country directory index

developing country focus - uganda

Uganda is a landlocked country in the easternmost region of Africa. Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable deposits of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing more than 80 percent of the work force. Coffee accounts for the bulk of export revenues.

The country is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, militias and various government forces. Uganda has been battling against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) for the past 20 years. Led by Joseph Kony, this extremist rebel group has murdered and kidnapped civilians. The boys are turned into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves. Kony and four other LRA leaders are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Thankfully, a peace agreement between Uganda and the LRA was signed in July 2006, and for the first time there has been meaningful progress in ending this conflict.

In February 2006, Uganda held its first multiparty general elections since 1986. President Yoweri Museveni won the elections, giving him a third term in office. Since assuming power, Museveni and his government have largely put an end to human rights abuses and initiated substantial economic rehabilitation. He has led Uganda from the highest to the lowest incidence of HIV/AIDS in Africa. However, so many adults have died from the AIDS pandemic, 51 percent of the population is under age 15.

Food for the Hungry has been working in Uganda since 1988

CHILD-MOTHER CARE CENTER
More than 10 years ago, the LRA began abducting children as young as 7 or 8 years old. The rebel group forced these children to fight, brainwashing them and teaching them to kill. Many of the young girls who were abducted were given to LRA commanders as “wives.” It is estimated that more than 80 percent of the LRA members are children.

However, Uganda has great potential. It has seen one of the most effective national responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the African continent. Its economy appears poised for significant growth and development. However, chronic political instability and erratic economic management produced a record of persistent economic decline that left Uganda among the world’s poorest countries. The Child-Mother Center in Northern Uganda exists to assist the young women and children previously kidnapped and harmed during the fighting

explore uganda on our site

	Child Sponsorship Opportunities Go here to view
	Short-term Team opportunities Click here to learn more…
	View Prayer Needs for Uganda
	View Relief Work in Uganda

how we are meeting needs in uganda

Child Development Programs
Problem: Children of Bolnyapo suffer from poor educational facilities and training materials, lack of parental support, social and emotional abuse.

Solution: To fulfill the physical, emotional, educational and spiritual needs of 500 sponsored children in the community by:

	Improving school facilities.
	Providing textbooks, classrooms and school desks.
	Helping groups and clubs, including Bible study groups, chuildren's fellowship, Sunday school and peacemaking groups.

Health/HIV/AIDS
Problem: Uganda has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world.

Solution:

	Develop and run value-based sex education/reproductive health programs.
	Provide parents with better parenting skills as well as supporting them in addressing the dangers faced by their children.
	Establish an emergency intervention program for 400 schools and 15 universities, in which workers will be trained to conduct seminars on pornography, sexuality and abstinence; organize clubs in schools to reinforce learning and provide support; educate school administrations about the danger of HIV/AIDS.

Rehabilitation Program
Problem: Children are abducted as young as three by the Lord’s Resistance Army (a rebel group) and forced to become either sex slaves or soldiers.

Solution: The program will directly benefit 1,400 child mothers and 15,000 families by:

	Rebabilitation and training center for formerly abducted children who escaped.
	Provide debriefing, trauma counseling, literacy classes, day care for their children, life skills, adn vocational training.
	Working with church leaders to identify neediest cases as well as to train church leaders in the program.

Rehabilitation Program
Problem: Bitterness and hatred has grown between communities as well as within individuals because of various wars Uganda has been through over the past 20 years.

Solution:

	Use the radio to broadcast the message of biblical holism, and God’s love and plan for all nations. Biblical principles taught will foster the development of a Biblical World View.
	Listeners will receive training over the radio to adopt an integrated approach to meeting their spiritual, physical, social, and emotional needs.

Higher Education Program
Problem: Young people who no longer qualify for the sponsorship program due to age or other circumstances have no opportunities to continue their education.

Solution: Help these young people acquire practical skills so they can sustain themselves. This will be done by opening vocational schools; equipping FH staff to better serve these young people; training church leaders to groom these young people into God-fearing persons.

Contact

Employment

Press/Media

Site Map

Online Help

Email Signup