Amid extreme poverty for refugees in Uganda, cash helps a lot
Despite war turning into desperation, WFP cash transfers cushion Solange, Francoise and their families
Solange Mahingwe has a two-week-old baby, Shakira. But she isn’t celebrating as she paces around her hut in Rwamwanja refugee settlement in western Uganda. Her two older children have nothing to eat for supper because she has no money.
Very dry maize stalks stand all around her house, their cobs harvested long ago. Her eldest child is Hadija, 5, and her second born is Mohammed, 3.
“I will find a way,” says Solange, 24, as her children are busy playing in patches of grass in her compound. “I will borrow more money from the village women’s savings group. I will borrow until I receive cash from WFP.”
WFP provides Solange with the equivalent of US$25.20 each month to buy food for her family — US$8.40 per family member. With a new baby, she will eventually receive another US$8.40 more every month for Shakira.
“My priority is to feed my children,” she says. “When I get the WFP money, I stock up on food.”
Money was a problem the day before giving birth. She realized she had too much food but no money. She had to sell a bit to buy clothes for the newborn.
Solange was in better shape years ago. She worked with her husband on a rented farm growing maize. But the farm was allocated to another family.
Six months ago her husband left Solange and is rumoured to have returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with another woman.
With money from the farm, Solange rented a two-room house and a bit of surrounding land per month for US$70. The family sleeps in the bigger of the two rooms closed off with a tattered cloth curtain. Bedding is limited because what she took with her to the local health centre was stolen there.
Solange says that she will resume working soon — on farms owned mostly by Ugandans who grow maize in the valleys. This will help her to earn at least the minimum of just less than US$1 she has to pay weekly to the women’s group.
It is important to be in the group, she says, because she can access money in emergencies. The group has 25 women and all are refugees from DRC. They meet every Tuesday to discuss savings and learn how to manage money and improve farming.
Francoise Nyirantaba is another member. Like Solange, she arrived in Uganda fleeing violence in DRC. The 37-year-old was shot in the armpit during a battle that she says lasted 12 hours in Kiwanja village in North Kivu province.
As she lay on the ground bleeding, she saw armoured vehicles of a rebel group, as well as cars that rebels brought in to evacuate wounded fighters.
When she came out of hospital, it was obvious she had to leave her country. Her house was burned down in the fighting and was now a desolate frame.
Francoise, too, says that feeding her children is her biggest priority. She has six of them now, the eldest is 14.
“When they eat what they like, then a major problem is sorted. They like rice and a particular brand of maize flour, and that is what I buy, if I can afford it.”
Francoise’s husband died recently a week after complaining of stomach problems. Determined to give her children a decent life on her own, and to rebuild a house the family lost in a storm, she borrowed start-up capital from the savings group. She now sells silver fish and maize flour and runs a bar.
Francoise has no immediate plans of going back to the DRC. “I have nothing there,” she says. “Where would I take six young children?”
A 2018 study found 65 percent of refugees in Uganda live in extreme poverty. It estimated that without WFP assistance, this would increase to 80 percent.
WFP gives refugees in settlements monthly rations as food or cash to meet their basic needs. Using biometrics to verify identities since 2018, WFP also provides special fortified foods for pregnant and nursing women, such as Solange, and children up to 59 months to prevent or treat malnutrition.
This cash option enables refugees to buy food they like in local markets and to access fresh foods such as milk, fruits, vegetables and eggs, which WFP does not provide in its food basket.
WFP’s assistance complements the work of the Government of Uganda, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Non-Govermental Organizations in assisting refugees to restart their lives now in Uganda.
WFP Uganda is grateful to these donors for a continuous pipeline of food and cash for refugees since 2017: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), Germany, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg, multilateral donors, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russia, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America. WFP also received funding from the UN Central Emergency Fund and other UN Funds.
Find out more about WFP in Uganda
