Pastor of New Hope Pentecostal Church, Springfield Massachusetts, and the Bishop of Uganda
Africa District Council

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Bishop Bruce Shaw, diocesan bishop of Uganda District Council, along with a team of pastors traveled to his diocese to minister and provide humanitarian aid. The team ministered by feeding the hungry, distributing Bibles, and bicycles to the pastors to help them in their ministry. Bishop Shaw is a phenomenal and compassionate leader. His ministry extends to supporting school children in their quest for education by providing school supplies and ministering and empowering pastors in the council to serve their constituents with love and care. The training provided helps build the kingdom of God and ensure sustainability for years to come.

About the Country and Its Unique Characteristics and Challenges:
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to
the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to
the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a
substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great
Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin,
Uganda obtained formal independence on October 9, 1962. Its borders, drawn in an artificial and
arbitrary manner in the late 19th century, encompassed two essentially different types of societies: the
relatively centralized Bantu kingdoms of the south and the more decentralized Nilotic and Sudanic
peoples to the north. The country’s sad record of political conflict, coupled with environmental problems
and the ravages of a countrywide AIDS epidemic, hindered progress and growth for many years. Yet,
even so, at the beginning of the 21st century, a popularly elected civilian government ruled Uganda,
The Ugandan population has grown rapidly since independence, when it was approximately seven
million, to now total more than three times that number. Like many other African countries, the population
is predominantly young, with roughly half under 15 years of age and more than one-fourth between the
ages of 15 and 29. Uganda’s birth rate is about twice that of the world average, and the death rate is also
higher than the world average. Life expectancy in Uganda, while higher than or similar to that of most
neighboring countries, is below the world average.