The Pearl of Africa

Uganda in East Africa is described in the guidebooks as The Pearl of Africa and indeed the country is abundant with fertile soil and is beautiful to behold.  But have you ever wondered what it means to be a Ugandan and actually live there in rural parts.

I have been visiting Uganda for the past 30 years and seen at first hand the terrible conditions that ordinary folk live under especially in the remote areas of the country.

Can you imagine what it is to wake up in the morning to no clean water, no toilet, one set of clothes to wear and little or nothing to eat?  When the tin roof over your head is leaking like a sieve and various members of your family are quite terribly ill and dying from Malaria, Measles or Aids.  This though is the everyday reality for the rural folk who live in “The Pearl of Africa”

Here in the Western World we don’t know how lucky we are to have everything working and enjoy clean water and sanitation.  But we can help our brothers and sisters and this I believe our God is asking us to do.

Over the past few years a small group of us have been supporting a particularly rural area in the South West of Uganda called North Kigezi centred on its main town of Rukungiri.

This is an ever growing number of people and we are delighted to be joined by and supported by folks from Castle Hill United Reform Church in Ipswich.

We are now also supported by Diocesan Payne Smith Primary School in Canterbury and the Magnus Secondary School in Newark and we praise God for these blessings.

The day to day problems of life do not go away and numbers of our Orphans and Double Orphans is increasing at an alarming rate and we struggle to find ways to support them through donations..

We are constantly seeking sponsors of Double Orphans to provide them with a sound and dry place to live, a bedroll to sleep on, some food to eat and help with their education.

Over the past 5 years we have shipped and installed over 150 computers into their primary and secondary schools, taken them clothes, medical supplies,wind up torches, old mobile phones so that they can communicate and many other items of every day use that we in our consumer society tend to throw away.

We run workshops for Clergy and Laity in the Diocese and run events in the UK to raise awareness of our work and raise funds.

All this takes time, effort, materials and a firm belief in carrying out Gods work

Look out for our next post and learn more about the projects we are engaged in and how YOU CAN HELP