NMG visits Kiteezi disaster victims

A team from Nation Media Group-Uganda (NMG-U) headed by its Managing Director Susan Nsibirwa yesterday visited the Kiteezi landfill in Wakiso District to assess the situation and identify with the disaster victims.

On August 10, a huge pile of the garbage collapsed, leaving 35 people dead, 28 missing and 372 people displaced. They are now housed at Kiteezi Church of Uganda Primary School playground.

Ms Nsibirwa applauded the different teams that have joined hands to respond to the urgent needs of the displaced persons.

“As Nation Media Group, I think we’ve been doing a good job of telling the stories, highlighting the plight of the people and it’s good to see that the public have contributed generously to this cause,” Ms Nsibirwa said.

She, however, observed that there is need for special nutrition for the babies and lactating mothers in the camps.

“As a company, we are going to see what we can do about the nutrition for the babies and lactating mothers. We will identify what you need for the special needs of the children,” Ms Nsibirwa said.

She added: “We appreciate the work of the Uganda Red Cross, and obviously the Office of the Prime Minister, and we pray that such disasters don’t happen again. This one [disaster] has woken up our national conscience, so that planning is done in advance, because these are really man-made issues and there is a solution to them.”

Mr John Cliff Wamala, the communication and media relations Officer at Uganda Red Cross Society, said much more needs to be done in terms of psychological support.

“We have 372 people currently at the emergency shelters here and among these we have 161 children and 132 ladies. So these children need special attention, they need psychosocial support, and toys to play with as part of helping with their mental health. Our volunteers have been supporting and playing with them through traditional games, but we think there is a need to get them toys to play and highly nutritious foods because these are children,” Mr Wamala said.

He added: “We have 15 lactating mothers on site. We have children who need special care so we would really appreciate it if we get highly nutritious foods to support them, snacks to also support them during the day because children can never be like adults where they can have a meal and then wait for the other one at the end of the day.”

Mr Godfrey Luyombya, the speaker of Nakawa Division in Kampala,  said: “We mobilised ourselves as a team through KCCA so that we can extend support to the affected persons. They are grouped differently according to their needs. We have brought food, clothings for all ages so that we can use them as a basic need.”

The police have tasked the registration committee to re-verify the missing persons.

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