Today at the Embassy I attended a presentation on USAID and the role of the State Department in Uganda that John was giving to a group of college students from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. This college has a special mission to serve low-income families from the Appalachian Mountain Region, and twenty students have been touring Uganda for the past month, with the US Embassy as their last stop. I learned a lot about the country during the presentation and thought some of this information would be valuable to share.
· The average income in Uganda in $420 per year, while the average income for all of Africa is $1,000. This $420 breaks down to about $8 per week, less than $2 a day. An American from my community could easily spend an entire yearly Ugandan salary in just one week at home, if not in a few days with various expenses. An astounding 31% of the population is under the poverty line, a percentage higher than the overall African average.
· Uganda is the second fastest growing country, in the WORLD. It is one of the youngest and most fertile populations, where the average age is 15 years old and women have an average of 7 children. When Uganda gained independence in 1962, its population was 7 million, and the population since has more than quadrupled. This population growth poses many problems to the country, especially in terms of its infrastructure and its health sector. For example, Kampala, the capital city, was developed by urban planners to hold about 400,000 people. However, because of urban inflow in search of jobs and the rapid population growth, Kampala actually serves closer to 1.7 million people daily. This is an explanation for the god awful bumper-to-bumper traffic that is inescapable throughout the city.
· Uganda also has a higher HIV prevalence (6.5%) than the overall African average (5%). The US PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief) uses about $285 mil every year in Uganda to combat and research HIV/AIDS.
Yea so…boom there's Uganda in three bullet points. Just kidding, but those are a few "Fun Facts" or actually, "Not so Fun Facts" that I thought were worth sharing.
The past couple days at work have been really engaging and I'm loving the projects that the Public Affairs team has me working on. I sit in the Press Room with three other employees, all Ugandan, and the environment inside is great. We always have music going, both Ugandan and Western, the TV is tuned to CNN International, newspapers are piled high and we're all constantly talking. My three colleagues, often speak in the local dialect of Kampala, Lugandu, and by the laughs I hear it sounds like they're having a great time. They've been speaking more English now to include me in the conversations, which I definitely appreciate, but it really is a great, lively atmosphere. Hakeem has offered to take me to the National Theatre on Monday when they have performances from Ugandans, Americans, anyone who has a voice or an instrument is welcome to play together. Hakeem is in charge of the Embassy's social media sites. He asked me to look over our Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Flickr accounts and offer any advice I could give to increase followers and make the sites more appealing. I looked it over, and shared my thoughts, but techniques that other organizations can use to improve their sites are not generally allowed for the Embassy. For example, we cannot make the site more personal by giving congratulations for special awards or personal achievements, and we cannot announce upcoming events to attend, all because of security concerns. It's been such a short time since I've been here, but I have already learned so much about the country of Uganda that I did not know before, and so I had the idea that we could post Ugandan Facts every Monday for our American followers, American History every Tuesday for our Ugandan followers, and then we began to run from there. These "Theme Days" will soon include Black History tidbits from the US, general history from Uganda, and “On this day last year…” we’ll highlight public diplomacy events that the Embassy put on in Uganda in the past.
After work I went to a Hail & Farewell party at the Ambassador’s house, which is held yearly to welcome those that have just arrived in Uganda, and to say goodbye to those who are moving on to their next post. After the party, Nathaniel and I headed to the Sheraton in Kampala, one of the nicest hotels in Uganda, where a bunch of the NGO kids I met were hanging out. The nightlife in Kampala is great, and after the Sheraton we all headed to a bar called Bubbles that was filled with tons of Ugandans, Europeans, and Americans, all in their twenties. I can’t wait for my two other intern roommates to get here soon!
