Social Engagement

UGANDA – Commitment from pure passion
I travelled to Uganda for the first time in 2009 to visit my daughter, Julia, who lived there with her husband. From that time on, I had a sense of attachment with the country whose people, culture and passion I sensed as being both extremely enticing and exciting. Now, after five journeys to the east African country I know: Uganda is a country of children. Wherever you travel through the varied landscape, children are everywhere – half of the population is under 15 years of age.

In April 2013 we were due to go there once again and this time we intended to do something particularly special, to see the Mountain Gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. So we travelled to the extreme south-western corner of Uganda, to Lake Bunyonyi, and from there to the National Park which is situated at a height of 2000 m. The unique landscape, with volcanoes, rain forest, and, of course, the Mountain Gorillas which were the purpose of our visit, was highly impressive. But we were just as moved by an encounter which gave us a new, much deeper insight into life there. One evening, our hotel manager told us that he was setting up a school in the area so that the children didn’t have to make the arduous journey, sometimes over several hours, to get to school. We were happy to take up his invitation to visit the school.

We were greeted by singing and dancing from a happy gathering of children, the head of the school took us through the classrooms and sleeping areas and showed us the modest kitchen which consisted of just a few saucepans on stones. All the buildings were made of mud and clay, there was no electricity and therefore no light. The climate in the south-west of Uganda is fairly cool, the temperature sometimes falls below 10 °C, but the children have no warm clothes and wear shoes which are worn or simply none at all.

Still overwhelmed by the images of the happy children, we travelled the next day to Fort Portal where we visited a coffee farmers’ cooperative which had its plantations in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains. 85% of the population of Uganda lives from agriculture, mostly as smallholdings, each with around quarter of a hectare of land. In the mountains we visited another school which had also been founded by the people from the local village. Once we had arrived, teaching was officially ended for the day and the children began talking to us and telling us about what they normally did at school. Here, too, the school day ended with singing and dancing and they showed their happiness at the footballs and drawing material which we had brought with us
The last place we called at on our tour was the “Tooros Babys Home” orphanage in Fort Portal which is run by a friend of our daughter. Children aged between three and seven years are accommodated here. The house is in good condition and loving people take care of the little ones, but the institution depends for its finance on foreign donors who have recently stopped their contributions.

These numerous impressions have prompted me to found a club whose purpose is to support children and young people in Uganda who need our help. Everything begins with children, a carefree childhood and a good school education are the foundations for a better future – for every single child and for the whole of Uganda.

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