Covid-19: Government to feed orphans, elderly

Donations. Charity Bainababo, the commandant Presidential Police Guard and Mr Jimmy Ogwang, a disaster preparedness officer at the Office of the Prime Minister, hand over food donations to Sr Maria Mildred Abitegeka, the secretary and bursar of the Bakateyamba Home of the Elderly last Friday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE

What you need to know:

  • Official. Mr Jimmy Ogwang, a disaster preparedness officer at the Office of the Prime Minister, says if government can look after refugees who are foreigners, it cannot fail to feed its own citizens if they ask.

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has told administrators of orphanages, homes of destitutes and the elderly to always request for food from the OPM instead of keeping people hungry.

While handing over donation of food from the Office of the First Lady on Friday, Mr Jimmy Ogwang, a disaster preparedness officer at the OPM, said if government can look after refugees who are foreigners, it cannot fail to feed its own citizens if they ask for food.

“When you run out of food, write officially to the OPM. We always have food. Personally, I did not know how many orphanages are in Kampala and Wakiso until this Covid-19,” he said at the Bakateyamba home of the elderly in Nalukolongo on Friday when the First Lady, Janet Museveni, made another contribution of food to the home she pledged to start supporting last month.

Lt Col Charity Bainababo, the commandant of the presidential police guard, handed over the assortment of goods which included milk, eggs, sugar, posho, beans, wheat flour and cooking oil.

She said the donation is a continuation of the pledge that Ms Museveni made to the home when Daily Monitor highlighted the plight of the elderly persons who were at the verge of starvation during the lockdown.

Sr Maria Mildred Abitegeka, the secretary and bursar of the home, thanked Daily Monitor for bringing their plight to the fore. The home feeds five other orphanages from the donations it receives.

“We thank the First Lady and the Daily Monitor for making our home popular. Very many more people have come to support us and they say they did not know us before. Office of the Prime Minister gave us 12 bags of beans today, other people are sending us cash donations,” she said.

Meanwhile, Living Goods, an NGO working with government health facilities in the delivery of and access to essential medicines for rural communities, has offered to train 4,500 village health teams (VHTs) in 19 districts across the country.

While delivering their contribution on Friday, Ms Emilly Chambert, the country manager, said they will train the VHTs to sensitise the communities about disease prevention and topre-empt deaths from other sicknesses outside Covid-19.

She said they are working with partners such as Brac, World Vision and Malaria Consortium in other districts to strengthen VHTs in delivering services related to HIV/Aids, TB and malaria to ensure that VHTs are empowered.