Bududa landslide survivor narrates ordeal

At about 2pm on Tuesday December 3, Gloria Nambuya, 19 years old, was in the company of her friends; they were standing on the roadside in Naposhi Village, Bushika Sub County in Bududa District discussing their plans for the coming festive season. It had just stopped raining.

That day, she narrates, the rain had been pouring from morning till around 1pm. “When the rain stopped we heard a sound like a bullet. We then saw people crying and shortly after the weather seemed to change. We could not see ahead clearly.” She says the place got suddenly cloudy.

“We now started running towards that area where people were running from to see what had happened,” she says.

As they arrived, they were met with a wave of water, mud and iron sheets which was coming their way. But that wasn’t it, Nambuya saw something horrendous, she saw people being buried alive. Tears began streaming down her face as she could not believe what she was seeing.

“I then saw rocks and mud rolling to our side. My friends run to try and save their belongings in their homes. I saw mud slamming my friends in their faces. I run to save them but it was not easy,” Nambuya narrates.

One of her friends she refers to only as Juliet got stuck in the mud. Nambuya ran after her and pulled her out of it. She also tried to get another friend called Jenifer but this was unfortunately in vain.
“When I tried to rescue Jenifer I saw mud coming closer to us and immediately she was buried. And then I got stuck in the mud,” she says.

At first, Nambuya says, she was not scared because she wanted to help and save her friends. But when she herself got trapped in the mud, fear intensely gripped her.

“I first held onto a big stone and floated through the mud; I couldn’t help myself to get out of it. At that time I knew I was going to die, I started shouting for help. An old man whom I can’t recall rushed and pulled me from the mud. He was also crying but I couldn’t tell why.”

Nambuya managed to make it out with only one visible injury she suffered on her leg which she got when trying to save Jenifer. She is thankful to God that she didn’t lose her life although one of her best friends died.

Although Nambuya has been praised for her bravery, her life has not been the same ever since. The incident riddled her to the extent that she can hardly sleep.

“Whenever I sleep I get very bad dreams. In fact when I saw my friends dying I was like a mad person and I couldn’t believe. My eyes were closed and I suddenly I could not hear a thing, not the rocks or the mudslide roaring. Most of my friends died as I helplessly watched since I was already injured,” she said, adding, “This was such a terrible thing to witness and I pray God comforts me in this trying moment.”

Nambuya says most people who died that day were trying to save their property and children or relatives.

She still wonders how she survived when over 50 people, homesteads, crops and cattle among others drowned in the mud.

“I have a reason to praise my God because he still loves me, I know if it was not Him I could be dead by now,” she says.