The President, Mrs McAleese, leaves Ireland today for an 11-day visit to Uganda and Kenya. She is due to meet Irish missionaries in both countries.
Mrs McAleese will be welcomed at Entebbe Airport by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni late tomorrow afternoon.
During her stay, she will travel around the country, mostly by plane and helicopter, to visit mission hospitals, schools, development projects and AIDS clinics.
Mrs McAleese also visits Lodwar in northern Kenya where Irish Catholic missionaries are providing social services and, more recently, educating local people about their voting and other civic rights.