Bududa landslide victims thrown out by host families

Bududa, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Families hosting landslide victims in Bududa district have started pushing them out of their homes.  

The Landslides hit Bushika Sub-county in Bududa District on December 3, 2019, displacing over 200 families across three villages of Namasa, Shikhururwe and Naposhi. More than 40 lives were lost.  

In the aftermath, the survivors sought refuge with neighbours and relatives until last week when they were asked to leave.  Base Namaye, one of the persons who had opened up he home to host some families says she was overwhelmed by the numbers.  

Namaye who was hosting up to 15 people in her home, says that the task was immense in the absence of any kind of relief from the government and humanitarian agencies.   

George Nambale, the General Secretary of the victims told Uganda Radio Network his host asked him to leave last week because he could no longer manage to keep them under the same roof.  

He added that some people who had offered to host them did it on conditions that they would pay a monthly rent. Upon realizing that there was no reward coming their way, the hosts threw them out, one by one. Nambale now lives in a small tent with his 12 children.    

Daniel Namis, a victim who lost three of children in the tragedy says that he has been living at the mercy of his aunt who eventually asked him to leave because she could not afford to sustain him with his offspring’s.  He says they do not have food or any other basic need.     

More than 120 victims have now established a camp in a piece of land which was donated by one of the residents in Luwambi cell, in Nangako Town Council after going through the same ordeal.  They have built temporal shelters made of tarpaulins, with each small shelter accommodating between seven and 14 people sleeping on banana fibres and leaves as beddings.     

But the situation remains deplorable. They do not have any source of safe water and in the absence of a pit latrine, they are using nearby bushes and gardens as places of convenience.  

Constant Mupuya, the Chairperson of Shikhururwe village says that when they arrived in the area, the neighbours closed their pit latrines and now the community members are threatening to chase them away from the area.  

Wilson Watila, the Bududa district Chairperson told Uganda Radio Network that although the district is aware of the people who have established a camp in the area, the district leadership still maintains that no camps should be created within the district.  

He appealed to the victims to continue seeking refuge from relatives as the government works on their resettlement in the coming weeks.

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