Projects
All projects that we set up at Kumi reinforce each other and the environment. The choice to lend our helping hand, especially in Uganda, is because we were touched by the history of the country and the total devastation that various regimes left behind. The country is under construction and we are happy to contribute to that.
Self-reliance is of great importance here and one of the main core values of our Foundation. Everything is connected, also at the Kumi Hospital Agro Park.
Where the livestock provides milk, the milk provides dairy. Where the fields are used for crops, the harvest provides food for humans and animals. The exchange services thus created provide employment, income and opportunities for the next generation. Collaboration contributes to the community at all times. By being present in the middle of that community, we identify what is needed and where progress can be made.
Thinking along, sympathize and participate.
You can find more information per project on this website. And for those who find it interesting, down below is a bit of background information about this beautiful country, full of culture and colorful people with a history.
History Uganda
2000 to 1500 years ago, the Bantu-speaking people of Central and West Africa came to the area that is now southern Uganda. These first inhabitants belonged to the Urewe culture. They developed agriculture and were able to work metal. Kingdoms were founded of which Buganda was the largest. Nilotic people settled in northern Uganda, livestock farmers who originally came from Sudan. Until the eighteenth century these two ethnic groups lived together in the country.
The first Europeans arrived in the mid-19th century. The country was called “the pearl of Africa”, because it had special nature and was rich in resources. Catholic missionaries from England wanted to convert the inhabitants to the Catholic faith, while European Protestant missionaries wanted to make Uganda Protestant. The already arrived Muslims tried to introduce Islam as the state religion. The different religious ideas led to war.
Great Britain ended this struggle by colonizing the country in 1894. After the Second World War it lost its colonial empire and Uganda gained independence in 1962. Since then, the political situation in the country has rarely been stable. The different tribes have their own armies that have been fighting against each other since independence.
In 1966 the first violent coup was staged by Milton Obote. He abolished the various kingdoms in the country and was the founder of the centralized unitary state. Obote’s democratic ambitions soon disappeared.
Known as the butcher of Africa, Idi Amin deposed Obote in 1971, after which the former president fled to Tanzania. Military leaders who did not support Amin’s coup were immediately executed. Foreigners had to leave Uganda and those who did not were killed. The former boxing champion’s regime was one of the bloodiest in the history of Africa. It is estimated that 300,000 to one million people have been killed.
After eight years of terror, Amin dug his own grave. Due to a personal feud with Julius Nyerere, the president of Tanzania, he attacked this country in 1979. However, Nyerere’s troops forced him to surrender. After Amin’s reign of terror, a new period of unrest follows, again led by Milton Obote. The rebel movement “National Resistance Army”, led by Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, seized power in 1986. Museveni is the president of Uganda to date.
Uganda was ravaged by great violence between different armies. The NRA (National Resistance Army), LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), HSM (Holy Spirit Movement) and UNLA (Uganda National Liberation Army) are the main parties involved. The LRA in particular has abducted an estimated 25,000 children in recent years. The boys were forced to be child soldiers, the girls became sex slaves.
In addition to ongoing conflicts, HIV and AIDS are also major problems for the country. In the 1990s, nearly 20 percent of the population was infected with HIV. Uganda is one of the countries with the lowest living standards in the world. Half of the population lives below the poverty line.