Local cyclists to solicit funds for burn victim

Cycling. The race, due on Women’s Day, will see women cover a distance of 80km for women and men 120km.

The Uganda Cycling Association (UCA) will next month organize a charity race to raise Shs20m for burn victim Hanifa Nakitto.
The nine-year-old Nakitto got burnt last year after an aunt reportedly soaked her dress in petrol and later instructed her to roast maize.
“She was set ablaze while roasting that maize. She is in pain and can’t get treatment from here,” UCA women affairs secretary Cynthia Muwonge told Daily Monitor. “She needs to travel to Nairobi for treatment.”
The competition, set to start and end at Lugogo on Women’s Day (March 8), will see men cover a distance of 120km and women 80km.“Every March 8 we organize events but this time round, our main focus is helping this little girl,” Muwonge said during a news conference in Kampala yesterday.
According to Rehema Namugerwa, Nakitto’s mother, the family can no longer foot the medical bills. “We have been in and out of hospital,” Namugerwa said yesterday. “But we no longer have money and the girl is back home. She cannot even walk.”
Nakitto sustained burns on the bigger part of her lower body starting from the chest. She requires constructive surgery. Top cyclists Leon Matovu, Edwards Bukenya, Sarah Nankya, Marion Ayebare and John Kivumbi, among others, have signed up for the race.
Registration, at Shs5,000, is still ongoing at UCA offices, Kayanja Building in Katwe, just next to Gapco fueling station. Financial contribution to the family can be channeled through Centenary Bank, account number 6520025242 or mobile money on 0787978000.

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