Summary

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This is a family of four that live with their grandmother who is fending for the family. Her daughter is the mother of the two children who are in upper primary school. They live in a two bedroomed house. The children are neglected by their father, and as a result, their mother is looking after them with the help of their grandmother.

 

Dollar Rate

USD. 1 = UGX. 3,500

 

Monthly Income

The collective monthly income for this family is estimated at $85.70 USD (UGX. 300,000) which is from the grandmother’s effort to run a vegetable stall at the front of their house. This is supplemented by the mother’s income from washing clothes for people in the neighbourhood (although this is not a steady source).

 

Monthly Expenditure

Food $85.70 USD (UGX. 300,000)
Electricity $4.28 USD (UGX. 15,000)
Health <unknown>
Water <unknown>

Education $428.57 USD (UGX. 1,500,000/year)

 

Challenges

The cost of education is a bit of a challenge, the children are not able to get decent scholastic supplies like: school bag, shoes, books, and uniforms. The slight relief that they currently have is that the children attend a government subsidised school but this advantage will disappear when the children complete the primary level and have to join secondary school. Also, because the government aided schools have a high student-to-teacher ratio, the children do not get special attention and as a result it becomes necessary for the parents to pay for remedial classes in order to help their child to progress.

 

The other challenge that they have is access to clean water. The nearest source of clean and free water is about 1.5km away from their home and it is downhill, which means they have to carry that water back up the hill. Consequently, when the children are not at home, the grandmother is not able to have water since she is not strong enough to carry water over that distance. The other option that they have is to buy a jerry can of water (20 litres) at UGX. 400. Unfortunately they cannot comfortably afford this option on a bad day since the house hold needs about 100 litres a day to clean and cook.

 

Family Priority

1. Education

2. Food

3. Water

4. Business

 

Suggested Intervention

Because the nearest source of water is over a kilometre away, there is a common struggle in the neighbourhood to have access to clean water. If we could consider adding their household to the national water grid, the family would be able to sell some of their water affordably to their neighbours and substantiating their income as well. If they manage to sell 1,000 jerrycans in a month, this is an additional $85.70 USD (UGX. 300,000) for the family. They will also need a water tank in order to have a buffer supply in the times when there is water shedding in the area. This can be coupled with a food hamper per month.

 

Other Deliberations

The grandmother suggested that we consider helping her stock up her vegetable stall as well as buy a bale of second-hand clothes so that she is able to sell these and increase her income. The amount of money that she requested for is $87.50 USD (UGX. 3,000,000) for both vegetables and clothes.

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