World Information Society Day

It’s World Information Society Day! 

Saturday 17 May is a day to recognise the importance in ALL of our lives of ICT and the internet, and to think about closing the digital divide.

Students logging on for another class

In rural Uganda, access to ICT and the internet is not an everyday affair. In the developed world we now take digital connectivity for granted, including on the move, but in Kamuli only a few weeks ago the city’s internet access was cut off thanks to a truck on the outskirts of town bringing down the single overhead cable that supplies it!

Despite such privations – and an intermittent power supply – UDS continues to work to train young Ugandans in the computer skills that are transforming lives.

Irene is now working and earning thanks to her ICT skills

Our young students are learning skills and gaining opportunities their parents never had. They are going out and getting jobs, earning a wage, going to university even, thanks to the grounding in ICT that UDS has given them.

Please help us to carry on and educate further generations of young Ugandans. Click here to make a donation of £10 which could train a school child to use the computer and give them essential, life long skills. 

International Families Day 2014

It’s time to celebrate the family. Thursday May 15 marks International Day of Families 2014, 20 years since the UN General Assembly declared 1994 the International Year of the Family.  And as we approach the 1015 target for the MDGs, this year’s theme is “Families Matter for the Achievement of Development Goals.”

Farmer Fred Bikaba tends his pineapple crop

Our work in Kamuli is based around families, rural families in one of the poorest countries in the world. Most of the families we serve live from farming, eking out a living from small plots in the countryside.

But slowly we are transforming lives, teaching better farming methods, encouraging farmers to grow more and better crops, and encouraging them to expand beyond mere subsistence farming.

Model farmer Robert Lyadda

A few years ago, most farmers in Kamuli district simply grew enough to feed themselves and their families – living, effectively, a dirt-poor existence. But now many of them have been trained to harvest bigger and better crops, providing them with a surplus to take to market and sell for much-needed cash. 

Robert Lyadda runs a training session

One of our model farmers, Robert Lyadda, leads the way, growing and selling his own crops and going out as an instructor, teaching others to follow his example.

So please help us continue this work, and get more rural families benefitting from our programmes.   

Click here to donate. Just £10 a month would train a farmer and help their family escape poverty and live a healthier life.