Kasaka, UG – KSN Family invests VICOBA loan in water harvesting and storage to save time and money Nov 2025

KSN family is a member of Basooka VICOBA, which received a loan from Wamukisa at the beginning of this year to help families harvest and store water in their respective homes. Water harvesting and storage was the biggest challenge these homes faced.

In June the KSN family received a VICOBA loan of 280,000 shillings (about $80) to buy two 240 liter water barrels and four 20 liter Jerry cans. Each water barrel cost 120,000 and a Jerry can cost 10,000 shillings. With help from the Wamukisa team, KSN realized how they can benefit from having proper water harvesting and storage tools. For example, they saved lots of time by not fetching water daily from the spring which is 500 meters away and money not spent for delivered water. The storage which they have been using allowed them to save their loan amount and complete their loan repayment this month.

KSN children no longer spend lots of time fetching water daily. The two older boys now have enough time to attend to their new FAITH vegetable garden and staple crop maize and bean garden. The family now is starting to keep 2 local pigs because the animals can drink used water that otherwise would be wasted. The family used to buy a 20 liter Jerry can of water for 800 shillings when the older boys were at school and not available to carry water. But now the family no longer spends money buying water, because they now harvest and store water in their barrels and cans.

With money earned selling their first pigs and saved by collecting rainwater, the family hopes to buy a bigger water tank and add more rain collecting gutters. That also will help them expand their piggery project and operate a more productive FAITH garden.