Ugandan children attending a primary education program for conflict-affected students. *Photo from Wikipedia
October 9 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uganda from United Kingdom in 1962.
Arab traders moved inland from the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa in the 1830s. They were followed in the 1860s by British explorers searching for the source of the Nile. British Anglican missionaries arrived in the kingdom of Buganda in 1877 (a situation which gave rise to the death of the Uganda Martyrs) and were followed by French Catholic missionaries in 1879. The British government chartered the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) to negotiate trade agreements in the region beginning in 1888. From 1886, there were a series of religious wars in Buganda, initially between Muslims and Christians and then, from 1890, between ba-Ingleza Protestants and ba-Fransa Catholics. Because of civil unrest and financial burdens, IBEAC claimed that it was unable to “maintain their occupation” in the region. British commercial interests were ardent to protect the trade route of the Nile, which prompted the British government to annex Buganda and adjoining territories to create the Uganda Protectorate in 1894.
As several other territories and chiefdoms were integrated, the final protectorate called Uganda took shape in 1914.
Uganda gained independence from Britain in October 1962 as a Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the southwest by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania.
Uganda has been among the rare HIV success stories. Infection rates of 30% of the population in the 1980s fell to 6.4% by the end of 2008. In commemoration of the day, let us introduce you to a Japanese woman who supports “AIDS orphan”, a child under 18 who lost his/her parent(s) to AIDS.
*Click a photo below to see her story!
“My ideal world is the one where AIDS orphans and normal kids live together.” – Ruiko Monda, Representative of AIDS orphan support NGO.
*Reference: Wikipedia
