My Background

Having been raised by a single mother in an extended family of 5 girls and other family members I witnessed how my mother worked tirelessly to provide for all our basic needs. She worked 6 days a week in the local market selling clothes in order to pay all our school fees, provide shelter, food and medicine when we were ill. At twelve years I got a burden and promised that when I grow up I will empower all women who toil to feed, educate and take care of their children.

I pursued my education well up to Makerere University in Kampala where I received my Bachelors in Social Sciences 2005. I got married in that very year. The first years of my marriage were so beautiful until 2011 while 6 months pregnant for my third born, I was jobless and no business and life was indeed hard. I only depended on my husband who was also striving to provide for the family. We barely could have a meal and we were so indebted.  At that point I was seeking God concerning the matter and was in prayer during mid-morning that I had a voice from the Lord saying.

“I have called you and anointed you to empower and equip women by training them on how to save, do business and improve the welfare of their families”

I didn’t know where to start from but I gained the courage and approached our local chairperson in Bugembe Wanyama village and told him to mobilize for me women so that we can meet and talk about developmental issues. He allowed and women turned up in large numbers in my small courtyard. 28 vulnerable women came among these were disoriented house wives, desperate single mothers, elderly and those doing road side businesses like selling food items  on the village and I shared the vision.

“I am here to tell you that we can be the best wives and mothers to our    children. We are going to start saving from the little funds we get so that we can start businesses to sustain our homes. We shall be saving weekly so that we can achieve our goal of having happy families”

 By the end of the first year 2011 only ten women remained. Because the women’s expectations were very high ranging from getting sponsors to pay their children’s school fees to getting funding to add in their businesses and yet here I was encouraging them to save which they weren’t used to.  I also got a job in 2012 in Kenya Commercial bank in Jinja and I couldn’t balance between meeting the women, family and the bank. So we stopped meeting.

The year 2017

The year 2017 while in the bank and by then I had joined Standard Chartered Bank the burden came back and this time I had a conviction on why I was not helping other vulnerable women. I quickly resolved to embark on the journey I had started 5 years. This time I invited more women and 52 turned and we formed a group called EMPOERMENT CENTRE FOR BETTER AND QUALITY LIVING. I registered it as a Community Based Organisation in Bugembe Town council in Jinja basically to instill a saving culture and develop business skills in women in order to boast their level of income and improve the welfare of their families. We met weekly to pray, save, encourage and teach other skills to better ourselves and our families.

By December 2017 the women had saved 613,000 ugx and only 18 women had stayed. They all received their saving during a function we held in my court yard and the highest saver had 240,000 the amount she saved for the whole year.  I was so encouraged to continue the next year.

The year 2018

We begun the year with 18 women because they had benefited from the savings in the previous year and they encouraged others to join in too. The number increased to 26 women. As now a registered CBO I encouraged women to register as members and also buy savings books to help them track their records. Weekly meetings were held only on Sundays because I was still working in the bank still. By December 2018 we had saved 870,000.The highest saver had 360,000 Ugx and the lowest had 12,000 ugx. It is in this year that we started getting testimonies from their husbands of the work we were doing in the lives of women. Peace and Harmony in the homes.

The year 2019

The year was a breakthrough in Awec Africa, I resigned from my banking career of 10 years in the month of August after I received a confirmation from Dr. Cindy Trimm an Ameriacn Prophet that had come to minister in a women’s annual  conference called MY GREAT PRICE hosted by Apostle Grace of Phaneroo Ministries International. Right after being invited on the pulpit she prophesied and said that

” there is a woman here who works in the bank, God is calling you into a full time ministry and you know it. God is telling me that he is going to provide all the resources you need, the people you need and everything to make it work. Just obey and follow the voice of God.”

I was touched and I knew it was me, she invited me in front and I was prayed for. It’s after that, that I took the bold step and resigned from my career as a banker for 10 years. Right after that I was connected to friend from USA called Rosie who was coming to Africa to empower African Women through HEALING FROM INSIDE OUT. Through prayers and training them how to do essential oils.

We met in September 2019 and stayed with me for 6 weeks in my house. During this period we did ministry together, we opened up more groups in the different areas in Jinja suburbs. We got women in Walukuba Danida, Wairaka Nazarene, Wairaka Namaziba.

We managed to get office space that was freely given to us by my mother in Bugembe, Rosie bought all the office furniture, printer and book shelf and sponsored to fund registration for the organization as an NGO. Since it was towards the end of the year we encouraged new members in groups to meet on a weekly basis and that year only 26 women saved 2,100,000 and we made a function in December  where we invited our Mayor Wante Stephen and other local leaders to preside over the function. All the women received their annual saving.

The year 2020

We managed to register the organization in the new names of ARISE WOMEN EMPOWERNMENT CENTER AFRICA. AWEC –AFRICA in the month of Feburary.

New people joined me as volunteers Maureen Kaitisi as Finance administrator and Olive Opala as Programs Director.

We opened a bank account and we managed to give out loans to the women from the womens savings to boast their businesses.

The group of Bugembe Wanyama plus the new groups of Wairaka Namaziba, Wairaka Nazarene and Walukuba Danida were meeting until Covid 19 pandemic hit in March. The 4 women groups were meeting to save, learn business skills and pray and then Ugandan government announced a total lockdown from the month of April to August 2020.

We managed to give out food during the Covid periods to our members since it was a very hard season for everyone. Over 80 AWEC families and even members in the community RECEIVED the food donations from our friends in the USA led by Rosie. When the government opened up we started saving and by December the number of women registered were 123 WOMEN in all the groups and they saved 19,947,800. In December we had ceremony where all the groups came up to rejoice and receive their saving. Judge Batema was the chief guest, Mrs Pastor Deborah Mbuga was a guest who shared about parenting, Rtn Margaret Kulaba Chairperson Ngo Board Jinja District, representatives and leaders of organisations and many local and political leaders witnessed the function. There was music, dance and drama exhibited by the women. Groups competed in different things. We had speakers from different areas. The highest saver was Basa Robinah from Walukuba Danida Group she had 800,000 she hawks ground nuts on the streets of Jinja.

2020 was a great year in Awec Africa.