Story
Our founder Lois Pollock has developed a proven, flexible and accessible education programme to help communities improve their health and hygiene and learn how to run small savings groups that enable people on the poverty line to pool resources and invest in small enterprises and education. This training, mainly arranged through local partner groups, is in great demand.
Training takes place under a mango tree, in a school room or a church. It is unpredictable how many people will take part - often it is a large group and can include children. The Trust provides notebooks, drawing paper, pens and other resources.
In city slums and depressed rural areas of Uganda, basic hygiene and health procedures are little known and poorly practised. Our training typically includes minimizing infection through proper hand washing with soap; personal hygiene and nutrition; information about HIV transmission and testing; and malaria and preventive measures including essential use of nets. Often we show how a family without their own land can improve their diet by growing vegetables in sack or keyhole gardens.
Health education is often combined over two days with training for Small Savings Groups. Joining and committing to a savings group can change lives for women in Uganda. For the poorest of the poor there is no access to banks or to borrowing - apart from loan sharks who charge extortionate rates and lead women deep into debt. Our training has led to many savings groups being set up.
You can read more about the Trust at www.ehtuganda.org and about this training work at http://tinyurl.com/EHTU-training
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 fare to Uganda and cheap board and lodging there. Costs are always kept to a minimum. Lois aims to do 5-7 days’ training on each trip, costing in all about £1,000-£1,400. The next trip is planned for autumn 2017.