The Children of Uganda.

The actual reason for my trip to Uganda was a photographic report on the Women’s Empowerment project run by the international aid organisation CARE. But I couldn’t of course help noticing the children’s lives and circumstances there too. Partly or perhaps more explicitly because of my involvement with and my report on the children living in cemeteries and rubbish dumps on the Philippines, I was magically drawn to the kids in Uganda and I was curious about getting to know more about their life there.

At first glance it may appear as if the children are better off. Here the kids live together with their families in little clay huts instead of on rubbish dumps or in cemeteries. Certainly just as inconceivable by western standards but nevertheless not that bad living conditions, at first glance mind you. That’s how they live in the African savannah. At second glance though, you can see that it is in fact a very sorry state. There are hardly any basic supplies of water and food and the little clay huts, which initially looked really homely and cosy, actually have to accommodate up to 10 family members.

So once again I am standing surrounded by poverty, which I can in fact understand but don’t want to comprehend… and yet the children are more warm, cheerful, friendly, open and approachable than almost anywhere else in the western world. I can only endorse my experiences and personal conclusion of my trips to the kids on the Philippines and say that these encounters and impressions in Uganda have once again enriched my life and my perspective on things.