UGANDA, a developing nation in East Africa, is a relatively small nation about the size of the United Kingdom. Kampala, the capitol, is just a few miles north of the equator. About 80% of the 22 million Ugandans live in villages and small trading centers. Close to the center of Africa, Uganda is bordered to the east by Kenya and to the south by Rwanda and Tanzania. To the north lies Sudan, a nation which has suffered a devastating civil war for much of the last 40 years, a conflict which has impacted Uganda. There are more than 100,000 Sudanese refugees on Ugandan soil. Running the length of Uganda’s western border is the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire. Uganda’s extensive involvement with the insurrection within DR of Congo has been expensive. The entire region has no little other than genocide, war, famine and hunger for a very long time. Half of the population does not have access to clean, safe water, making them vulnerable to cholera and diarrhea. Respiratory illnesses are widespread. Less than 10% of the population has access to electricity; even many urban dwellers rely on kerosene lamps. About 90% of Uganda’s total energy requirements are met using firewood and charcoal. The life expectancy for a woman is 40 years, and it is a little less for a man. The infant mortality rate and life expectancy are among the worst in the world. Only half the boys and about 25% of the girls complete primary school. Only about 13% finish secondary school. About 65% of the adults are illiterate. The reason most parents don’t send their children to school is that they need them to work in the home and in the fields; children are a vital part of the household economy. Moreover, because most of the parents have not been to school, they cannot appreciate the benefits of an education. 66% of Ugandans live below the poverty line, on less than the equivalent of $15 a month. The picture is bleak. And then there is the dreaded scourge of AIDS.
Uganda faces a staggering social and economic crisis as its 1.4 million adults with HIV begin to die. Sixty percent are women. In addition, there are nearly 150,000 HIV children under twelve. An entire generation...those in the middle years...is dying. This is the economically productive generation, and their death leaves the very young and the very old alone to fend for themselves. Uganda has wrought a miracle in reducing AIDS infection, going from 21% of the population infected to just 6% infected in just ten years. This is great news. However, those infected in the mid 1990’s are dying now, and leaving countless young orphans with no safety net at all. These children suffer the trauma of caring for one or more sick family members; that stress is often exaggerated by the stigma they encounter in society.
Adding to the problem, Uganda does not allow international adoption except in very specific circumstances; there are few orphanages except in large cities, and the kinship system is strained and overburdened. There are 22,000 Ugandans for every doctor available to see them...even if they had money to seek medical care and pay for the transportation to the hospital. For most, there are just neat rows of graves in front of the homes.
The first AIDS case appeared in Uganda in 1982. Twenty years later, the life expectancy in Uganda dropped from 54 years to 43. In spite of exemplary AIDS awareness programs, Ugandans face a daunting future and innumerable challenges as the epidemic rolls on. In addition to AIDS, malaria, TB and dysentery threaten the lives of its residents. And there is also the ever present threat of rebel activity, with the Lord’s Resistance Army striking out from the Sudanese border. One such crisis came at the end of June 2003, when thirty schoolgirls from Soroti were kidnapped as “wives” for the rebels, and many boys were abducted for use as soldiers. Most of these children, aged 13-17, were never found.
