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1: Basic hygiene training. 2: Joint training with TASO.

3: Savings group deliberations. 4: Preparing a ‘keyhole’ garden. 5: Training rural teachers. 6:

These children had just learnt about sack gardens. 7: ‘Have you washed your hands properly?’

“At every level, the African is first and foremost a socialbeing. All stages of life are marked by meetings underthe conversation tree, where all are not just free but

actually duty-bound to express themselves." - JosephKi-Zerbo (Burkinabé historian, politician and writer, 1922

- 2006).

Health training at a church in Kampala

Just £200 delivers a day’s vital training to save lives and boost local resilience in Uganda - can you help?Combined training on basic hygiene and small savings schemes

Over many years working in UgandaEHTU trustee Lois Pollock hasdeveloped a simple flexible educationprogramme to help communitiesimprove their health and hygiene andlearn how to run small savings groupsthat enable people on the poverty lineto pool resources and invest in smallenterprises and education.

Training takes place under a mangotree, in a school room or a church. It isunpredictable how many people willtake part - often it is a large group andcan include children. The Trustprovides notebooks, drawing paper,pens and other resources.

Health and Hygiene

In city slums and depressed rural areasof Uganda, basic hygiene and healthprocedures are little known and poorlypractised. Initial group discussionenables Lois to assess what is mostrelevant to each community - the water supply for drinking and bathing, types of illness in thecommunity, quality of ante-natal care and so on. She can then agree with them a training agenda.

It typically includes minimizing infectionthrough proper hand washing with soap;personal hygiene and nutrition;information about HIV transmission andtesting; and malaria and preventivemeasures including essential use of nets. Lois demonstrates how to make atippy-tap - a simply-designed, costeffective way for families to have handwashing facilities outside their latrine orclose to their dishwashing area (seephoto on next page).

Sack and keyhole gardening provide asecond demonstration. Three or foursacks and a keyhole garden can provide

Making a ‘tippy tappy’ at Gunda - Lois Pollock is at the left.

A crowded training session in Ojama

cheap vegetables for a healthy diet for a family with no land of their own.

Time is also spent providing detailed information about HIV/AIDS and its transmission. If a grouphas had no previous training Lois contacts TASO (The AIDS Support Organisation) to see if they canrun an in-depth training and testing day.

Small savings schemes

Health education is oftencombined over two days withtraining for Small Savings Groups. Joining and committing to asavings group can change lives forwomen in Uganda. For thepoorest of the poor there is noaccess to banks or to borrowing -apart from loan sharks whocharge extortionate rates andlead women deep into debt.

Each member of a group commitsto contribute a weekly sumdepending on their personalincome but with a minimum -usually around 5,000 Ugandashillings (£1.10) a week and amaximum of maybe ten times asmuch. Each group member alsopays a mandatory monthly sum of 5,000 UgS into a welfare fund to cover emergencies: this isparticularly important when working with poorer members.

Officers are elected annually bythe group. They collect the moneyand keep the records, includingphoto I.D. and contact details foreach member. They areresponsible also for the savingsbox with its three padlocks whichserves as the bank, at least for thefirst year, after which groups mayopen a bank account.

Each member has a book in whichtheir transactions are recordedand stamped by a committeeofficer to ensure accountability.

A member can apply for a loanafter saving for three monthsminimum: she can borrow up tothree times her own savings buthas to be able to repay the loan

A demonstration sack garden just planted up

within three months at a small rate of interest. Loans are used to meet unexpected costs, to payfor education or to start a tiny business.

At the end of a 12-month cycle, there is a sharingout of any surplus from the interest paid on loansduring the year, and then a new savings cyclebegins.

Training about small savings schemes oftenculminates in the establishment of a group, andthe positive effects begin immediately.

“I had an excellent half day training with agroup in Entebbe: last year I had done threedays with them - small savings start up,introduction to child protection, farming asa small business. (You get the measure ofthe variety of skills I am asked to employ!) They started a savings scheme after thatvisit and in one year raised amongst 50members, 9 million shillings [about £2,000] -a phenomenal achievement. That cycle ofthe scheme ended and a new one began amonth ago, so far with 28 members but itwill grow: already they have reached 1.5million [£335] with their savings.” - Letterfrom Lois Pollock, July 2016

The cost of an average day’s training is about £200.

This includes local transport, training materials, food and drink, plus a proportion of Lois’s air fareto Uganda and cheap board and lodging there. Costs are always kept to a minimum. Lois aims todo 5-7 days’ training on each trip, costing in all about £1,000-£1,400.

Can you help? Any contribution - small or large - will make a real difference. Your donations willbe used to finance Lois’s costs in delivering training to impoverished communities in Uganda. Goto:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/ehtu/training

Read more about the EHTU’s training work at www.ehtuganda.org/training

The Education and Health Trust Uganda provides group training in health and hygiene and smallsavings schemes through partner groups in Uganda. It also provides intensive support to deservingindividuals through educational grants and small-business support so as to make a permanent, lastingdifference in their lives.

EHTU: 63 Lumiere Building, 544 Romford Road, London E7 8AY. Registered charity no. 1170680. Bankers: Cooperative Bank: sort code: 08 92 99 account no: 65698839.