It is not all gloom in Lwengo

Shelter. Ms Nakakande’s grandchildren at their new house in Kaswa Village, Lwengo District on November 12. PHOTO BY WILSON KUTAMBA

What you need to know:

  • Basic needs. A church programme is helping needy families access better housing with the help of international non-governmental organisations.

LWENGO. In the last 10 years, Ms Rosemary Nakakande, 62, has been sleeping in what was left of her home after strong winds blew off the roof of her two- bedroomed house in 2008 and brought down part of the structure.
But that is not the whole story. Ms Nakakande also takes care of six grandchildren orphaned at a tender age by the HIV/Aids scourge and her two daughters.

And because Nakakande had no gainful income yet she remained the sole breadwinner, the Septuagenarian was unable to repair her house, which exposed her already vulnerable family.
“Because of sleeping in the open, my grandchildren have been suffering from malaria since mosquitoes have been biting them. I usually give them herbal concoctions because I don’t have money for their medical care in hospitals,” she says.
Her story is not different from that of many other families in Kaswa Village, Lwengo District.

The bad numbers
Lwengo, which has a population of 274,953, is among the areas in Greater Masaka, which were devastated by HIV/Aids in the early 1980s and 1990s. According to 2014 National Population and Housing Census, a total of 14,321 households are headed by youth below 30 years after their parents died of HIV/Aids.
Another 11,630 households are also headed by older persons aged 60 years and above, according to the census report. The same statistics also show that only 60,033 of the total population in the district live in houses constructed using permanent roof materials, while another 35,145 sleep in semi-permanent houses.
This tallies with a 2017 Sauti wa Wananchi survey conducted by Twaweza, a non-governmental organisation. The report says poor people in Uganda are more likely to live in a home with walls made of mud or branches (43 per cent) or unbaked mud bricks (27 per cent).
Besides housing difficulties, many Ugandans and those in Lwengo, are poor and cannot afford decent medical care. The report says 98 per cent of Ugandans do not have medical insurance and when seeking treatment for illness or injury, half the population (51 per cent) turn first to government health facilities. However, while there, they encounter long waiting times or queues (30 per cent) and a lack of medicines or other supplies (29 per cent).

Hope
But a ray of hope has finally shone. Orphans, Widows and People Living With HIV/Aids Welfare Association (OWPLHWA), a Seventh Day Adventist community based organisation, has committed to put up structures for vulnerable households.
And Ms Nakakande’s family is among the 50 families, which have been selected to start receiving assistance from the organisation.
So far, OWPLHWA has built new houses for 50 families in the parishes of Ssenya, Kaganda and Kisansala parishes in Kingo Sub-county.
“It came as a miracle. I had never dreamt of sleeping in a new house like this one. I thank God for bringing these caring people to us,” Nakakande said during an interview on November 12.
Ms Doreen Kaketo, another beneficiary, says her condition was worse since she is physically handicapped and was rendered immobile.
“I’m very happy that on top of building a house for my family, they have also given me a wheelchair,” she says
The families also received relief items including maize flour, beans, mattresses, bed sheets, wheel chairs, rice and other foodstuffs.
To improve on the sanitation standards in Kaswa Village, the organisation has also constructed 56 pit-latrines for households, which did not have decent lavatory facilities.
While handing over the food relief last week, Mr Wilberforce Busulwa Bagenda, the OWPLHWA executive director, explained that their decision to start a community based organisation in 2008 was informed by the need to improve standards of residents living with HIV/Aids and other vulnerable people in the district.
“We were touched when our team visited those people and assessed the poor state of houses in which they were staying.
We decided to lobby for funds and construct new houses for them. We want to thank our partners from Open Door Church and Beyond Our Door International- all from USA who have enabled us implement this project,” Mr Busulwa says.
He adds that they first worked closely with World Vision Uganda, which later connected them to Open Door Church and Beyond Our Door International in 2009.

More coming
Pastor Steve Hanson, the executive director Beyond Our Door International, says they are looking forward to a better livelihood of all people in the community.
“The great honour goes back to the Lord God who has enabled us support the construction of houses to homeless and needy people. It’s not a single man’s effort, but through combined and harnessed powers with God’s guidance.” He says, adding that through his organisation, they are also paying school fees of 16 children in the area.
Mr Dickson Mwanga, the chairperson Kingo Sub-county, applauds the organisation for their tremendous contribution.
“This CBO [OWPLHWA] has been instrumental in developing our sub-county, many families currently live in modern houses because of OWPLHWA’s efforts,” Mr Mwanga says.