Uganda Information
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Geography
Uganda is in East Africa and is considered a sub-Saharan country in Africa. It is bordered by Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Part of its southern border is Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa. Kampala is the capital city. Other larger cities are Jinja, Mbale and Mbarara. Major rivers are the Albert Nile and the Victoria Nile. The source of the Victoria Nile is located by Jinja. 

Uganda straddles the equator and its climate is tropical. But temperatures are somewhat moderated by its elevation which is approximately 5,000 feet above sea level in Kampala and other plateau areas. Daytime temperatures are often in the 70s and nighttime temperatures in the 60s. Uganda has two rainy and dry seasons per year. Rainy seasons run March to May and August to early November with dry season being the remainder.

Statistics and Facts
• The population of Uganda is 30,262,000 in 2007. Over 1.5 million of these people live in the Kampala metropolitan area.
• The official business language is English which is taught in the schools beginning in the mid-primary years. Luganda is the primary native language spoken throughout 60% of the country. Swahili is also widely used. 
• About 66% of Uganda is Christian, 15% Muslim and the balance other indigenous beliefs.
• Football (called soccer in the U.S.) is Uganda’s most popular sport.
• Public holidays are Christmas, Easter and the New Year (January 1), Independence Day (October 9, 1962) and National Heroes Day (June 9).
• Current president is Yoweri Museveni who became President in 1986 and was reelected in 2006.
• Common foods are plantains (green cooking bananas), maize, millet and sorghum, cassava and groundnuts (also called g-nuts) which are like peanuts.
• 70% literacy rate.
• Currency is the Ugandan shilling. Current exchange rate: $1 equals 1,900 shillings (u. sh).

Economy
80% of the population is involved in the agricultural sector, most as subsistence farmers. Coffee is the most important cash crop. Other produce is tea, cassava, potatoes, corn, millet, ground nuts. Cotton is also grown. Cows, goats, chickens, and some pigs are common livestock reared. Uganda also has larger deposits of copper and cobalt. Industries are steel fabrication, cement, textiles, tobacco, brewing, sugar and food processing. 

Jinja Town Information
Jinja was founded in 1901 and is located in southeast Uganda, two hours east of Kampala. It is situated on the Victoria Nile River near Lake Victoria, and has a population is approximately 71,000. Jinja is known as being the “source of the Nile” river which ultimately flows northward into Egypt. Because of the nearby waterfall on the Nile River, there was a huge Owen Falls hydroelectric project in the 1950s which helped the town become a major industrial center. Cotton, sugarcane, corn and peanuts are grown in the area. There are also manufacturers of textiles, forest products, soap and processed food.

Many of Outreach Uganda’s sponsorship children are from refugee families from northern Uganda who live in the slum areas of Jinja. They typically live in a rented room or very small house without running water or electricity. Very few can afford to rent a separate plot where they could grow food. So, most families struggle to survive on a day to day basis. Most people in the slums earn a living by buying and selling in the market or distilling a local liquor. They earn less than $60 per month. 

Kitgum Town Information
Kitgum district is located in northern Uganda where an internal war has been going on since 1986. There has been a temporary break (or perhaps a longer period of peace) in this war since late 2006 when peace talks began in Juba, Sudan with the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). However, these talks ended in early 2008 with no resolution. Kitgum is 452 kilometers north of Kampala (about a 7 hour bus ride). Kitgum is mostly flat, savannah grasslands and its temperatures tend to be hotter than in the south. The district has a population of 330,000 of which 45,000 live in Kitgum town (called Kitgum Town Council). The village of Gangdyang is about 2 kilometers from Kitgum. 

The district is inhabited primarily by the Acholi tribe of people who speak Luo as their language. When the war was active, an estimated 44% of the district’s residents were required to live in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps for their protection. Some are still required to live there, but most began to be dispersed out of the camps in mid-2007 through 2008. 48% of the people drink safe water from bore holes. Common diseases are malaria, respiratory track infections, diarrhea, worms, pneumonia, skin diseases and eye infections. There are an increasing number of AIDS patients and orphans. Literacy rate is a low 37% because most primary schools were displaced due to the war. Over 80% of the population is subsistence farmers who use hand hoes for production. Farming has been limited due to the war and land mines. 2007 was the first year there was a major planting in 20 years. Estimated household income is under $30 per month. 

Kampala Information
Kampala is the capital city of Uganda and is located near the southern edge of Uganda about 10km inland from Lake Victoria, and 45 km north of the Entebbe airport. It is the economic center and largest city in Uganda with a population of about 1.5 million, and is situated on rolling hills. It was founded in 1890. Its name derives from a Luganda expression Kosozi Kampala which means Hill of Antelope. Kampala is home to Uganda’s largest government run university called Makerere University in addition to several other universities that have formed more recently. Kampala has two large open air type markets called the Oweno Market and the Nakasero Market, and even has its own shopping mall called the Garden City Mall. 

More detailed Ugandan statistics:
Go to the CIA –The World Factbook web site page for Uganda.