Young in Uganda

During 2010 I worked and lived with four Ugandan health peer educators called Peter, Rose, Timothy and Samuel. Our small team delivered health lessons within local schools, hospitals and farmer cooperatives.

Several of the young people we worked with revealed personal hardship; many were HIV+, economically destitute or drug addicts.

However, a large proportion of the young people we worked with demonstrated a desire to challenge their local adversities. For example, a young man from Kigandalo Secondary School helped set up a youth drop-in centre in the local clinic: one of the only places in the village where young men and women can quickly, freely and confidentially gain access to sexual health advice from their peers.

This photo story reveals the on-going tension between the trap of social adversity and the desire to overcome it.