Uganda is located in Eastern Africa. It is slightly smaller than Labrador in Canada. Thirty-five percent of the land area is arable and productive. Uganda has several fresh water lakes and rivers. It is the home of part of Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake. The source of the river Nile is also in Uganda.
The average life span in Uganda is 43 years of age. This low number reflects the high infant mortality rate (93 out of every 1000 live births) and the death rate from HIV/AIDS related complications. The fertility rate is 7 children per woman. The literacy rate in Uganda is 62% (from the age of 15 and above).
In Uganda, education is very important. Unfortunately, when you grow up in the slums or in isolated areas and villages or you are orphaned or deserted due to poverty or wars, this is only a dream. That is, unless you become a Sponsor child.
A continuing problem in Uganda is A.I.D.S. Many children have no parents or immediate family to stay with so often children are found abandoned at city centers, roadsides or hospitals. There are many orphans or half-orphans left in the care of a guardians, who are already caring for many of their own or they sometimes are dear old Jajaas (grandmothers) who do not have enough to feed themselves and their own grandchildren.
With ACSP, you can help support a child to assist with education, food, and clothing. Children may attend nursery school, primary school and high school. They may continue in the program until they complete their studies in post-secondary education or until they are married or leave the area of supervision.
read more about Uganda at britannica.com or at wikipedia.org
The capital is Kinshasa and the population is 5,717,000. The life expectancy is 48 with literacy percent of 66. Languages spoken are French, Lingala, Kingwana, Kikongo, Tshiluba and religions are Roman Catholic, Protestant, Kimbanguist, Muslim, traditional. The currency is the Congelese franc and the GDP per capita is U.S. $600.
Land Area 341,500 sq km (131,853 sq miles) and there are the grasslands of the narrow coastal plain, the land rise into a south-central plateau, and the elevated regions along its border with Gabon. Further inland and north, the land flattens, and is covered by a dense equatorial rainforest. The Congo River, and its major tributaries (the Ubangui and Sangha), nourish the land. The entire river basin is swampy, and often flooded in the rainy season.
Today this land of vast natural resources is one of Africa's largest petroleum producers, and has significant underdeveloped economic potential. Major weaknesses include a generally poor infrastructure and inadequate health care. Travelers are still warned that journeying to the Congo can be quite dangerous.
read more about DR Congo at britannica.com or at wikipedia.org
Sudan is the largest and one of the most diverse countries in Africa, home to deserts, mountain ranges, swamps and rain forests.
It emerged from a two-decade civil war between the mainly Muslim north and the Animist and Christian south, only to see fighting break out in the western region of Darfur in early 2003. The north-south civil war is said to have cost the lives of 1.5 million people. In Darfur, The UN says more than two million people have fled their homes and more than 200,000 have been killed.
Decades of fighting have left Sudan's infrastructure in tatters. With the return of millions of displaced southerners, there is a pressing need for reconstruction. The economic dividends of peace could be great. Sudan has large areas of cultivatable land, as well as gold and cotton. Its oil reserves are ripe for further exploitation.
Sudan's name comes from the Arabic "bilad al-sudan", or land of the blacks. Arabic is the official language and Islam is the religion of the state, but the country has a large non-Arabic speaking and non-Muslim population which has rejected attempts by the government in Khartoum to impose Islamic Sharia law on the country as a whole.
read more about DR Congo at britannica.com or at wikipedia.org