It has been estimated that between 18-20% of the population are orphaned children.  Mercy Care International is directly with funding and construction of orphanages, supplying food, health care, medicine, and education to these children.   The Kampala orphanage is nearing completion and will house, including the guardian, nine children (click here to see progress pictures).  These children are currently being cared for in a temporary, rented facility, and were chosen based on their most immediate need.  For example, the children taken first were those dying of starvation, severely abused sexually and physically, or enslaved.

Mercy Care International is working with the Ugandan Ministry of Health, Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Laboratory and other ethno-botanists located in the northern areas of Uganda to research and develop medicines and foods from the indigenous rainforest plants of the area.  Not only will these medicines and foods empower the people to become as self-reliant as possible, particularly with regard to their health, but will also help create sustainable businesses for the Ugandan people. 

Plants currently being investigated for potential pharmaceutical compounds have been used locally to relieve or reduce the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes, Protein Energy Malnutrition, several forms of leprosy, scabies, malaria, and a variety of other diseases and conditions.  We are currently searching for Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors used in the treatment of AIDS.