Uganda's Alcohol Epidemic Video

By Anthony:

Here is an interesting documentary that Sara and I recently watched.  It gives you a good glimpse into Uganda's terrible alcohol problem.  It is called Uganda's Moonshine Epidemic.  As a disclaimer, there are a few instances of language in the video.  But this video will help you to see visually how Uganda is the alcoholic capital of Africa, and likely the world.  You might also be interested in just getting a sense of what the cities and villages look like in Uganda.

It is not hard to understand, after watching this, why our Anglican and Pentecostal friends here in East Africa say that drinking alcohol is sinful, period.  While in the US, Christians can talk about drinking in moderation, here that is just not part of the culture.  People drink to get drunk.  They say beer is like drinking water.  In Uganda, we worked with many church leaders who had been drunkards, falling over themselves, just like the people in the video.  One women's leader used to brew alcohol just like the woman in the video, but she would be drunk herself all the time too.

Living in a culture like this, we don't drink alcohol at all while here.  And when students ask me if it's okay to drink, I always have to clarify my answer.  While I don't believe it's wrong to drink alcohol in moderation, I think it is inappropriate for Christians to drink in public here (especially the local brews) when alcoholism is so rampant, and when the drinks are so much more alcoholic than wine or beer.

What makes it all the more terrible is to think about the issue of poverty in East Africa.  You can understand how frustrated our pastor friends get when they see fathers neglecting their families completely or abusing them, forcing their wives to do all of the work of the home and garden, while they waste the days away at the drinking joints, and use their families' precious money there.  Imagine how much the countries of East Africa could develop if they stopped using all of their money at drinking joints?

Fighting poverty is not just about giving money.  You can see that if the Church can slowly transform the culture and attract people to Jesus instead of alcohol, it can really change people's circumstances, and the communities can develop.

If you are interested in learning more about alcohol in Uganda, you can see the great initiative that the churches and some of missionaries we know are working on in Gulu, in northern Uganda.  They have been working with the churches and government to ban sachets (tiny alcohol packets that end up in even children's hands) from Gulu.  Here are a few representative blog posts of theirs, but feel free to read more of their posts on your own:
"He sells his land to drink"
March On - Video
Sachet Ban - Where are we at?
Gulu's Alcohol Law. Launched!
Old cops new tricks: alcohol seizures