Actress and activist Mia Farrow is traveling to Uganda today, July 14, in her role as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF to meet with children impacted by years of conflict.
During her three-day trip she will visit Gulu, an area in the north where she will speak with children once held captive by the rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which is notorious for using children as soldiers and terrorizing civilians in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR).
She will also visit Kotido in the northeastern region of Karamoja where children are faced with ongoing violence caused by local tensions.
Northern Uganda has experienced decades of civil war and unrest between the Government and the LRA, UNICEF noted in a news release. The region suffers from higher levels of poverty, malnutrition, under-five mortality and children out of school.
As part of her visit, Mia will attend the opening of the first-ever African Youth Forum on 17 July in Entebbe, which is organized in cooperation with the African Union Commission and the Government of Uganda.
Since being appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in September 2000, Mia has visited Angola, Chad, CAR, DRC, Gaza and the West Bank, Guinea, Haiti, Nigeria and Sudan.
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