Women Sponsorship | Aciro Jesca

Jesca has known what it’s like to struggle and survive since a young age. She came to the Acholi Quarter with her mother as a young girl to live with her aunt after her father passed away. Jesca went to school until primary four. Her mother remarried, leaving her in the care of her cousins. With no money for school fees, Jesca went to work in the stone quarry. She spent her childhood toiling in the depths of the quarry and carrying water from a nearby well to sell.

She married at 17 and she and her husband had six children. After years of being in an abusive relationship, she left her husband to fend for herself and her children.

Jesca initially supported the family by working in the stone quarry and making paper bead jewelry. In time, she started two small businesses. During the dry season, she walks the streets to collect empty plastic bottles to resell to scrap yards where they remanufacture the bottles.

During the wet season, she sells mangoes. She travels early in the morning to purchase mangoes from the main market in Kampala, then sells them by the roadside in a busy commercial area closer to her home. She originally started the business because it required very little capital. But over the years, it has proved worthwhile. With more capital, Jesca hopes to rent a small storefront from where she can sell the mangoes. Ultimately, she hopes to earn enough money to build a family home in the North.

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