Education & Uganda

Illiteracy is common in Uganda, particularly among females.  According to the Human Development Report, for every 20 men, 80 women are illiterate. In the villages we are going to about 90% of the people are illiterate.

1st Group Meeting!

Last night, I had a chance to lay my eyes on my teammates for this trip!  After this meeting, I have a feeling we will all become very close!

We will be spending most of our time in 2 villages, the Kyet kana village and the Agoro village. For these 2 villages, we will be drilling for water - this will be the first time these villages will have fresh drinking water!

We will also set up a make-shift medical clinic usually under mango trees to evaluate villagers and distribute medicine if needed. 

There are several surrounding villages where we will be giving "Mercy Bags" filled with non-essentials such as soap, sugar, salt, tea, and mosquito nets...interesting that these items are considered "non-essentials" only because they have to spend money on food instead of these basic items.

We will also be teaching life skills, financial sustainability, organizational skills, playing and teaching the children, which I think is where I will be placed.

Stay tuned for more!!

Languages of Uganda

Uganda has 40 indigenous languages that fall into 3 main families - Bantu, Nilotic, and Central Sudanic - with another 2 languages in the Kuliak family.  However, English and Swahili are the official languages of Uganda.

History of the Acholi People

Acholi is an ethnic group from districts of Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum and Pader in northern Uganda.  These territories are commonly called "Acholiland". According to the 1991 Uganda census, there were 746,796 Acholi in Uganda and an additional 45,000 Acholi live outside of Uganda, mostly in Magwe County in southern Sudan.
The Acholi are a Luo people, a group of related African ethnic groups, who are said to have come to northern Uganda from the area now known as Bahr el Ghazal in southern Sudan. Starting in the late 17th century, a new sociopolitical order developed among the Luo of northern Uganda, mainly characterized by the formation of chiefdoms headed by Rwodi (meaingin the 'ruler'). By the mid-19th century, about 60 small chiefdoms existed in eastern Acholiland. During the second half of the nineteenth century Arabic-speaking traders from the north started to call them Shooli, a term which transformed into 'Acholi'.

Where is Uganda?

The Republic of Uganda (pronounced yoo-GAHN-də) is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on 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. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which is also bordered by Kenya and Tanzania.

Acholi Villages

The average village size that we will be visiting has...
500 people
90 households
5 agricultural groups of 25 people each

Who are we helping...

With 11.8 million people, Africa has the largest population of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP).  Uganda has approximately 869,000 IDPs due 2 decades of Joseph Kony's rebel activity and the insurgency of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). 

The LRA is a guerrilla military group that is responsible for violent acts including abducting, massacres, sexual enslavement and many more human right violations.  Even though the army's power has diminished and activities of LRA have been minimal in Uganda, Kony is live alive and the LRA is still active in neighboring countries, the Congo and Sudan.

With the decline of LRA, the number of IDP's has decreased dramatically from the 1.6 million.  Villages of Hope Africa directly impacts those numbers!

Day 1: Let the Fundraising begin!!

Today marks the first official day of fundraising for my mission trip to Uganda! 

I am one of 23 people headed to Gulu, the northern territory of Uganda, January 4-15, 2011.  During that time, we will visit several villages of the Acholi people and our activities will vary from location to location.  Nonetheless, we will be providing basic necessities that we take for granted everyday.  Our group's activities will include...
- Assisting in drilling for fresh WATER
- Building SHELTERs (homes, community/education centers, medical facilities,)
- Educating villagers on how to SUSTAIN and make their community viable through farming techniques and simple sanitary guidelines

This site will track fundraising efforts and this journey to Uganda!