New recruits head for the departure lounge at Entebbe Airport, where they were flown to Abu Dhabi recently. COURTESY PHOTO.
Church leaders in Uganda have developed a free interactive mobile app that seeks to eliminate human trafficking, provide information about labour export agencies and foster safety of Ugandans taken abroad for various jobs.
The app, ‘Just Good Work’ will give job-seekers and workers critical information on working abroad in their own language. This is according to the developers Rev Paul Davis and Rev John Kafwanka.
The duo in the company of the Provincial Secretary of the Church of Uganda, Rev Canon Captain William Ongeng paid The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, The Most Rev Stanley Ntagali a courtesy visit on Monday in Namirembe.
Archbishop Ntagali commended the innovators and, noted that over the years, he has been making sound warnings against the increasing cases of human trafficking but was seemingly not being heard.
For years now, reports show, many Ugandans seeking jobs abroad have fallen victim to illicit Agencies engaging in export of labour.
These Agencies have been accused of human trafficking, substitution of worker’s contracts, exploitation of especially female workers, and nonpayment of wages.
“I have always spoken very powerfully against our children being trafficked but there seems not to be strict measures put in place to curb this inhuman tendency in some of the recruitment agencies.” Archbishop Ntagali said.
He however decried the high levels of unemployment within the country that have created desperate tendencies among the youths tempting them to go for undefined job opportunities.
“We have very many highly educated people both young and old, with good grades and qualifications but without jobs. These are many a times susceptible to being wooed to unclear job opportunities abroad and end up in the hands of wrong people who turn them into slaves” He added.
The Archbishop noted that with the development of the Good Work App, Ugandans will now have critical information on working abroad in their own language.
The Provincial Secretary of the Church of Uganda, Rev Canon Captain William Ongeng applauded the team for identifying Church of Uganda to be at the forefront in advocating the usage of this App and providing relevant information.
“This App is standing in the gap for the Church of Uganda to make sure that these opportunities are known to families to help them make informed decisions before they sell off their land and other properties to support their children to go abroad for jobs they are not sure of.” Ongeng said.
According to Rev Paul Davis, this App was developed primarily to act as a tool for information, pastoral care, prayer, teaching and community empowerment.
“We are not telling people what to do but to give them information to guide their decisions. Behind the App, there is the gospel, the gospel of truth. The Bible says, my people are dying because of lack of knowledge. We only want our people to make better decisions.” Rev Davis said.
Rev Canon John Kafwanka noted that the idea to develop this App came from vast experiences he had encountered with meeting many people who were heading to foreign countries for jobs and destinations they had no idea about and several stories about human trafficking in Uganda.
This App will be launched Tuesday during the Provincial Annual Youths and Students Convention which currently running at Uganda Christian University (UCU) in Mukono.
