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The British Red Cross needs £1 million to support its work in Uganda over the next year - find out more here
The Last King of Scotland actor James McAvoy has just returned from an emotional trip to Northern Uganda where he spent 4 days seeing projects supported by the British Red Cross.
James travelled to the camps for internally displaced people, forced to flee their homes after over 20 years of brutal civil war, to see the life saving work being carried out by the network of Red Cross staff and volunteers.
Essential support
The Scottish actor was familiar with the country having spent over 3 months filming in country but was horrified by what he saw in the North.
"It's amazing to think that some of the people I met have been in these camps for 5, 10, sometimes even 15 years.
''The conditions in the camps were awful and it's horrific to think this has been going on for so long and that so few people actually know about it. The Red Cross is providing essential support to those in the camps and also to those who are starting to return home."
Uganda factfile
- For 20 years northern Uganda has suffered an internal conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan Armed Forces, claiming tens of thousands of lives.
- In north and north-eastern Uganda, some 1.7 million people fled their villages, abandoning most of their possessions, and set up home in overcrowded camps.
- The British Red Cross is helping provide these people with basic essentials such as clean water, sanitation, seeds and tools. Support is provided through the Ugandan Red Cross (URC) – one of the few organisations with access to remote communities through its network of volunteers.
- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is also working in the far north, including four British Red Cross delegates.
- The British Red Cross needs £1 million to support its work in Uganda over the next year.
- The majority of people displaced by the violence still live in vast overcrowded camps but many people are starting to return to their abandoned villages.
To help the British Red Cross raise £750,000 please call 0845 054 7203 or click on the link below.
