When Scovia’s husband left, he took with him the only financial stability her family had known. What remained was a single mother, three children, a debt she couldn’t clear, and meals that came irregularly at best. To survive, she took casual labor on neighbors’ gardens, washed clothes for a few shillings, and borrowed repeatedly, never quite catching up. The toll was visible. Her eldest daughter, Patience, 12, skipped school on days there was no lunch to pack. Her son Brian, 9, carried an untreated cough because clinic visits cost money. Her youngest, Annet, ate when there was food and slept hungry when there wasn’t. Scovia was not lacking capability, determination, or vision. She was lacking only one thing: a first step.
The Intervention
In June, 2025, Nyaka selected Scovia for its Women Employability and Skilling Project funded by UNFCU and granted her UGX 700,000 with no repayment, no conditions. She invested it in pig farming, a trade she understood well. She priced carefully, purchased two piglets, built a sturdy pen, and applied herself with remarkable discipline. When one pig fell ill, she walked four kilometers to the nearest veterinary shop, treated it herself, and nursed it back to health. Four months later, her first litter of eight piglets arrived. She sold five, cleared every outstanding debt she carried, and reinvested the remainder into feed and a second breeding sow.
The Results
By early 2026, less than twelve months after receiving that initial grant, Scovia’s enterprise had grown to seven pigs, two reliable breeding females, and a waiting list of buyers. Her business is today valued at UGX 2,500,000, more than three and a half times her starting capital. But the numbers only tell part of the story.
“I am teaching my children that it is possible that you can be at the bottom and come back up. Nyaka believed in me, and I will never forget,” says Scovia.
Patience is back in school, every day, with lunch. Brian’s cough was treated. Annet ate three meals yesterday. Scovia has repaid every debt and opened her first savings account.
