As in many countries, not only in Africa, those who can enrich themselves...
They don't care about the people.
The poor people we take care of have neither electricity nor water/sanitation in their homes.
Some of them have to walk to the well to fetch water. Many people are starving.
Some parents can't send their children to school because they don't have the money.
The Catholic Church still preaches that contraception is a sin.
Violence, alcoholism.... all topics there....
Our donations come from friends, family, blockchaines, flea markets.
We have been doing this for 7 years now and have achieved an enormous amount by our modest standards.
It's not easy and costs a lot of money, energy and time.
But at least for now, quitting is not an option....
I'm certain it costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time and effort, requires risk and sacrifice, is not convenient nor easy, and you do not get thanked or recognized nearly as much as you should. You're doing real work, the kind that actually matters, but does not get rewarded or supported by the system. You're doing it because you can, and because you must. My wife @MediKatie and I have been activists for a long time, and have participated in (and led) many grassroots projects to help others that needed it. Quitting is not an option. We've found that to be true, a dangerous truth about activism, fighting for freedom, peace, etc. It can be hard to say "no" to our cause, when something must be done and there is nobody else willing/able to do it. We can even sacrifice our own health and safety for the cause, when we know it to be just. MediKatie and I have had to take a step back, to do what we can to hold on to our health, and ensure the security of our 2 young children. We do what we can, and do what we're able to support others in the same struggle.
My question was "what are the top reasons for the widespread poverty seen today in Uganda?"
Your response mentioned corruption, alcoholism, violence, and an aversion to contraception. These problems are indeed serious, but commonly found around the world. For example, Italy has a lot of corruption, alcoholism, violence (the Mafia), and an aversion to contraception (heavily Catholic). This recipe has not resulted in Italians being without water, starving, unable to afford school, etc. I'm trying to understand the difference, so I can comprehend the source of the problem in Uganda. You have firsthand experience so I trust your observations and analysis.
Thank you for all your efforts.
Well, Europe has a completely different history to Africa.
The size, the conditions, the colonialism...you could write pages and pages about that.
As far as Uganda is concerned, Idi Amin's tyranny in the 1970s is probably the main reason why the country is in the state it is in.
Hundreds of thousands of people were murdered (mainly intellectuals, senior officers, judges, political opposition ...)
Back then, many businesses were run by Indians and Pakistanis.
Idi Amin kicked them all out of the country and the economy collapsed as a result.
The country was in ruins.
A few years ago, the average age in Uganda was 15!
Wow, 15. That usually indicates a high birth rate and/or a high death rate. Sounds like it was both in Uganda's case. Babies being born, while adults are dying off.
Italy and Uganda are exactly the same size, so that doesn't seem to be the cause of Uganda's problems. I haven't learned about Idi Amin before, so I looked him up...
"During his years in power, Amin shifted from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable support from Israel to being backed by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. In 1972, Amin expelled Asians, a majority of whom were Indian-Ugandans, leading India to sever diplomatic relations with his regime. As Amin's rule progressed into the late 1970s, there was increased unrest against his persecution of certain ethnic groups and political dissidents, along with Uganda's very poor international standing due to Amin's support for PFLP-EO and RZ hijackers in 1976, leading to Israel's Operation Entebbe. He then attempted to annex Tanzania's Kagera Region in 1978. The Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere ordered his troops to invade Uganda in response. Tanzanian Army and rebel forces successfully captured Kampala in 1979 and ousted Amin from power. Amin went into exile, first in Libya, then Iraq, and finally in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death in 2003."
Apparently there's a 2006 about him called "The Last King of Scotland". Interesting.
In any case, it doesn't sound as though the country has been able to recover from the turmoil of the 1970s. I suppose the question then become "why can't they recover after 45 years?" but perhaps that's best left for now.
Thank you for the information.
Do you have a list of ways you can accept donations? I don't have much aside from my BP, but perhaps there's a way I can contribute, or invite my followers to contribute.
Do you have a list of ways you accept donations? Apart from my BP, I don't have much, but maybe there is a way to contribute or ask my followers to donate.
The easiest way for us is to get Euros.
We often collect for a specific cause, e.g. school fees, water tanks or solar panels and then open a donation account via Paypal.
It is not worthwhile (at least from Germany) to send clothes, toys etc. because the postage is far too high. We buy everything locally.
Donations have also been collected on the blockchaines, which have helped often enough.
As a result, many children have been able to go to school and graduate in recent years.
This year, too, some pupils are taking their exams and we are paying for it.
Okay, so the answer is: you accept direct transfers of BLURT, HIVE, and STEEM. I assume you also accept the other tokens found on those platforms, like SBD, HBD, and TRON?
I have a suggestion. You mentioned in this post that you aren't getting many donations. I couldn't find anything about how to actually donate. I had to ask you, and then make replies, in order to finally get an answer from you. My suggestion is stop making it so difficult for people to support your cause!
Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple.
We are not an association, we are private.
In Germany, you have to pay taxes on donations above a certain amount and we can only exchange crypto to a limited extent.
That's why we have no interest in things getting too big and getting out of hand, also in terms of administration and time.
The whole thing has to remain feasible for us and we have managed this very well in recent years.
Not to forget: we also have our own lives and we don't earn any money with it.
There are no administrative costs from the donations or a salary for me.
So far, everything has been feasible for us, even the donations that came in cryptos.
The people on the blockchaines have simply joined in and got involved.
And we have always regularly opened a donation account for a specific purpose.
And for the very attentive..... above in my account is the donation account of Leetchi ( https://www.leetchi.com/fr/c/soziales-von-elke-zaksek )
However, they changed their site and then all the updates were gone. That's why we prefer to do it via paypal.
We have not opened a special account for Boscos mobile.....
Okay, well my PayPal is frozen because PayPal claims they are not sure I am really myself, and want me to perform various tasks in order to prove it. I already tried once and they said I failed to prove I am myself. I have had the account for 23 years and never broken any rules or anything, but now I have a lot of funds tied up in that account. They say if I fail again, they will take the funds and close my account.
But I do have 134 Tron (TRX in the Steem wallet) as a donation, if you could use it.
Yes, I'll gladly take the Tron.
Thank you very much!