300 students starving in hostels

At least 300 students from different universities are stranded in hostels since March when the lockdown was announced.
Students from Makerere, Kyambogo, and Uganda Christian University, Mukono say they have no food and cannot travel to their villages because of the ban on public transport.

The chairperson of Uganda Christian University (UCU) Students Electoral Commission, Mr Boss John Bruce, who is also leading the campaign at the university to solicit food, says there are 158 students stranded in hostels.

Mr Ibrahim Sseddangira, a student of Makerere University, says they have 52 stranded students while the Kyambogo University guild vice president, Ms Hellen Ninsiima, says there are more than 20 students. Mr Patrick Odongo, the guild speaker of Makerere University Business School in Nakawa, said there are 100 students stranded in hotels in Namuwongo, Mutungo, Mbuya and other suburbs.

Ms Esther Birungi, a law student at UCU, who started an online appeal to solicit funds to support the students, says she just tweeted about one of her friends who was seeking help and since then several students started reaching out to her for help.
“I did not know there were other students struggling in hostels. I had a friend who told me about their situation and I decided to tweet about it asking people to pray for students back in hostels. After that, several people reached out to me for help,” she said.

However, Birungi says after reaching out to her friend, students and their leaders started contacting her saying there are hundreds of students who are starving and wanted help.

“Many students and student leaders started in-boxing me. Then we started compiling lists of students and the numbers went up to over 300. I have so far got Shs1.5m from people willing to support but it is not enough. More students keep coming in,” Ms Birungi says.

Some of the students from different universities shared the dilemma of the lockdown.
A female student of UCU living in a hostel in Mukono, who only identified herself as Akwi, was not sure how she will survive in the days ahead.

“It is so harsh, I thought this lockdown would last a short time but it has been extended and I do not know what next,” she said.
Akwi said she moved from three meals a day to two and now to one meal. She said at times she only eats porridge. Her parents in Tororo cannot help her, so she washes plates in a restaurant to get food.

“I have been eating one meal a day which is sukuma wiki and posho. Sometimes even the money to buy sukuma for Shs500 is not there,” says Akwi.

Mr David Mugawe, the UCU deputy vice chancellor in charge of finance, said they were aware of the situation and were verifying the list of the affected students and planning on how to help them.

“We are aware of the need, it was brought to our attention. We have a list which we are trying to verify to know if everyone on the list is a student as well as see the genuine need. After verifying, we are looking at short term and long term interventions because we do not know how long this will take,” Mr Mugawe said in a telephone interview on Sunday.

He said they were also in talks with different leaders to see if the students can be transported back to their homes.
A student from Kyambogo University, who preferred to remain anonymous, said some of her friends have resorted to prostitution for survival.

“I know of some girls who are staying with men at their homes as long as they can get what to eat and survive not because it is their thing, but looking for all means to survive,” she says.

Reuben Twinomujuni, the public relations officer at Kyambogo University, said he was not aware of the stranded students.
“We mobilised Shs14.5m as staff, not as the university, and we bought 5 tonnes of posho and soap which we gave to the Covid-19 national taskforce. We then requested that we distribute some to the people in Banda and students received some of it unless those students are not staying within Banda,” Mr Twinomujuni said.

Ugandans stuck abroad
The Ugandan embassies and high commissions started the process of registering Ugandans who are stuck across the world with a possibility of evacuating them back home.

The number is not known but in China, there are about 100 students stranded in Wuhan. On April 16, the Ugandan Ambassador to US Mull Sebujja Katende says Ugandan students, research fellows, short term visitors, and other non-immigrant visa holders of all categories had their travel plans disrupted by the Covid-19 lockdown.
Many Ugandans are stuck in the Middle East and in the region because they can’t fly back home because of the lockdown.

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