April 18, 2025 • 14 mins
For more than 30 years Carol Adams has fed, housed, educated and cared for orphans and vulnerable children in Fort Portal in Western Uganda. Many of the children were weakened by the HIV virus but were supported for two decades by anti-viral drugs provided by USAID and its PEPFAR program.
But those programs have been frozen by President Trump, putting the lives of millions in East Africa and around the world in grave danger.
I recently spoke with Carol about her YesUganda.org program and the impact of the USAID freeze.
East Africa NGO is sponsored by TeaminFaith.org
Music by Dale Enstrom
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to East Africa NGO podcast.
(00:26):
I am your host, Patrick Hill.
This program is sponsored byTeam in Faith, supporting women,
orphans, and vulnerable childrenin Uganda and elsewhere in East
Africa since 2012.
For more than 30 years, CarolAdams has fed, housed, educated,
and otherwise cared for orphansand vulnerable children in Fort
Portal in western Uganda.
(00:47):
Many of the children wereweakened by the HIV virus but
were supported by antiviraldrugs provided by USAID and its
PEPFAR program.
But those programs have beenpaused for review by President
Trump's executive order, puttingthe lives of millions in the
region who rely on the drugs ingrave danger.
I spoke recently with Carol inUganda and learned more about
(01:11):
her Yes Uganda program and theimpact of the U.S.
aid freeze.
Joining me now from Fort Portalvia WhatsApp is Carol Adams.
Carol, good evening to you inUganda.
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
Good evening to you too, Pat.
SPEAKER_00 (01:31):
I wanted to have a conversation with you about your
mission work there with YesUganda.
You have been in Uganda fornearly 30 years.
SPEAKER_01 (01:43):
It will be 30 years at the end of December this
year.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Yes.
And tell me how you got therefor the first time.
What led you to Uganda in thefirst place?
SPEAKER_01 (01:56):
It was basically a spiritual calling.
I was working in Maui, Hawaii,training horses and teaching
riding.
But I felt like I should do morein the world.
And one day at church, I justgot a strong, strong feeling.
mental vision that there werechildren in Africa that needed
(02:18):
me.
I then applied to many missionagencies, but they all turned me
down.
They said I was too old and Idid not have enough education.
So I ended up coming on my ownat the end of 1995.
So at that point I was underChurch of Uganda anglican church
(02:41):
and started the child careoutreach i was with the church
until 2004 and in between 2004and 2005 i broke away from the
church and formed an ngo where iwould have a little bit more
decision-making abilities and itwas at the same time frame that
(03:05):
i started uh consideringbuilding the rescue home as well
as a large hostel that we'rehere now.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
And how has that evolved over the years?
I mean, you've providedscholarships for orphans and
children to go to school.
You've provided some healthassistance for HIV-positive
children.
So it's really grown into quitea program.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
It's large, yes.
I've got now 1,800 graduatesthat are all over the place
doing different jobs anddifferent occupations, but I've
continued working with kids.
I have only about 200 right nowbecause school fees and all have
(03:57):
gotten a lot more costly, andyet the fees coming in have
actually dropped off.
But no, we're continuing withthat.
And in the same timeframe, Ibuilt a home for HIV positive
children, children born withAIDS and had been sometimes
(04:19):
right out on the streets,sometimes with elderly people
that had no way to take care ofthem and many other really
horrific situations.
SPEAKER_00 (04:29):
Your NGO is known as Yes Uganda.
How do you raise money for toafford the school fees for
students?
You find sponsors.
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Well, I have a website and I also have just
slowly built friendshipsthroughout the whole world
throughout over the years.
The hostel actually hasincreased my donor base because
I've got people from all overthe world that stop here.
(05:00):
And when they see the kids atthe home and the situation here,
many have stepped in.
So now I have sponsors from allover the world.
SPEAKER_00 (05:10):
Tell us the website for listeners who are hearing
this around the world.
What is the website?
What's the best way to reachyou, to learn about you, and to
make an online donation, let'ssay?
SPEAKER_01 (05:20):
The Yes website is quite easy.
If you just can remember YesUganda, go yesuganda.org.
It will get you to the website.
And there it has also the donorpage that would explain that.
And it also has my email andsuch where they can ask me any
(05:46):
question they want to ask medirectly.
UNKNOWN (05:49):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
How has Yes Uganda been facilitating or working
alongside the United States andits U.S.
aid program over the past coupleof decades?
SPEAKER_01 (06:03):
Well, when I was first here, the aid situation
was horrific.
I've sat on mud floors holdinghands of children as they die.
It was horrible.
But in about I think it wasaround 2003, PEPFAR and USAID
came and it was miraculous.
(06:26):
So, so many were saved.
We would not have as manyorphans now if they had been
here earlier.
but the orphans, because now thePEPFAR was also providing drugs
to prevent ladies from passingHIV onto their babies.
(06:48):
So it was such a huge boost tothe country and I'm sure to the
world when they came in, but itwas miraculous to say the least.
People that were close to deathcame around once they got put on
those drug regime.
SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
And those who were afflicted and stricken and died
by AIDS, that pretty much wipedout a whole generation of
Ugandans.
It's like they're the elderly,they're the very young, but this
sort of middle-aged group ofpeople has just sort of
disappeared in the populationthere.
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Exactly.
That is why we have so manyorphans.
And the elderly cannot manage totake care of all of them as much
as they try.
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
So now, given the new administration that has come
in in Washington since January,they've made some rather rash
and unimaginable decisions justto...
just to slash, discontinue, andterminate USAID spending.
(08:06):
How has that complicated lifeand made things more difficult
for the orphans and operatorssuch as yourself?
SPEAKER_01 (08:17):
So far, so good with the ARVs.
Uganda's desperately trying tokeep it going with their own
manufacturing of them.
But people are dying at therefugee camps.
There's panic in the generalpopulation.
The doctors are saying, try tohang on.
We're trying our best to makesure the drugs are being made.
(08:39):
We're trying to see where we canget the drugs.
But it happened so suddenly thatthe country can't really catch
up because there's a huge numberthat were on the drugs.
So right now, we're on a holdingpattern, not knowing what the
answer is going to be.
And because...
The drugs are drugs that can'tjust be bought.
(09:02):
You can't bring it in throughthe country.
Otherwise, I try to get some inIndia or even China, but it's
not legal to bring inprescription drugs that way.
So as much as people havedonated to help me bring in
drugs, we cannot.
It's not legal.
So we're just on a holdingpattern right now.
SPEAKER_00 (09:25):
Have you seen any signals?
Are you hearing from any USAIDpeople that there's likely to be
at least a crack in the door toallow funding for the drugs to
continue?
SPEAKER_01 (09:41):
It's hard to say.
I mean, you probably know morethan I do what's happening on
this end.
I do know what I've read on thenews about this Mr.
Musk saying that...
USAID was extremely corrupt andhad many bad directions.
But I wonder, he cut it sosuddenly, they didn't really
even have time to study whatUSAID was doing.
(10:04):
But that's my opinion, and I'llkeep quiet from here on such.
But at any rate, no, we don'tknow anything on this end.
My only news is what I get fromthe different news things that I
punch in here at the computer.
Yes.
Nothing was good.
There's a lot of people that areunhappy, but the thing is
(10:28):
they're unhappy about many, manythings.
And that worries me because thatputs the USAID thing kind of on
a back burner because they'reunhappy with many, many other
things by what the news isshowing me.
SPEAKER_00 (10:42):
just came as quite a shock to the system and to
millions and millions ofAmericans when the new
administration just put the axto it earlier this year because
it had such bipartisan support.
Now we're just waiting for theDemocrats and Republicans to
(11:04):
find that common ground onceagain and to restore it, even if
it means defying the newpresident.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
I really wish they would.
I really wish they would.
I have been more active onFacebook comments than I've ever
been in my life, but I'm tryingto keep my comments polite.
SPEAKER_00 (11:27):
So for the children that you have, they are
currently being taken care of,but when you look down the line,
maybe three months or sixmonths, it's hard to say just
what can happen under thesesituations, under this current
situation.
SPEAKER_01 (11:46):
I'm really worried for my children that are on what
they call third-line ARVs.
If a third-line ARV takerdiscontinues even for two weeks,
there's no saving their life.
They will die.
You cannot restart even if it'stwo weeks later you get the
medicine back.
It's too late.
(12:06):
And we've got three little kidsnow.
young ones, five and seven yearolds, that are third line, that
the government begged us to takein just at the end of last year.
We took them in, we got themnutritionally back in shape, we
got them started, they'relooking good.
If their medicine is stopped,they die.
(12:30):
It's been keeping me awakenights, I hate to say it, but it
has.
It's very hard for me tounderstand from this end what is
happening.
And if there's anything, anysuggestions on anything I should
do from this end, please let meknow, whether it's letters or
anything besides my crumblingthat I've been doing on
Facebook.
SPEAKER_00 (12:51):
Well, Carol, I want to applaud you for your many
years of diligence and supportfor the people of Uganda, the
children of Uganda.
It's...
I've visited you at your homethere, the rescue house, and
(13:12):
you've shown me the alumni ofstudents who have gone through,
have gone on to great things inthe country and outside the
country.
And it's really a testament towhat you have done over the
years to build your programthere.
SPEAKER_01 (13:28):
Well, thank you, and I feel privileged and grateful
to be here.
I love the people.
I love this country.
I love the children.
God has given me many, manychildren when I physically could
not have any of my own, and it'sbeen really a blessing to me.
So thank you very much, Pat.
SPEAKER_00 (13:49):
That was Carol Adams, Executive Director of Yes
Uganda, serving children in needin western Uganda for more than
30 years.
To learn more about the programand to support its work, visit
yesuganda.org.
Thank you for listening today.
I'll be back again soon tointroduce you to another
(14:10):
individual and organization thatis lifting lives and raising
hopes of our brothers andsisters in East Africa.
You can learn more about Team inFaith and support our programs
at teaminfaith.org.
For East Africa NGO, I'm PatrickHill.
Hello, and welcome to East Africa NGO podcast.
(00:26):
I am your host, Patrick Hill.
This program is sponsored byTeam in Faith, supporting women,
orphans, and vulnerable childrenin Uganda and elsewhere in East
Africa since 2012.
For more than 30 years, CarolAdams has fed, housed, educated,
and otherwise cared for orphansand vulnerable children in Fort
Portal in western Uganda.
(00:47):
Many of the children wereweakened by the HIV virus but
were supported by antiviraldrugs provided by USAID and its
PEPFAR program.
But those programs have beenpaused for review by President
Trump's executive order, puttingthe lives of millions in the
region who rely on the drugs ingrave danger.
I spoke recently with Carol inUganda and learned more about
(01:11):
her Yes Uganda program and theimpact of the U.S.
aid freeze.
Joining me now from Fort Portalvia WhatsApp is Carol Adams.
Carol, good evening to you inUganda.
SPEAKER_01 (01:29):
Good evening to you too, Pat.
SPEAKER_00 (01:31):
I wanted to have a conversation with you about your
mission work there with YesUganda.
You have been in Uganda fornearly 30 years.
SPEAKER_01 (01:43):
It will be 30 years at the end of December this
year.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Yes.
And tell me how you got therefor the first time.
What led you to Uganda in thefirst place?
SPEAKER_01 (01:56):
It was basically a spiritual calling.
I was working in Maui, Hawaii,training horses and teaching
riding.
But I felt like I should do morein the world.
And one day at church, I justgot a strong, strong feeling.
mental vision that there werechildren in Africa that needed
(02:18):
me.
I then applied to many missionagencies, but they all turned me
down.
They said I was too old and Idid not have enough education.
So I ended up coming on my ownat the end of 1995.
So at that point I was underChurch of Uganda anglican church
(02:41):
and started the child careoutreach i was with the church
until 2004 and in between 2004and 2005 i broke away from the
church and formed an ngo where iwould have a little bit more
decision-making abilities and itwas at the same time frame that
(03:05):
i started uh consideringbuilding the rescue home as well
as a large hostel that we'rehere now.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
And how has that evolved over the years?
I mean, you've providedscholarships for orphans and
children to go to school.
You've provided some healthassistance for HIV-positive
children.
So it's really grown into quitea program.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
It's large, yes.
I've got now 1,800 graduatesthat are all over the place
doing different jobs anddifferent occupations, but I've
continued working with kids.
I have only about 200 right nowbecause school fees and all have
(03:57):
gotten a lot more costly, andyet the fees coming in have
actually dropped off.
But no, we're continuing withthat.
And in the same timeframe, Ibuilt a home for HIV positive
children, children born withAIDS and had been sometimes
(04:19):
right out on the streets,sometimes with elderly people
that had no way to take care ofthem and many other really
horrific situations.
SPEAKER_00 (04:29):
Your NGO is known as Yes Uganda.
How do you raise money for toafford the school fees for
students?
You find sponsors.
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Well, I have a website and I also have just
slowly built friendshipsthroughout the whole world
throughout over the years.
The hostel actually hasincreased my donor base because
I've got people from all overthe world that stop here.
(05:00):
And when they see the kids atthe home and the situation here,
many have stepped in.
So now I have sponsors from allover the world.
SPEAKER_00 (05:10):
Tell us the website for listeners who are hearing
this around the world.
What is the website?
What's the best way to reachyou, to learn about you, and to
make an online donation, let'ssay?
SPEAKER_01 (05:20):
The Yes website is quite easy.
If you just can remember YesUganda, go yesuganda.org.
It will get you to the website.
And there it has also the donorpage that would explain that.
And it also has my email andsuch where they can ask me any
(05:46):
question they want to ask medirectly.
UNKNOWN (05:49):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
How has Yes Uganda been facilitating or working
alongside the United States andits U.S.
aid program over the past coupleof decades?
SPEAKER_01 (06:03):
Well, when I was first here, the aid situation
was horrific.
I've sat on mud floors holdinghands of children as they die.
It was horrible.
But in about I think it wasaround 2003, PEPFAR and USAID
came and it was miraculous.
(06:26):
So, so many were saved.
We would not have as manyorphans now if they had been
here earlier.
but the orphans, because now thePEPFAR was also providing drugs
to prevent ladies from passingHIV onto their babies.
(06:48):
So it was such a huge boost tothe country and I'm sure to the
world when they came in, but itwas miraculous to say the least.
People that were close to deathcame around once they got put on
those drug regime.
SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
And those who were afflicted and stricken and died
by AIDS, that pretty much wipedout a whole generation of
Ugandans.
It's like they're the elderly,they're the very young, but this
sort of middle-aged group ofpeople has just sort of
disappeared in the populationthere.
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Exactly.
That is why we have so manyorphans.
And the elderly cannot manage totake care of all of them as much
as they try.
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
So now, given the new administration that has come
in in Washington since January,they've made some rather rash
and unimaginable decisions justto...
just to slash, discontinue, andterminate USAID spending.
(08:06):
How has that complicated lifeand made things more difficult
for the orphans and operatorssuch as yourself?
SPEAKER_01 (08:17):
So far, so good with the ARVs.
Uganda's desperately trying tokeep it going with their own
manufacturing of them.
But people are dying at therefugee camps.
There's panic in the generalpopulation.
The doctors are saying, try tohang on.
We're trying our best to makesure the drugs are being made.
(08:39):
We're trying to see where we canget the drugs.
But it happened so suddenly thatthe country can't really catch
up because there's a huge numberthat were on the drugs.
So right now, we're on a holdingpattern, not knowing what the
answer is going to be.
And because...
The drugs are drugs that can'tjust be bought.
(09:02):
You can't bring it in throughthe country.
Otherwise, I try to get some inIndia or even China, but it's
not legal to bring inprescription drugs that way.
So as much as people havedonated to help me bring in
drugs, we cannot.
It's not legal.
So we're just on a holdingpattern right now.
SPEAKER_00 (09:25):
Have you seen any signals?
Are you hearing from any USAIDpeople that there's likely to be
at least a crack in the door toallow funding for the drugs to
continue?
SPEAKER_01 (09:41):
It's hard to say.
I mean, you probably know morethan I do what's happening on
this end.
I do know what I've read on thenews about this Mr.
Musk saying that...
USAID was extremely corrupt andhad many bad directions.
But I wonder, he cut it sosuddenly, they didn't really
even have time to study whatUSAID was doing.
(10:04):
But that's my opinion, and I'llkeep quiet from here on such.
But at any rate, no, we don'tknow anything on this end.
My only news is what I get fromthe different news things that I
punch in here at the computer.
Yes.
Nothing was good.
There's a lot of people that areunhappy, but the thing is
(10:28):
they're unhappy about many, manythings.
And that worries me because thatputs the USAID thing kind of on
a back burner because they'reunhappy with many, many other
things by what the news isshowing me.
SPEAKER_00 (10:42):
just came as quite a shock to the system and to
millions and millions ofAmericans when the new
administration just put the axto it earlier this year because
it had such bipartisan support.
Now we're just waiting for theDemocrats and Republicans to
(11:04):
find that common ground onceagain and to restore it, even if
it means defying the newpresident.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
I really wish they would.
I really wish they would.
I have been more active onFacebook comments than I've ever
been in my life, but I'm tryingto keep my comments polite.
SPEAKER_00 (11:27):
So for the children that you have, they are
currently being taken care of,but when you look down the line,
maybe three months or sixmonths, it's hard to say just
what can happen under thesesituations, under this current
situation.
SPEAKER_01 (11:46):
I'm really worried for my children that are on what
they call third-line ARVs.
If a third-line ARV takerdiscontinues even for two weeks,
there's no saving their life.
They will die.
You cannot restart even if it'stwo weeks later you get the
medicine back.
It's too late.
(12:06):
And we've got three little kidsnow.
young ones, five and seven yearolds, that are third line, that
the government begged us to takein just at the end of last year.
We took them in, we got themnutritionally back in shape, we
got them started, they'relooking good.
If their medicine is stopped,they die.
(12:30):
It's been keeping me awakenights, I hate to say it, but it
has.
It's very hard for me tounderstand from this end what is
happening.
And if there's anything, anysuggestions on anything I should
do from this end, please let meknow, whether it's letters or
anything besides my crumblingthat I've been doing on
Facebook.
SPEAKER_00 (12:51):
Well, Carol, I want to applaud you for your many
years of diligence and supportfor the people of Uganda, the
children of Uganda.
It's...
I've visited you at your homethere, the rescue house, and
(13:12):
you've shown me the alumni ofstudents who have gone through,
have gone on to great things inthe country and outside the
country.
And it's really a testament towhat you have done over the
years to build your programthere.
SPEAKER_01 (13:28):
Well, thank you, and I feel privileged and grateful
to be here.
I love the people.
I love this country.
I love the children.
God has given me many, manychildren when I physically could
not have any of my own, and it'sbeen really a blessing to me.
So thank you very much, Pat.
SPEAKER_00 (13:49):
That was Carol Adams, Executive Director of Yes
Uganda, serving children in needin western Uganda for more than
30 years.
To learn more about the programand to support its work, visit
yesuganda.org.
Thank you for listening today.
I'll be back again soon tointroduce you to another
(14:10):
individual and organization thatis lifting lives and raising
hopes of our brothers andsisters in East Africa.
You can learn more about Team inFaith and support our programs
at teaminfaith.org.
For East Africa NGO, I'm PatrickHill.
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