
Uganda
Background
Uganda is situated in the East of Africa at Lake Victoria with the neighbouring countries Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan and has 45.438.000 inhabitants.
In 2019/2020 the organisation VolNet e.V. sent three weltwärts-volunteers to different organisations in Uganda.
Here is a brief description of them:
Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT) is a NGO, founded in 1996 with an office in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The main purpose of KWDT is to enhance the living standards of the population in rural fisher communities in the Mukono District at Lake Victoria (east of Kampala). The change is made by women, who are organized in groups. Currently there are 29 women's groups which are supported by KWDT to share resources, knowledge and skills to manage their social, economic and political development. For more information: http://www.katosi.org/
Kirabo Doors of Hope Foundation is a NGO founded in 2011 in Mbikko, a small town near Jinja. Kirabo addresses its work and mission to the local community and wants to contribute to its development. The foundation currently has a kindergarden which hosts about 60 children from age three to six, as well as a women empowerment group. This association of women meets once a week to produce traditional Ugandan crafts which will be sold in order to financially sustain the women. For more information: https://kirabodoorsofhope.org/
Caritas Jinja is the social service and development organ of the Catholic Diocese of Jinja. It started its operations in 1966 when the diocese of Jinja was created. The diocese covers eleven civil districts that form the Busoga sub-region in Eastern Uganda. At the moment, Caritas Jinja is active in nine of eleven districts and reaches over 10,000 households through its various programs. Its mission is to foster community development initiatives and support partner organizations through best practices for sustainable integral development in Busoga sub-region.
In mid-March our three volunteers Christina (Kampala/Katosi, six months), Federica (Jinja/Mbikko, five months) and Thomas (Jinja, five months) were send back to Germany from weltwärts ahead of schedule. These measures made it clear to our volunteers, partner organisations and to us as an association what global effects the Covid-19 pandemic has. We want to present reports from our partner organisations, friends and host families.
We would like to emphasize that these are reports on their subjectivley perceived experiences, which cannot speak for an entire population and do not reflect the personal opinion of the association and its members. As the Covid-19 situation changes daily, the information given in the reports can of course be based on subjective and past knowledge.