Jane sits in her bustling restaurant named “Tusiimwa,” which means,  “We appreciate our customers.”  Big helpings of beef stew, yams, and greens are being served to the packed lunch crowd.   Five employees bustle to make sure that everyone can eat and get back to work on time.  Jane greets the customers by name and asks them to return if they enjoyed their meal.   She started this restaurant with her BeadforLife business grant and is well on her way out of poverty.

But life was not always this promising.  She was born in a small village, one of eight children of a schoolteacher.  She became pregnant at 17, dropped out of school, and married.   After four children, her husband died of AIDS and shortly thereafter so did her youngest child.  HIV+ herself and alone to raise her three children, she came to Kampala and got a job for 1000 shillings (55 cents) a day working as a waitress.  Her children were given to “aunties” to take care of them.  Jane lived in a shack and was slowly starving.  Her HIV was untreated.

After BeadforLife found her, Jane became a beader, and her natural entrepreneurial spirit began to flourish.  “I used my business fund money to build up my restaurant, buy my refrigerator and plates, and pay six months rent,” Jane says.  “I like having employees and being able to pay them a good wage. 

Everyone respects me.  I am looking to start another business to make sure that my future is bright. My relatives come and see my house and they are amazed that I did not die of AIDS.  My children are in school so my happiness is great.”