Lightning kills 3 family members in Rubanda
Mourners gather around the three caskets of a father and his two children who were struck by lightning on March 12, 2023. The three were buried in Rubanda District on March 14, 2023. PHOTO/ROBERT MUHEREZA
What you need to know:
- Muko Sub County LCIII chairman, Mr Patrick Abenimwe said the Sunday heavy downpour also ravaged several gardens and caused landslides that blocked several roads in his area.
Ms Allen Uwimana, a resident of Rwamuyora in Nyarurambi Parish, Muko Sub-county in Rubanda District, was preparing lunch for her family on Sunday when rain clouds gathered.
It soon started raining and her two children, who were with her in the kitchen, left to seek shelter in their grandfather’s house nearby.
Her husband, who hard returned the previous day from Tooro Sub-region where he was employed, was having a nap in the bedroom.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the home, killing her husband Ambrose Kanunu, 35, and sons Justus Asiimwe, 9, and Arnold Habomugisha, 6, who were still in the compound.
“A dark cloud covered the sky before it started raining. My husband was in the bedroom resting. The deceased children were with me in the kitchen and when it started to rain they left me to take shelter in the neighbouring house of their grandfather. Immediately a strange sharp light passed through my eyes, then a big bang followed,” a tearful Ms Uwimana told mourners during the burial of her husband and sons in Rubanda District yesterday.
“I was completely scared. A few minutes later I gained conscience and walked out of the kitchen, only to find my two children dead in the compound. I rushed to inform my husband, who was in the bedroom, of what had happened. Unfortunately, I found him dead also,” she added.
Ms Uwimana expressed surprise that the lightning did not destroy the house in which her husband was sleeping nor the eucalyptus tree next to it.
“We appeal for special prayers because the lightning that killed my children and my husband did not destroy any other thing at home,” Ms Uwimana said.
The Archdeacon of Muko in the Diocese of Kigezi, Rev Can Joshua Owoyesigire, told mourners and the bereaved family to focus their attention on God.
“When Job in the Bible lost everything he had, he did not curse God but he removed all his clothes and laid down on the ground worshiping God as he acknowledged that he came on earth naked and did not carry anything from his mother’s womb. What has happened in your family is God’s plan and it’s high time that you focus on him as you pray for the souls of your deceased relatives to rest in peace,” Rev Canon Owoyesigire said.
The chairman of the Rwamuyora Ngonzi group, Mr Johnson Biryomumisho, described the deceased as a committed group member that paid all his contributions despite his busy schedules.
