About Uganda
Proudly known as “the Pearl of Africa,” Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa and home to over 31 million people. The country is known for its geographic beauty--from the peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains to the shores of Lake Victoria--and for its people, who are widely considered to be among the friendliest people of Africa.
Yet Uganda and its people have faced more than their fair share of problems. Grinding poverty has a steadfast hold on the country and civil war gripped Northern Uganda for over twenty-two years. 50% of Uganda's population is under the age of 15, Meanwhile, Uganda’s youth struggle daily to obtain an education in schools that are often underfunded and overcrowded. Click below to learn more about Uganda...About this image: A young child thrashes beans at an IDP refugee camp in northern Uganda.
About this image: Children often walk miles
to and from primary school in Uganda. |
Fast Facts
* 2.5 million orphans currently live in the
small East African country of Uganda. * 50% of the population is under the age of 15. * Only 7.69% of children who attend primary school go on to secondary school. * Only 2.2% of the adult population completed all 6 years of secondary school (P7 to S6) and graduated with a full diploma. * Children pay to attend secondary school--making school out of reach for most. * Uganda has the 10th highest HIV infection rate in the world. * Uganda is still recovering from one of the "world's worst humanitarian crises"--the war raged by Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army. * For more than 22 years, Kony and the LRA terrorized Northern Uganda's villages, schools, and families: at least 30,000 children were abducted and used as child soldiers. * 1.5 million Northern Ugandans fled to squalid internal refugee camps as a result of Kony's war. Many of these families have now returned home. * 50% of the population is under the age of 15. * Only 7.69% of children who attend primary school go on to secondary school. * Only 2.2% of the adult population completed all 6 years of secondary school (P7 to S6) and graduated with a full diploma. * Children pay to attend secondary school--making school out of reach for most. * Uganda has the 10th highest HIV infection rate in the world. * Uganda is recovering from one of the "world's worst humanitarian crises"--the war raged by Joseph Kony and his Lords Resistance Army. * For more than 22 years, Kony's and the LRA terrorized Northern Uganda's villages, schools, and families: at least 30,000 children were abducted and used as child soldiers. * 1.5 million Northern Ugandans fled to squalid internal refugee camps as a result of Kony's war. Many of these families have yet to return home. |