Kiteezi tragedy: When our hearts broke

“The Saturday accident took two lives of our family members; my mother, Jessica Nantege, and younger brother, Timothy Kisuule. Both were still sleeping when the heap of garbage buried them in the house. The body of my brother was found on that same day of the accident and my mother’s was found on Sunday. When they found my mother’s body, her skin had been scarred probably because of the garbage weight and heat. The rescue team that dug up the bodies found my mother still lying on her bed with a blanket covering it.  It was so painful looking at her body in such a state, especially with the burnt skin. Despite everything, I am glad we found the bodies of our family members because there are still residents waiting for the recovery of the bodies of their missing loved ones.”

‘I woke to cracked walls in my bedroom’

Fred Mutaawe, 28.

“Early Saturday morning hours, on August 10, I was half-sleep, when I heard neighbours shouting my name and saying I get out of the house. I thought I was dreaming. But seconds later, I heard a terrifying sound that completely woke me up. Upon opening my eyes, I found my bedroom walls broken and after walking to inspect the other rooms including the sitting area, I found dust and waste scattered all over. The stench was horrible. The house had been partially broken. Panicking, I found the keys to the house and I tried opening the main door, in vain. The key broke. Then I saw an opening in the walls and squeezed myself out. The surviving neighbours of the tragedy rushed to comfort and hug me after seeing me coming out of the wrecked house, alive.”

‘My daughter and I survived narrowly’

Robert Ssekyanzi, 40.

“I was inside the house, half-awake, when the calamity befell us. I was with my nine-year-old daughter. Outside the house was my wife, Rose Nansubuga, washing clothes. Our other younger child, a four-year-old girl, was keeping her company. Out of nowhere, I heard a loud disturbing noise and Nansubuga yelling, several times, ‘Robert! Robert! Get out with the child! Pick her and run!’ I also grabbed our daughter by the hand and together we ran outside. I did not see my wife or younger daughter until moments later.  God saved the four of us. Though our house survived the tragedy, the rescue team with the excavators broke it down after reasoning that it was no longer safe for us to live there. My family has no place to call home.”

‘My source of livelihood is gone’

Eresi Namugwere, 29 years.

“I was climbing up to reach the site when the accident happened. This was during the early morning Saturday hours. For a living, I used to sort waste including scrap and plastics at the site, and that day, I was going to work, as usual. As I was walking, I heard a loud unexplainable sound which lasted for a couple of seconds and minutes later, loud screaming and shouting followed. Survivors from the site running towards my direction advised me to turn back and yes, I ran as fast as I could for a couple of minutes before reaching Kiteezi’s main murram road where I was able to recollect myself. My family survived  and the house is still intact. However, since it is close to the site, the government has advised us not to return and live there. ”

‘I just heard people running, screaming’

Sulaiman Nkalubo, 26.

“That early Saturday morning, I had stepped out of the house to fetch water for bathing when part of the landfill collapsed. As I was collecting the water from an outside tap, a few metres away from my rental house, I heard a loud sound that transpired for only a few seconds. That sound was a blend of so many noises of houses collapsing, people screaming and so many other things. And once the noise had stopped, black smoke filled the air with a terrible stench. I survived but my house did not. It collapsed under the garbage waste. I am worried about the next couple of months. Where will I go?”

‘They found a dead body in my house’

Jordan Ssenoga, 22.

“I was renting an apartment a few metres away from my mother’s house. When the accident happened on Saturday, both households were buried under the heap. But my mother and I survived because we were not all inside our respective accommodations. After the tragedy occurred, my mother dashed to where I was staying and found a rescue team digging up debris that had fallen on top of my house and collapsed it. As they were digging, they discovered a body and when my mother was notified, the poor lady broke down thinking it was me. And when I appeared moments later at the scene, she became very confused. It was until after hugging me that she ascertained that I was still alive, in flesh and blood. The body that was found inside the ruins of my house belonged to someone else. The rescue team later explained to us that the force from the garbage landfill caused a lot of displacement and movements hence the location of that body inside my collapsed house.”

‘I found neighbours searching for me’

Ali Ssemambo, 29.

“What pains me most about this tragedy is that it has taken me back to square one. My house and everything inside it is gone! It took me years to build that three-bedroom house. Even the items I bought for that house including sofas and appliances took me a lot of money to purchase and now, I have nothing. On that Saturday when the accident happened, I had stepped out, briefly. And so, after the garbage fell on the home, some of my surviving neighbours frantically went digging into the heap thinking I had been buried inside the waste. After the collapse happened, I ran back to the location of my house only to find the neighbours calling out my name and searching for me in the ruins. They were relieved after seeing me alive.”