{"id":3312,"date":"2020-03-16T11:47:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T08:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rhu.or.ug\/?p=1762"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:33:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:33:41","slug":"from-protecting-teeth-to-a-savings-group","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/dev.qrolic.com\/rhu-block-theme\/news\/from-protecting-teeth-to-a-savings-group\/","title":{"rendered":"FROM PROTECTING TEETH TO A SAVINGS GROUP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chunga meno. Swahili for, protect your teeth! In Pajulu Sub County, Arua district, Driwala parish, to be specific is a phrase associated with success. Bizarre, right? True, Chungameno is a name of a saving\u2019s group started by the women vendors of Driwala market. Besides the success harnessed therein, the genesis of this initiative leaves quite the tale. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Women were loosing their teeth to violent Husbands. So they formed a retaliation group to save their teeth! See how this group changed their lives forever!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The charged males would storm the market to grab whatever measly money their wives had made for the day and while at it, beat them up. Or worse, they would wait for them at home, alone, then beat them up to a point that they would lose teeth. A particular group women, about 12, noticed that this was first getting out of hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen were not settled, there was total chaos!\u201d Harriet Afetia, a leader of the saving\u2019s group, and among the 12 women, narrates. \u201cAt least every week, one or two women would have a bruise or lose teeth, it was terrible!\u201d The men wanted to control their money and were frustrated that their wives wouldn\u2019t let them, so they beat them. \u201cWe got tired, we decided to do something about it!\u201d Interestingly, it was that decision that started the journey that would later attract a project called prevention plus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harriet Afetia, Savings group leader<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>The story<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was a little over 10 years ago when the women made the decision to take matters into their own hands. See, that afternoon, one of them came to the market bleeding from her mouth and the teeth were just about to come out. She had come to close down her stall and leave the village and her marriage all together. These women gathered together, concerned really, and asked what the issue was this time round. \u201cMy husband came back and didn\u2019t find lunch ready, he pounced on me, hit my mouth and left my teeth shaky and gum bleeding,\u201d the woman responded. Puzzled, her fellow women asked, \u201cLunch, couldn\u2019t he cook it too?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just like that, one woman burst out: \u201cWe must protect ourselves and protect our teeth!\u201d And these market women, locked in this bitter moment, many of whom didn\u2019t have front teeth, agreed that they would start a group and the name would be, Chungameno! Not two words, but one word.  \u201cChungameno came to arrest the situation!\u201d Afetia exclaims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it wasn\u2019t just the violent men that they sought to deal with, even within themselves, they insisted no one better be the perpetuator of violence. They didn\u2019t lay a hand on anyone, but with up to 12 women, matching and chanting towards your home, most men had no alternative but go where the own wanted them to go, a police station. The Sub County leadership was impressed, and they asked police to work with the women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs soon we heard that one of us had been beaten, quickly we went as a group and arrested that man,\u201d she recalls. They had become a mob! These women became each other\u2019s keepers, but try as they may, they knew they needed a better strategy, dragging man after man to police was not going to be enough. They were in luck, news of their little group had reached Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU). Soon, their leader, Afetia would be called for a Prevention Plus training, by RHU, a thing they learnt gave their group just the backbone it needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prevention plus impact felt<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cDuring the training, we dealt with the root of all this violence,\u201d Afetia starts. \u201cIt was not enough to just keep matching our husbands to police, we needed to find a way to work with them.\u201d Instead of treating the symptom, the Prevention plus training sought to deal with the cause. After sessions of dialogue, training and discussions, she learnt that if money and how money was spent was indeed the cause of most of the bickering, didn\u2019t it make sense to then deal with that issue?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat training helped me understand this problem properly,\u201d she recalls. The first suggestion was that But first they would need to start a saving\u2019s group! See, while they had been occasionally saving, it was not as comital, and the highest amount many saved was shs500. \u201cI came back also and encouraged the group to first of all start putting more money aside,\u201d she says. The goal was first to make sure no one had all their money on them; so they decided to put the minimum weekly savings at shs2000. They would save all year and only distribute at the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before all of this, they needed to discuss how to include their husbands in this growth. \u201cAfter distributing the money like this, we always ask these women what they are going to do with the money,\u201d she tells of how the discussion to include men begun. But also, the group attracted the RHU camp; the Prevention Plus team came to offer their services but also preach unity and inclusiveness in families, as opposed to just dealing with the culprits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, wives begun encouraging their husbands to attend the group meetings and save together. \u201cDuring these meetings, the people from RHU would come and also teach couples about dangers of violence,\u201d she recalls. This group that started out with just 12 members was now at nearly 200 members, with large number of couples jointly saving and many not even vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unity and inclusiveness<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Rophin Agamile his wife Christine Bako and their family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rophin Agamile, the area Local Councilor was the first male to join the group, and more than just save, his wife Christine Bako says he has become a better man. Agamile tells of how a session he attended that had guests from South Africa left him a changed man. \u201cI was called as LC1 to welcome the visitors to the Chunagmeno group to talk about Prevention Plus,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThese were guests from South Africa who had come to talk to the women\u2019s group, I was impressed by what they said!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The topic around Father\u2019s Legacy hit a raw nerve. \u201cAs a father, what kind of example was I setting?\u201d he remembers asking himself. Agamile used to abuse alcohol, return home in the wee hours to start fights. \u201cWhen I was around the compound, the children were all quiet!\u201d he narrates regretfully. \u201cAs a man, I used not to give chance to my madam to say a word; my words in fact were final in the home.\u201d On a good note, Bako says that man is long gone. \u201cMy husband is good to me and my children,\u201d she starts. \u201cCan you believe we save together, we clean and cook food together, and he plays with the children?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost instantly, their little child runs into Agamile\u2019s hands, the peace in their homestead is visible, but is what Afetia said that made this even better. \u201cRophin is just one example, there are many men who came to save money, but instead became good fathers and husbands,\u201d she says. \u201cWe invited the Prevention Plus team to train us on how to keep peace in our homes, and now no single member of our group has lost a tooth since.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chunga meno. Swahili for, protect your teeth! In Pajulu Sub County, Arua district, Driwala parish, to be specific is a phrase associated with success. Bizarre, right? True, Chungameno is a name of a saving\u2019s group started by the women vendors of Driwala market. Besides the success harnessed therein, the genesis of this initiative leaves quite the tale. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3454,"template":"","news_category":[193],"class_list":["post-3312","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_category-featured-slider"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.qrolic.com\/rhu-block-theme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/3312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.qrolic.com\/rhu-block-theme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.qrolic.com\/rhu-block-theme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.qrolic.com\/rhu-block-theme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.qrolic.com\/rhu-block-theme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.qrolic.com\/rhu-block-theme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=3312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}