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Despite the many steps forward, there remain challenges in almost every area.

The Uganda AIDS Indicator Survey released this spring suggests Uganda is one of only two African countries – the other being Chad – that are seeing a rise in AIDS rates.

Public awareness campaigns ask Ugandans to have smaller families — the average number of children per woman is around 6.14, the fourth highest rate in the world. The longer lifespan coinciding with still-high fertility rates has put pressure on healthcare system.

While the country sees more economic potential, political stability might be in jeopardy, as the ruling National Resistance Movement tries to hold onto power in the face of “restive” representative bodies, says Derek Peterson, professor of history and director of the African Studies Center at the University of Michigan.

“That [political] stability has come also at a cost,” he said. “There are representative bodies that are increasingly now restive in relation to the ruling party, but the full expression of democratic politics hasn’t come to Uganda in a way one might’ve hoped.”

There are concerns about an anti-gay law the government is trying to pass, which would make homosexuality illegal.

“The way culture and tradition had been defined in mid-20th century has made it very difficult for gay rights advocates in Uganda,” explains Peterson.

Watoto has also been working to help rehabilitate child soldiers captured and trained by the Lord’s Resistance Army, said Mr. Mukasa, who still has four of five sisters in Uganda as well as his mother. They also help babies orphaned by their mothers, many of whom die from complications during childbirth.