Community worker in Uganda:
“We need a helping hand from the government”
Meet Abel Mununga! In this short video film he describes the alcohol situation in a local community in Uganda: What is being drunk? Which are the social consequences? How is the alcohol policy situation? Abel is a development officer in International Aid Service (IAS).
The Purunga Sub County in Uganda is well known for its production of locally brewed alcohol, tells Abel Mununga. A particular challenge in this district, as in many other regions of the world, is the lack of government regulations on alcohol production and sale. There are weak laws in Purunga Sub County, and even those laws which are in existence, are not implemented. This has the consequence that alcohol can be sold and used at any time of the day.
Abel Mununga now has an appeal: “We need a helping hand from the government to come up with laws that governs the sale and times of consumption of alcohol”.
In Purunga, IAS has made action against alcohol an integral part of their community development programme in order to make the programme more sustainable. Brewing of alcohol based on local raw materials like sorghum, molasses and cassava is one of the few economic activities that women in the village have. Therefore consumption is high and the consequences, in particular for children, are severe, as Abel Mununga describes in the film.
The International Aid Service, Abel and his colleagues have now engaged local brewers and community members in general in awareness meetings on alcohol as part of their community development activities.
