| |
why
There are currently over 880,000 children living in Uganda without parents or guardians. Because of this, many children live in child-headed families, and are sick and/or dirty. Most children do not go to school past the fifth grade and grow up without a trade or a skill. Juna Amagara which means, "saving life," was founded in 2004 to offer these children an opportunity to become productive adults and leaders of society by providing education, food, a christian home, and vocational training. We had the chance last summer to visit this ministry and see its work in the faces of the children. We met children in the program who've become healthy, energetic, and bright students through this ministry.
We believe Juna Amagara is a powerful catalyst for change. We believe in its mission, and see the Lord working through their ministries. Our lives were forever changed by our experiences, and we want to continue to be a part of what God is doing in Uganda through Juna Amagara Ministries.
uganda
 The Republic of Uganda is a part of the East Africa community, bordered on the east by Kenya, the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. In 1888, the United Kingdom placed the area under the charter of the British East Africa Company and ruled it as a protectorate from 1894. As several other territories and chiefdoms were integrated, the final protectorate called Uganda took shape in 1914.
Uganda became an independent nation in 1962. Much of the country’s history includes eras of coups, counter-coups and civil war. In 1966, the government was overthrown, creating new leadership for Uganda, and suspending elections. This ushered in a time of unrest that would last until the mid 1980s. In 1971, Idi Amin took power, ruling the country with the military for the coming decade. Idi Amin’s rule cost an estimated 300,000 Ugandans’ lives. His reign was ended after the Uganda-Tanzania War in 1979 in which Tanzanian forces aided by Ugandan exiles invaded Uganda.
Currently, Uganda is under the presidency of Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986. There has been a period of peace with the exception of the war in Northern Uganda. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is still active north of Murchison Falls National Park and around town such as Lira and Gulu. Uganda has seen one of the most effective national responses to HIV/AIDS pandemic on the African continent, but much damage has been done. Thousands of children have been left without parents and/or the means of affording an education. Juna Amagara is working to reach the youth who have been left behind by this disease.
aids in uganda
AIDS in Uganda was initially known as 'slim' due to the physical wasting it caused. HIV was already spreading in Uganda on the shores of Lake Victoria in the late 1970s. It is from here that some theories suggest HIV spread to the rest of the world. If this is true then Uganda's HIV epidemic might be said to have had something of a 'head start' on other national epidemics.
1986 President Yoweri Museveni responded to the emerging HIV crisis in Uganda swiftly, embarking on a nationwide tour to tell people that avoiding AIDS was a patriotic duty, and that they should abstain from sex before marriage and then go on to remain faithful to their partners and to use condoms. Uganda's Health Minister announced to the World Health Assembly that there was HIV in Uganda, and the first AIDS control program in Uganda was established. It focused on providing safe blood products, and educating people about risks.
Uganda is one of the few African countries where rates of HIV infection have declined, and it is seen as a rare example of success in a continent facing a severe AIDS crisis. Uganda's policies are credited with helping to bring adult HIV prevalence (the proportion of adults living with HIV) down from around 15% in the early 1990s to around 5% in 2001.
Even though HIV prevalence in Uganda is much lower than it once was, it still remains very high, and AIDS is still claiming tens of thousands of lives each year. Such a severe epidemic has a considerable social and economic impact. As AIDS usually kills young adults, it depletes a country's labor force, and weakens educational and health services. Deaths among young adults also leave behind thousands of orphaned children and grandparents, placing an additional burden on the community or the state.
|
|
