Soon after the turn of the century, the British administration only allowed Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries into Uganda. For this reason, AIM by-passed the country when moving into the Belgian Congo. In 1917, when some AIM missionaries were traveling to Congo through Uganda, one of their number fell ill in the Vurra region of West Nile, Uganda. As a result of this, the party had to stay in W. Nile for some time. Relationships were formed with the local people and with the Anglican Church (Church Missionary Society), whose leaders invited them to stay on in West Nile, as there were no missionaries working in the area.

As a result, AIM began working in the West Nile District of Uganda, under the auspices of the Anglican Church. Over the years that followed, AIM was responsible for establishing the church in West Nile and through this church has established a strong relationship with the MADI/West Nile Diocese and the Nebbi Diocese of the Church of Uganda. One important aspect of the work was translation of the Bible into local languages.

The Bible, hymn book and prayer book were translated into the Alur, Kakwa, and Lugbara languages. As well as establishing the church, AIM missionaries were involved in education and medicine. Under their direction, Kuluva Hospital began in the late 1940's and established a good reputation as a general hospital, as well as becoming an important Leprosy Center. Kuluva Hospital also became important for eye care, and from that center the surgeon traveled to various other locations in the country on a regular basis.

The importance of training local people to carry on the work was emphasized, so AIM personnel, joined by others, established first a Nurses' Aide training program, which has now become an enrolled nursing program. In addition a training program for a leprosy assistant, an eye assistant, and a dental assistant program was also started. AIM began work further south in the South Rwenzori district by starting Kagando Hospital during the mid sixties when missionaries fled the Congo during the Simba rebellion. Today, Kagando Hospital is a 220 bed hospital, with an average patient workload of 30,000 out-patients and 17,000 in-patients per year.

The hospital is now only one of the many ministries that is handled by the Kagando Rural Development Center, a ministry of the Church of Uganda. Much of the early work of AIM in Uganda has been handed over to an increasing number of fine, qualified, Ugandan staff from various parts of the country. Both of the hospitals mentioned above were handed over to the Church of Uganda in the mid seventies. However, AIM still has personnel assigned to both of the hospitals. Though much of AIM's work is still with the Church of Uganda, we are now working with several other churches/organizations as well. AIM is currently involved with church evangelism/discipleship work, education of pastors, training church finance officers, medicine, agriculture, AIDS awareness within primary and secondary schools, community development, orphanage care, and refugee work.

AIM recently began two new outreach ministries in Uganda. One is among an unreached people group north of Arua, in the extreme northwest of Uganda. The area borders Sudan on the north and Congo on the west. We are working alongside another organization, who share our desire to reach out to this people group. We are looking forward to seeing what God will do through this outreach. The other group is in the Ssese Islands which lie south of Entebbe, in Lake Victoria. Though Buganda by tribe, these islands, because of the distance from the mainland, are virtually unreached. We have one couple assigned to this group of 80 islands. Forty of these islands are inhabited.

It is unofficially estimated that the Ssese Islands have the greatest AIDS/per capita in the world. This means that there is just a window of time for us to reach out to many of the 60,000 people that live there. Please pray for this work as relationships are formed and the work begins. We want to be used by God, effectively, to reach these people. Uganda has suffered greatly from the ongoing war in the Congo and Sudan. Abduction and death, refugees, epidemics and famine are a few of the traumatic events that have become common place here. Uganda has been a land of death. AIDs has taken a huge toll in the social fabric of Uganda's society. At present, the number of new HIV infections has actually declined. However, the death toll from AIDS will continue to rise for the next couple of years, before it levels off. Every family has been affected by the scourge of AIDS. It has left tens of thousands of parentless children in its wake. The challenge is in knowing how to most effectively respond. As well as continuing with our current ministries, it is this type of compassionate ministry that we hope to include in our total outreach to Uganda in the coming years.

As plans are laid, we continue to refine our vision and focus, seeking God to help us strengthen and expand the Christian community here in Uganda. Ideally, this will be accomplished through partnering with organizations already established in Uganda.

Outreach is the priority on which we will build discipleship. We will care for each other so that we can effectively serve people in Uganda!