registration number So. NO 12060 of February 2004.

HDT was founded with the intention to partner with communities to develop interventions that improve the health of poor families in Tanzania, including taking care of Most Vulnerable Children.  HDT operates at both grass root and national level and in three priority regions that are Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, Mtwara and Kagera.

In 2008, HDT offered two training sessions to UWABI and other 6 organizations in Ngara and Biharamulo whereby the first training was on administration, office management, financial management, human resource management, organizational profile and structure.  The second training was on project design, implementation and management as well as report writing.  

After training HDT asked the group to prepare the project write - up to enable them to use the knowledge which they gained during the training. The project write up was good and HDT provided the group a grant of 500,000 shillings to support MVC.  HDT’s philosophy is to support MVC through caring families. In 2007 and 2008, HDT supported  357 MVC in Ngara and Kinondoni District.

Would you like to be part of HDT goodwill ambassadors? If yes, please click on the following link to HDT goodwill ambassadors page