Susan and Betty are both members of the St. Monica Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) group in Bugoye Sub County, Kasese district. Like many other people, emergency health needs have made them accumulate debts that they did not have a clear payment plan for. Before starting to save for health, Betty said that she had to borrow UGX 100,000 (24€) for a health emergency in July and put her saloon as collateral security. Luckily enough, I was able to have it cleared timely within a month with an amount of UGX 113,000 (27€). Experiences like high interest of over 10% per month, risk of losing collateral assets, and the tedious processes of acquiring the loans gave them the inspiration to start saving for health on 20th October 2023 after a financial and saving for health training for their VSLA by the Enabel-trained Ambassador, Tinka Tadeo in September 2023.

Susan said that she loves her life and therefore wants to ensure that she is prepared for any health emergencies through her health savings. “The group ensures that members who are already saving for health get interest-free loans whenever they want to seek medication; that to me is security for me and my family in case I find myself in a situation that requires me to access medication or pay for a medical bill”, said Susan.

Betty on the other said that she has high blood pressure and diabetes, conditions that sometimes require her to have frequent visits to the health facility for checkups and medication. As a result, she does not want this to find her without enough money to meet the costs that come along with the medical visits. “If it wasn’t for our group’s saving for health pool, timely meeting these costs would have been a challenge, and I would worry so much about the high interest rates every time I borrow money. My group savings are now available to rescue me from that and I can easily access them through the chairperson and secretary”, said Betty. In the previous month, November 2023, she borrowed UGX 20,000 (5€) to buy medicine from a clinic because she could not find it at Bugoye Health Centre III, the closest government health facility.

The training by the ambassador on modules such as; personal financial management, budgeting, investment, planning for old age, debt management, savings management, and saving for health inspired them to embrace the idea of saving for health in their group. Betty who gets her income through the sale of farm produce ensures that she sets aside part of her profits for the weekly VSLA general savings as well as, saving for health. She saves between UGX 1,000 - 2,000 (0.2€ - 0.5€) weekly for health and has a cumulative total of UGX 28,000 (7€).
Meanwhile, Susan runs a mini saloon in Bugoye trading center which gives her an average monthly income of UGX 120,000 (29€). It is through this venture that she gets money for her weekly savings at their group.  She saves UGX 2,000 (0.5€) weekly for health and plans to increase her savings premium to 5,000 (1.2€) in 2024 to have enough savings for her two children and niece.

They have both continued to share the savings for health knowledge among their circle of friends to encourage them to embrace the idea. “I have friends who have had their own experiences with unplanned medical expenses, and when I told them about saving for health, about 3 of them have already been positive and shown interest in joining. In our next saving cycle, I am sure the number of people saving for health will increase because members are getting to see the benefits for themselves”, said Betty.