Following a deadly fire that gutted Kimmi Island in Mukono District last year in October and left many residents homeless, Nkumba Rotary Club Stewards on Saturday donated several items to the locals to enable them get back to their normal lives. Among the items that were donated included Scholastic materials, clothes, soap, salt and re-usable sanitary pads for women.
The Kimmi Island LC 1 Chief Abdul Karim Kigwa thanked the Rotaract Club of Nkumba Stewards who were led by Mukisa Joan and Nkumba University Guild President Julius Bukyana for their generosity.
Abdul Karim disclosed that the deadly fire burnt the only water pump on the island and as a result the locals don’t have access to safe clean drinking water. The island is also faced with a high HIV prevalence which Abdul Karim attributed to the scarcity of women on the Island. He revealed that the ratio is one woman for every five men.
“We have a high HIV prevalence on the Island but organizations such as International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and Makerere Walter Reed Project distribute free Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) every after three months. The Island had a population of 6000 residents but because of the fire that destroyed their houses and property, many relocated to other areas. The residents are rebuilding their houses and we opted to use iron sheets because we cannot afford to transport bricks and other building materials across the lake to the island,” Abdul Karim stated.
He added;
People from other parts of Uganda and nationals from the neighboring countries of Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, DR Congo and Sudan have settled at the Island. We lack proper pit latrines and as a result, residents are forced to use nearby bushes. We also don’t have a modern Health facility and in the last 10 years, 24 women have died due to pregnancy related complications.
Kimmi Nursery and Primary School, the only make-shift school at the Island has only six teachers who attend to 270 pupils. Only five pupils sat for PLE with two attaining second grade and other two attaining third grade, only one failed.
According to Kawuma Godfrey, a staff at the school disclosed that the teachers are facing so many hardships because parents don’t want pay school fees.
“We are facing so many hardships at the school. We charge Shs50,000 but parents don’t want to pay the fees. Our teachers sought shelter in some of the classrooms because their houses were destroyed in the fire”, Godfrey Kawuma revealed.
