Kibuku couple spends 2 years sleeping in cold

In need. Mr Suleiman Kalireku and his wife Amina Byogero have spent two years living in the cold in Kibuku District. PHOTO BY MUDANGHA KOLYANGHA

What you need to know:

Kalireku and Byogero are both mentally ill.
Their grass-thatched hut collapsed during a downpour two years ago, leaving them with no option but to endure cold nights in a corner of what remained of their former shelter

It is almost 8am and many residents in Kibuku are setting for their daily work.
But Suleiman Kalireku, 65, his wife Amina Byogero,55, and their 10-year-old son Kalifani Ndoboli, all residents Nansiono village, Kirika Sub-county, desperately look on wondering what the future holds.
Kalireku and Byogero are both mentally ill.
Their grass-thatched hut collapsed during a downpour two years ago, leaving them with no option but to endure cold nights in a corner of what remained of their former shelter.
But luck has come their way as a good Samaritan is now fundraising to provide them with shelther.
Bishop Vincent Watolya, a senior member of Bugwere Development Forum, has taken lead under humanitarian campaign to mobilise funds to put up a small house for the family.
“All this long, no body was coming up to support them. We appeal to all well-wishers to join us to mobilise funds and resources to help this family. No human being deserves this,” Mr Watolya appealed on Thursday.
Explaining why he chosen to help the couple, Bishop Watolya said: “I was so touched and decided to champion this cause to solicit funds to construct a better house for them.”
He revealed that after visiting the couple and discussing the matter with the community, locals volunteered to offer free labour.
The well-wishers had proposed to take care of the surviving child-Ndoboli but the parents [mentally ill couple] instead cried out thinking that their only surviving child would also die.
Mr Watolya said they are looking for about Shs6 million to construct the house. Kalireku and his wife who had more or less been abandoned by relatives have been living with minimal support from the neighbours.
Mr Samsom Dedya, a neighbour to the couple, on Thursday told Saturday Monitor: “ I attempted to talk to them but they could not move away, thinking that people were planning to take their land.”
Mr William Bukenya, the Kirika LC3 chairman, said: “The couple needs urgent help because the structure they sleep in is in a dangerous condition.”
The Kabweri County Member of Parliament, Mr Francis Gonahasa, said: “They are in urgent need of accommodation because at the moment they have no-where to sleep”.