Contemplating ..... the children of Uganda

Did you know that the population of Uganda is about 33.5 million and, of this, nearly 56% of the population are children. Ninety percent of all Ugandan children grow up in poverty. The life expectancy is quoted at anywhere between 53 and a generous 58 years, with women living slightly longer than men. Nearly 3 million children are orphans. Maybe the pictures help to put some faces to these numbers. The fertility rate is 6.3%, but the birth rate is 4.6%. The rate of maternal deaths in childbirth is 4.3%.

In 1998, Uganda passed a Universal Primary Education law and reports cite a 97% primary school enrollment rate, with 67% dropping out before completing primary school. Malaria accounts for the largest percentage of absenteeism among children enrolled in primary school. If you want more information about the status of children in Uganda, including crimes against children you can check out this site: http://www.anppcanug.org/wp-content/uploads/press_kits/The_Sit_of_Child_in_Ug.pdf

As I wander around with my camera, I have noticed that generally children are moving in groups and that the adults I am seeing near this university setting are watching out for the children. It seems to be everyone's responsibility to care for the children as they gather, play, work, and go to school. Yet, the many reports of child abuse and abandonment suggest that the challenges of parenting and the prevalence of orphans has put a strain on the nation's ability to provide sustained care for the children in the way many of the people I talk with would wish.

As I mentioned in an earlier Blog, I was quite impressed with the work of Caroline who is involved in bringing Children's Rights Awareness to Uganda schools in the Kampala area. She has been focusing particularly on the right of children to be heard, to have a voice in the school and in the curriculum and in terms of speaking up on matters that affect them.

Here are a few links to international children's rights organizations:
http://www.iicrd.org/
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c1f4.html
http://www.childjustice.org/

THE EDUCATIONAL STORY FOR ME

Schools can be safe places where children are provided with opportunities to explore challenges in an educational environment. Seeing children recognize their value to their communities and their rights to safety, food, shelter, an education and freedom sexual abuse, sacrifice, other forms of violence, and unfair labor provide a start for the conversation. I like that schools are involved in this dialogue. I was surprised, actually, at how collectively open the children are about abuse and I life up my prayers that each of these children will experience some freedom from basic harms, like abuse and neglect. Perhaps we can all do that for the children we are in touch with. I have been taking a lot of picture of children, partly because I am drawn to them, and each of these children has their own story. Some positive, some negative, most a mix of the two, like we find anywhere. But Uganda has a larger than average rate of child poverty, orphans, drop-outs at primary level, health issues, and abuse. I had not before heard of contemporary practices of child sacrifice. I hope this kind of killing is rare. Despite the challenges, you see in my pictures, a resilience, a love of life, a happiness, that the children share even with a stranger.... a Mzungu.....a Barbara (which literally means stranger wandering in a foreign land).