It's Bank Day for Miriam!

This is my friend Miriam. She is about the encounter a very big step in any Ugandan woman’s life. Soon she will open up a Savings Account so she can save for her daughter’s education.



At the age of 13 Miriam was married off to a man who promised she was his only wife. After the nuptials were exchanged, she found out she had been deceived, and now ranks third among his tri-wives. From that young age when Miriam’s education stopped short, her goals of improving her status through education were replaced with a new goal of educating her 3 daughters, so they wouldn’t end up without options like she did.
Miriam is a savvy saver. Her husband gives her a little over $2 a week for food. She gets almost $10 a week from Suubi. And she works in town planting flowers for $2 a week. Miriam and 9 other Suubi women have devised a system that holds each other accountable when saving money. They rotate weeks where each woman gives one woman $5. So week 1, Suubi woman A brings home $50. But for the remaining 9 weeks, Suubi woman A gives $5 to the pot. Week 2, Suubi woman B brings home $50. Week 3 Suubi woman C brings home $50, and so on. This way all 10 women are held accountable to set aside $5 each week, totally $50 after 10 weeks. And because the money is out of their homes and their pockets, Suubi woman B cannot spend her savings, when it is Suubi woman A’s week to bring home her bulk sum. This system forces the women to think long and hard about how they will spend the $50 they’ve waited on for 10 weeks, rather than frivolously spend 5 more dollars each week without so much as a second thought. When Miriam told me about this grass-roots banking system, I was astonished at how genius it is. Last Saturday it was Miriam’s turn to bring home $50 and now she plans to open up a savings account.
I joined Miriam for her meeting with the banker to make sure all her questions were answered and that she was signing up for the right kind of account. And let me tell you, Miriam usually dresses in style, but for her big banking day, she showed up dressed in a prom-like dress, a sequined shawl and glittery heels to match. I was so proud when walking down the street next to her that every head turned; not just because she is a knock-out, but because of she was wearing a new found confidence and assurance as an independent financially secure woman.