UGANDA is a magical country. Winston Churchill once described it as the ‘Pearl of Africa’ and it is easy to see why. It is an staggeringly beautiful country with a magnificent natural landscape and incredibly friendly people.
Careful of the wildlife at the petrol station in Paraa!
The Republic of Uganda, located in East Africa, sits on the northern shore of Lake Victoria. It is bordered by Sudan to the North, Kenya to the East, Tanzania to the South, Rwanda to the South West and Democratic Republic of Congo to the West.
map of Uganda
Background
Idi Amin Dada’s tyrannical regime (1971-79) was responsible for the horrific deaths of at least 300,000 Ugandans. Guerrilla war and human rights abuses under Milton Obote (1980-85) are estimated to have claimed at least another 100,000 lives.
The rule of Yoweri Museveni since 1986 has brought relative stability and economic growth to Uganda. Nevertheless, it remains one of Africa’s poorest countries. In particular there has been a 21 year-long insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony, resulting in the displacment of at least 1.3m people and the recruitment of child soldiers.
The Economy Today
While Uganda will forever be associated with Idi Amin and HIV/AIDS, it has made great strides in instituting much needed political and economic reforms. These have created a more stable, growth-orientated, and liberalised, political-economic climate.
In spite of this, Uganda remains one of the poorest countries in the world with approximately one-third of the population living below the poverty line and a per capita income of approximately £250 per annum or an average of 68p per day per person
HIV/AIDS and Other Diseases
HIV prevalence in Uganda is 4.1% with approximately 940,000 people living with HIV and a further 1.2 million children having been orphaned by AIDS. As a consequence life expectancy in Uganda is merely 52 years , compared to 79 years in the UK. And it isn’t just HIV/AIDS that is a parent killer though – in 2006 there were a suspected 10.6 million cases of malaria.
Deaths among young adults leave behind millions of orphaned children, placing an additional burden on the community and the state. In 2005 UNICEF calculated there to be 2.3 million known orphans in Uganda – by way of reference, that is the same number of people as live in Manchester, UK.
Population Increase
Uganda has one of the highest population growth rates in the world; The country’s current population of 31,367,972 is projected to explode to 130 million by 2050, a nearly five-fold increase. Women in Uganda have an average of 6.81 children, compared with a global average of 2.6
Rush hour in Kampala
Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development
Child’s i Foundation representatives met with Mr Otim, Commissioner Youth & Children Affairs to discuss establishing a transitional babies’ home in Kampala. The Ministry of Gender welcomes and will fully support Child’s i Foundation. Our vision is aligned with the government’s strategic policy for orphans and vulnerable children and they concur that there is a great need for a babies’ home for orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children.
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December 7, 2008 at 12:19 am
Giles
I spent 6 weeks of 2007 working in Kampala, Entebbe and Bwindi and dicovered a truly beautiful country full of hope. These figures don’t lie, though. There is a great need for support on so many levels and helping the millions of orphans only seems right, they really are the future. This project is fantastic and I look forward to seeing it grow into something hugely successful.