The big event which was really frightening so many people in Uganda when we visited in February was the Parliamentary Elections. Would there be bloodshed. Why were we coming at that particular weekend? We arrived at St. Zoes to find that many of the parent had come to take the children back home so that they would be safe.
Our friend Victoria was running for election as the MP for Fort Portal. She had worked tirelessly as Regional Director of Education and has a passion for this subject. She has attended lots of events at Good Shepherd school and is about the best Charity Auctioneer I have ever seen.
She was successful and got more votes than any other MP in the whole of Uganda. She came to dinner with us when we arrived and I spent a morning with her when I returned from Rwanda. HUGs has helped her daughter with her University Law Degree course. Victoria has the Bundibogyo area, west of the Rwenzori Mountains and next door to Congo as part of her constituency. One of the challenges she is going to tackle is the long established practice in thie area for the very poor people to sell their daughters, often as young as 12, to become husbands of elderly men in return for a few goats. The girl may have been promised at the age of 8. When she leaves home she joins the other wives and that increases the labour force at the man's farm. It seems that child abuse is international. I will keep blog readers informed on her success with this huge challenge | 
1 comment:
I remember meeting and hearing Victoria at the opening ceremony for Good Shepherd.
Good luck to her in the murky politics of Uganda but what a fantastic ambassador for education and Good Shepherd
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