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Table of contents:
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History
Read detailed history and travel information at the Uganda Travel Guide and The World Factbook.
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Breathtaking Nature | For most of the 20th century and especially in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Uganda was one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. The terrain includes snow-capped mountains, broad savannahs, pure inland lakes and enormous national parks throughout the country. Uganda is the source of the mighty Nile River with spectacular rapids and waterfalls throughout the country. Abundant wildlife of every kind including rhinos and gorillas decimated during the 1970’s and 1980’s is rapidly returning today.
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A Christian Nation | There are few countries of the world that can compare to Uganda as a Christian nation. From President Museveni who stimulated church leaders to begin teaching and preaching against AIDS to Christian education in public schools to the open encouragement of faith-based services and street evangelism, Jesus Christ is an integral part of the Ugandan culture.
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Uganda: Winning the War on AIDS | In all of Africa, there is only one country that is winning the battle against HIV/AIDS. That country is The Republic of Uganda, an independent nation which, over the last 30 years has struggled with sadistic dictators, civil war, refugees and AIDS. But, in 1993, the nation elected Yoweri Museveni as its President. After his first year in office, he called the nation’s leading clerics and educators to a conference. "I can fight corruption," he told the assembly. "I can beat down the rebel armies. But I cannot defeat a virus." As a Christian man, he urged church leaders to preach the values of abstinence and monogamy. He challenged educators to teach students about the causes and prevention of AIDS. His leadership put God in the schools and Jesus Christ in place of lust.
The results have been dramatic. Ten years later, the new incidence of AIDS in Uganda has dropped by 2/3. The nation is healing. Life expectancy is growing. Uganda’s handling of AIDS has become a model for all of Africa. But much damage has been done. Thousands of children have been left without parents or the means of affording an education. This is where Juna Amagara fills a vital need.
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Children Left Behind | When AIDS first emerged in Africa, powerful people assumed the disease would not touch them. Military leaders, business leaders, professionals in all fields and the leaders of society did not understand the insidious nature of the virus. By the late 1980’s, many of them had died. At the same time, rebel armies followed the custom of tribal warfare in Africa which dictated that the ultimate defeat of an enemy required the raping of all women. This one custom, more than any other, spread AIDS to women and unborn babies. People are still dying as a result. And when so many adults, parents, die in a short period of time, their children are left behind.
The Ugandan people are working mightily to take care of the orphans. Even distant relatives will take in an orphaned niece or nephew. Unrelated people will take children into their homes. Yet, as noble their hearts may, there are too many children for the Ugandan people to handle by themselves. These are the youth Juna Amagara wants to house and nurture.
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Secondary School Students: The New Hope | Through the 1990s and continuing to the present day, secondary school students have been diligently acquiring the skills required to build infrastructure for a country seriously trying to rebuild its society. Many of those students of the nineties have graduated from university studies and are in the workplace today in positions of government, operating businesses… as engineers, teachers, doctors, farmers, merchants and bankers. The country’s economy is beginning to grow. Today’s students see vast opportunity and are excited about being a part of the new Uganda. But, because many of them are AIDS orphans, their families and care givers struggle to pay school fees. Students are often one or two years behind their age-level capabilities because they must drop out of school when fees cannot be paid.
These students are the future of Uganda. The Juna Amagara Scholarship Fund is designed to help them stay in school. Our people in Uganda monitor the progress of each student. As long as he or she remains motivated and earns good grades, we will pay their fees until they graduate.
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The Future of Africa Rests with the Success of Uganda | From its earliest days, Uganda has always been a beacon of leadership in Africa. As aggressive traders, Ugandan merchants fueled the economies of countries throughout Central Africa. As the site of the first university in the Great Lakes region, Uganda has led all other countries in producing artists, policymakers, entrepreneurs and social activists for over 200 years.
Thus, it is with great encouragement that the leadership of President Museveni in uniting the government with an education system and the Christian faith community to defeat the scourage of AIDS is seen as an example to the other countries of Africa. The greater the success Uganda displays as characterized by stronger health, longer life expectancies and a more prosperous economy, the more the Ugandan Model will be examined by other countries.
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