Isolated in the bush, Makerere student burnt charcoal to keep warm

Bukedea, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A third year student of Makerere University Business School who was isolated in the bush by his family for fear of possible Covid-19 infection at Kakero village in Kangole sub county of Bukedea district, resorted to charcoal burning as part of his treatment.

Shunned like a leper, Simon Odeke who has done two weeks and two days in bush isolation since returning from school says while he was at campus, many of his friends tested positive and following the alarming number of cases from Kyambogo University, their nearing campus of Makerere was soon affected and Simon with five other members of his discussion group got infected with the virus.

“When some of my colleagues including myself got infected, I traveled back home where I could not mix up with my family members and I ended up isolated in the bush using the tamarind tree as my home”, said Odeke.

Odeke explains that lack of health facilities in his sub county denied him access to treatment which pushed him to start cutting logs in the forest to burn charcoal as part of his exercise and treatment for the virus.

Ann Ongiro, Odeke’s sister who was assigned by family members to take care of him says their family did not allow her to prepare food for both Odeke and the family but she was only preparing food for Odeke and served him from a distance.

Stephen Odeke, Simon’s father says they could not allow Odeke to mix with other members for sixteen days until his samples were tested and after his hard work of burning charcoal as his treatment, now they can allow him back home.

Stephen Ikodet, the district health officer for Bukedea says when they tested Odeke after he had spent sixteen days in the bush quarantine, his samples were negative.

Ikodet added that however, Bukedea district has registered five cases of Covid-19 victims, among them two health workers, one technical staff and two others in the villages of Malera sub county.

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