Producers: Kris Sorbie and Andi Reiss
Press Release January 2022
Following nearly two years of enforced school closures due to COVID 19 many boys between the age of 14 and 18 were running riot on the streets and girls too old to continue their education.
This has led to a startling rise in crime and teenage pregnancies, posing health and economic risks across Uganda.
Many girls have been forced into pregnancy through abuse or hopelessness; many have been traumatised through illegal terminations.
Additionally, as COVID-19 continues to escalate in Uganda, its effect on the social set up and interactions in rural communities remains hard for the locals to fathom. The country’s health system is used to operating in ‘emergency mode’, having experience with Ebola and Cholera, yet the pandemic has had a most devastating effect, upending lives and livelihoods with many believed to have opted to seek herbal treatment and remain at home to avoid the high fees charged by hospitals.
Documentary producers, Andi Reiss and Kris Sorbie travelled to Kabale (nicknamed “kabala – a small stone) in the south western region of Uganda to investigate the repercussions of the pandemic in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Along the way they met those working with Alongside Africa, a UK-based not for profit organisation committed to providing communities with the tools they need to be self-sufficient as the country emerges from the devastating impact of coronavirus.
Facts about Uganda:-
- Both male and female homosexual activity is illegal and can lead to a potential penalty of life imprisonment.
- In Uganda, 41% of people live in poverty, and almost half of Uganda’s population is under the age of 15, representing one of the youngest populations in the world.
- Uganda’s poverty estimate data is based on US$0.88–US$1.04 per person per day as the national poverty line, a measure that is much lower than the World Bank’s international figure of US$1.90.
- Children are the primary victims of this deplorable economic situation.
For more information about this documentary project please contact :-
The Amasiko Halfway House Programme
….and here’s from twelve years ago:-
Watch Amazing Grace (2010)
ANDI REISS 