Greg Trust Ug

Greg Trust aims to empower disadvantaged families in Uganda through practical approaches including provision of education and social welfare.

Greg Trust aims to empower disadvantaged families in Uganda through practical approaches including provision of education and social welfare. In the process, young people will have the ability, authority and necessary resources to implement changes in their own lives thus impacting communities in which they live. To be able to continue doing the work we do, we will organise fundraisers and seek donations among other avenues.

• Nearly three million children in Uganda have lost one or both parents, due to factors such as HIV /Aids, natural disasters, civil strife and diseases including malaria and poverty. It is estimated that 42, 000 child-headed households have been orphaned at a young age. A further estimated 10, 000 children roam the streets of Ugandan cities, scavenging and begging in order to survive and growing up within the cities most notorious dumps.
• The under-five mortality rate is 128 per 1, 000 live births, as many preventable diseases infect young children and medical care both at birth and in infancy is often not available.
• Unlike Britain and most developed nations where there is a benefits system, free education for all, and the great NHS, such services are not free in Uganda. Not all families can afford these services and often times; lives are lost for those unable to afford medical bills. Life in Uganda can be challenging. The climate means that droughts are common, so food availability is uncertain. Only 38% of Ugandans have access to safe drinking water and over 50% of people survive on less than $1. 25 a day. With HIV prevalence rate of 16% , Uganda has one of the highest rates of HIV /AIDS in the world. 150, 000 children live with the disease, despite attempts to lower the cases of mother-to-child transmission. There is also a greater need to expand the current education drive around the HIV /AIDS viral transmission.


OUR MOTIVATION:
I grew up in a large family and among those who lived with us where children who my parents informally adopted and gave them the same opportunities, including education, as their own biological children. It was not uncommon to have around 30 or so people living with us in our household. It would be fair to assume my parents were rich yet we were a working-class family; with my dad employed as an administrator for Kakira Sugar Factory and my mum who ran a number of small businesses. It is from these that they derived income to take care of our education, medical bills and other basic necessities. One thing that shone through such a big family was love. Even when my dad died in 2000, the culture of love continued with then our mother who was left struggling to meet all our needs as best as she could. For the children who became part of our family, they have to this day viewed my family as their own.