Uganda is a landlocked, developing country in central eastern Africa. Infrastructure is adequate in Kampala, the capital, but is limited in other areas.
Geography
Area: 241,040 sq. km. (93,070 sq. mi.); about the size of Oregon.
Cities: Capital--Kampala (2002 pop. 1.2 million). Other cities--Jinja, Gulu, Mbale, Mbarara.
Terrain: 18% inland water and swamp; 12% national parks, forest, and game reserves; 70% forest, woodland, grassland.
Climate: In the northeast, semi-arid--rainfall less than 50 cm. (20 in.); in southwest, rainfall 130 cm. (50 in.) or more. Two dry seasons: Dec.-Feb. and June-July.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Ugandan(s).
Population (2007): 30.9 million.
Ethnic groups: African 99%, European, Asian, Arab 1%.
Religions (2007): Christian 85%, Muslim 12%, other 2%.
Languages: English (official); Luganda and Swahili widely used; other Bantu and Nilotic languages.
Education: Attendance (2000; primary school enrollment, public and private)--89%. Literacy (2003)--70%.
Health: Infant mortality rate--86/1,000. Life expectancy--45.3 yrs.
Natural resources: Copper, cobalt, limestone, phosphate, oil.
Agriculture: Cash crops--coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, cut flowers, vanilla. Food crops--bananas, corn, cassava, potatoes, millet, pulses. Livestock and fisheries--beef, goat meat, milk, Nile perch, tilapia.
PEOPLE AND HISTORY
Africans of three main ethnic groups--Bantu, Nilotic, and Nilo-Hamitic--constitute most of the population. The Bantu are the most numerous and include the Baganda, which, with 18% of the population, constitute the largest single ethnic group. Europeans, Asians, and Arabs make up about 1% of the population with other groups accounting for the remainder.
Uganda's population is predominately rural, and its population density highest in the southern regions. Until 1972, Asians constituted the largest nonindigenous ethnic group in Uganda. In that year, the Idi Amin regime expelled 50,000 Asians, who had been engaged in trade, industry, and various professions. In the years since Amin's overthrow in 1979, Asians have slowly returned and now number around 30,000. Other nonindigenous people in Uganda include Arabs, Western missionaries, non-governmental organization (NGO) workers, diplomats, and business people.
When Arab traders moved inland from their enclaves along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa and reached the interior of Uganda in the 1830s, they found several African kingdoms with well-developed political institutions dating back several centuries. These traders were followed in the 1860s by British explorers searching for the source of the Nile River. Protestant missionaries entered the country in 1877, followed by Catholic missionaries in 1879. In 1888, control of the emerging British "sphere of interest" in East Africa was assigned by royal charter to the Imperial British East Africa Company, an arrangement strengthened in 1890 by an Anglo-German agreement confirming British dominance over Kenya and Uganda. In 1894, the Kingdom of Buganda was placed under a formal British protectorate. Britain granted internal self-government to Uganda in 1961
In September 1967, a new constitution proclaimed Uganda a republic, gave the president even greater powers, and abolished the traditional kingdoms. On January 25, 1971, armed forces commander Idi Amin Dada declared himself president, dissolved the parliament, and amended the constitution to give himself absolute power. Idi Amin's 8-year rule produced economic decline, social disintegration, and massive human rights violations. The Acholi and Langi ethnic groups were particular objects of Amin's political persecution. In 1978, the International Commission of Jurists estimated that more than 100,000 Ugandans had been murdered during Amin's reign of terror; some authorities place the figure much higher.
In October 1978, Tanzanian armed forces repulsed an incursion of Amin's troops into Tanzanian territory. The Tanzanian force, backed by Ugandan exiles, waged a war of liberation against Amin's troops and Libyan soldiers sent to help him. On April 11, 1979, Kampala was captured, and Amin fled with his remaining forces. After his removal, the Uganda National Liberation Front formed an interim government which adopted a ministerial system of administration and created a quasi-parliamentary organ known as the National Consultative Commission (NCC). The NCC and the Lule cabinet reflected widely differing political views. December 1980 elections returned the UPC to power under the leadership of President Obote, with Muwanga serving as vice president. Under Obote, the security forces had one of the world's worst human rights records. In their efforts to stamp out an insurgency led by Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA), they laid waste to a substantial section of the country, especially in the Luwero area north of Kampala. Obote ruled until July 27, 1985, when an army brigade, composed mostly of ethnic Acholi troops and commanded by Lt. Gen. Basilio Olara-Okello, took Kampala and proclaimed a military government. Obote fled to exile in Zambia. The new regime, headed by former defense force commander Gen. Tito Okello (no relation to Lt. Gen. Olara-Okello), opened negotiations with Museveni's insurgent forces and pledged to improve respect for human rights, end tribal rivalry, and conduct free and fair elections. In the meantime, massive human rights violations continued as the Okello government murdered civilians and ravaged the countryside in order to destroy the NRA's support.
In February 2006, the country held its first multiparty general elections since President Museveni came to power in 1986. The election generally reflected the will of the people, although serious irregularities occurred. Ruling NRM candidate President Museveni was declared the winner with 59.26% of the vote, giving him a third term in office following the passage of a controversial amendment in June 2005 to eliminate presidential term limits. Opposition FDC leader Kizza Besigye captured 37.39% of the vote, while the remaining contestants received less than 2% of the vote each, according to official figures from the Electoral Commission.
The above is excerpted from the US State Department website.
The purpose of Least of These Ministries is to connect talents and resources with poor people who have little so that they may help themselves and their neighbors. This comes under the main title of Community Health and in many forms; food, medicines, clinic supplies and equipment, training resources for community health workers, transportation, textbooks, school supplies, school fees and uniforms, water wells, repair of water pumps, payment for hospitalizations, job training, etc. We operate in the Masaka region.
Accomplishments for Uganda
2007
Kasambya Health Center, medication and supplies for the surrounding community. Supplies and medicines for three (3) traditional birth attendants, food and medicine for the Salvation Children’s center with approximately 39 children, school fees, uniforms and supplies for widow with nine children, food, school supplies, medicine, school fees, uniforms and supplies for grandmother with 6 orphans, one child for HIV treatment and enrolling the widows family in the HIV protocol for Uganda, and one child an eye operation, mosquito nets and blankets for grandmother and widow families.
2008
Kasambya Health Center, medication and supplies for the surrounding community. Supplies and medicines for three (3) traditional birth attendants, food and medicine for the Salvation Children’s center with approximately 39 children, school fees, uniforms and supplies for widow with nine children, food, school supplies, medicine, school fees, uniforms and supplies for grandmother with 6 orphans, one child for HIV treatment and enrolling the widows family in the HIV protocol for Uganda, and one child an eye operation, mosquito nets and blankets for grandmother and widow families, providing a workshop for 4 orphans who learned how to make candles, providing supplies, two bicycles for their new business, starting and almost finishing a house for these 4 orphans, headed by a 16 year old girl, also paying for their schooling.