Peace Education Trust (PET) was set up in 2003 by Ret. Reverend Ephraim Mbabazi in response to pervasive negative attitudes about deaf and disabled children in his home town of Kisoro Uganda. With support from friends in the UK, PET was able to establish the first ever primary school unit for deaf pupils in the region. The program continues to this day with a new primary one intake every year and the original students now attending local senior school, also funding by PET.

In 2007 PET expanded its’ full-support program for children with visual impairments in secondary school, as well as providing school fees and scholastic materials for a number of the most in need orphaned and vulnerable children in Kisoro. For further information about PET projects please follow the link.

PET - Uganda operates in Kisoro District, located at the extreme South Western corner of Uganda. The district borders the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the west and Rwanda to the south. The district is rural and the terrain mountainous making travel very difficult. Around 96% of the population survive on subsistence farming. The land is fragmented due to overpopulation. Local problems have been exacerbated by civil war and insecurity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has led to migrations of people into Kisoro.

With few exceptions, people are very poor; they lack the basic needs of life and face great difficulties in caring for and educating their children. The most vulnerable members of society invariably suffer the most in such harsh living conditions. In particular children with disabilities are marginalized, ignored and neglected, deemed a burden to their families and useless to society at large.

HIV/AIDS is rife in the area and many children are left orphaned, often heading their own households, forced out of school to cope with daily survival and care for younger siblings.

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