At our October meeting we welcomed speaker Alison Brain, a children’s nurse who has worked in several Suffolk hospitals.

About six years ago a friend of hers who was visiting Uganda urged Alison to come out and join her to see for herself the predicament of children at a school and orphanage on the outskirts of Kampala.

More than half of Uganda’s 35 million people are under fifteen, there is a high poverty rate, life expectancy of 53 years, an infant death rate of 62 per 1000 plus a high mortality rate for mothers in childbirth. Add to this the highest death rate in Africa from HIV Aids, with over a million deaths to date, and 2 – 3 million orphaned children. Many children are abducted and end up as child soldiers. Continue reading →