As most of you know i'm finishing up in my job in mid September to go work in Uganda for two months.I am flying out on the 27th of September and will be back on the 10th of December. I'll be doing aids outreach work and teaching in orphanages.I will be working in Nsanje village about an hour from the nearest town and two hours from the capital Kampala.
Uganda has a past scarred by colonialism and then by brutual dictatorships.An insight into one period of its history can be seen in the film 'the last king of Scotland'. It is estimated that Uganda has 2 million orphans and 1.25 million people living with HIV/AIDS.However this is an improvement on the early 90's when up to 15% of the population were infected.AIDS prevention measures have worked and real progress has been made especially since some form of democratic government came into power.
Here are just a couple of statistics of the stark reality of the hardship many face in Uganda compared to the relatively gifted lives most of us live in Ireland.
Life expectancy in Ireland is somewhere between 75 and 80 years of age in Uganda it's somewhere between 46 and 47 years of age.
One Irish persons spending power per year is somewhere around 40,000 dollars a year in Uganda it is around 280 dollars
a year.
Uganda has a real chance to leave it's troubled past behind it and make real progress it is for this reason i chose to work in Uganda.
In addition i hope to visit the Kibera slum in Nairobi which is home to one million plus people.
Thank you so much for all those who gave donations towards the cost of my volunteer work!I hope to keep this updated throughout my time in Uganda so you know what's going on.
Leaving next Thursday,flying to Nairobi and busing it to Uganada!
/uganda