UGANDA — A non-profit organization based in Colorado, USA is celebrating twenty years in Uganda, Africa; combating HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases by promoting abstinence before marriage, and faithfulness in marriage, through the power of Christ.

For decades, Uganda was the epicenter of the HIV crisis in Africa. Today, countless orphans remain as witnesses to the cruel disease that spread rapidly in a culture where premarital sex and marital infidelity were widespread.

Edrine Kabugho – UCE Volunteer, Kasese, Uganda:

I am Edrine and this Edrine is a lady who has grown up as an orphan, an orphan as an outcome of HIV, AIDS, and when my father died I was two years and I nearly lost hope. I thought I could never make it in life.

But things have changed. Recently, the New York Times called Uganda’s campaign against HIV exemplary, noting a death rate that has fallen by nearly 90 percent, in part due to a cultural shift that is beginning to take hold. In public and private schools across the country, young people are hearing a message that gives them hope for a better future. An important part of that message is true love waits.

Edrine:

Many students have reacted and they have thought they can never make it, but we have given them hope because we have already made it. We have given them strategies to abstain and to manage this abstinence.

Student 1:

She says that she had a problem of peer, bad peer influence. She has several peers who have been encouraging her to get boyfriends at this early age and get involved in sex relationships. Regardless of the parents’ guidance, She always preferred advice from her peers, but after today’s talk, she had decided to abandon those peers and focus on her studies.

After a trip to Uganda 20 years ago, American doctors Ken and Kim Dernovsek founded a non-profit organization devoted to changing the culture and changing the lives of anyone who would commit to abstinence before marriage and faithfulness in marriage through the power of faith in Christ.

Dr Ken Dernovsek – Co-Founder, Universal Chastity Education:

Probably the greatest thing is our message of abstinence, be faithful through Christ. We call that the ABC. And helping people lead healthy lives through this message.

Do teens find the self-control to abstain from sex? This graph shows that after UCE teams visited, pregnancies decreased substantially in multiple schools. Father Deus, from the Masaka Diocese, is an effective spokesperson for the abstinence message.

Fr Deusdedit Ssekabira –UCE Coordinator, Masaka, Uganda:

It’s effective 100 percent because you are sure of what you are doing. You are sure. It’s about me. If I believe it, 100 percent perfect.

Dr Ken:

The message actually comes back from Uganda and from Africa to us, that the same thing can be effective for us.

The Dernovseks visit Uganda, as well as neighboring Tanzania and Burundi, on a regular basis to check on the progress of the local teams of volunteers. On a recent trip to the Masaka and Kasese regions of Uganda, they found secondary school students eager to hear the life-saving and life-changing message.

Student 2:

It’s all about having a new mind to change your story, believing in yourself, and, uh, staying away from bad peer groups, avoiding friends who can advise you negatively, avoiding friends who can make you to fall into a pit.

Dr Kim Dernovsek – Co-Founder, Universal Chastity Education:

And it’s an opportunity for us to examine our own lives and consider where we really maybe need to learn from the Ugandans about chastity.

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