Organizational History
In 2004, Alexander McLean was volunteering in a hospital in Kampala, Uganda when he helped treat a group of prisoners from Luzira Upper Prison. McLean was shocked that the patients were chained to their beds, with no opportunity for sanitation. Despite being terminally ill, many patients were unsupervised.
McLean visited the prison. He purchased materials and with the support of the prison authorities, supervised the prisoners renovating their own infirmary. When he asked the prisoners if they needed anything else, they expressed a desire for an education.
When McLean returned to the UK, he collected books and money donated by friends and family, and returned to the prison to establish a library. When McLean's actions inspired others to volunteer to help with the cause, APP was born. Today, McLean is a member of the Tearfund Inspired Individuals Programme, along with Kelvin Mwikya.
Read more about this topic: African Prisons Project
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“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
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