When students miss classes to find water

Children line up to fetch water in Kisoro District recently. Most districts in western Uganda are facing a water crisis as a result of the prolonged drought. PHOTO BY ROBERT MUHEREZA

Mbarara

For many schools in rural areas, getting clean water can be a hustle. For the lucky few, the only source of water is a dam or a well. During the dry season, the situation becomes harder as some of the water sources get dry.

At Bright Ideas Primary School in Kiruhura Town Council, Kiruhura District, students and pupils have to juggle school activities and fetching water after an acute water shortage hit the district following a dry spell that has gone on for about two months.

Classes start late while time for games has been scrapped because pupils and teachers have to fetch water from sources, far away from the school.

“The nearby dam has dried up. Together with the pupils, we fetch water from wherever we can get it,” says Mr Bright Sheith Besigye, the school proprietor. “The games time is not fun anymore because pupils use that time to find water,” he adds.

The school which has 240 pupils, uses about 250,000 litres of water every term. The main source of water for the school is a dam which is currently dry due to insufficient rains.
Although Kiruhura Town Council authorities plan to bring tap water, the project has not progressed since December last year when it was unveiled.

This is the situation faced by residents of most districts in western Uganda during the dry spell that starts around May and runs up to August every year. July is the peak of this period.

From rural communities in Ibanda, Kisoro and Kiruhura districts to urban dwellers in Mbarara District , water is very scarce. Some children nolonger attend school regularly as they have to keep at home to help their parents in searching for water a distance far away, probably three kilometres or more at the only valley dam that still has water and serving the entire sub-county or even beyond.

For communities and homes that rely on National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), supply is intermittent during this time because water levels in rivers reduce like is currently the case with River Rwizi, the company’s source of water.

Mr David Opoka, the NWSC Mbarara area manager, says the company fails to meet the overwhelming demand for water during the dry spell.

read more here 

Pastor Jesse

The Greatest Tool

I love tools. I like to use them, I like to feel them in my hand. Hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers all make me feel good.. Saws are a little bit different because if you don't take the proper time you end up cutting the wrong piece or cut the piece the wrong length. You have to really watch what you do with a saw. But other tools are much easier to use and the danger of misusing them is significantly less.

Let me give you some examples. The hammer is a great tool. You can drive  a nail with it .You can tap things into place or even beat things into place. The choice is yours according to the skill level you have. Of course you could use a rock but it just doesn't have the same balance as the hammer does or project the same aura of craftsmanship or power. Do you want to be Fred Flintstone, a rock pounder, or John Henry, a steel driving man.

Screwdrivers are fun because they are so vesatile. You can pry with it or clean gradoo (crud that builds or collects on things) even tighten or loosen screws. The whole world of appliance repair is at your fingertips when you hold a screwdriver. Wives go crazy over a husband who can fix their blow dryer.(she doesn't need to know that you have no idea how you fixed it).

Wrenches are great, too! Give a man a cheap wrench set and an hour to play with it and he can have your automobile reduced to a pile of nuts, bolts and strange, wonderous parts that do who knows what. Great advancements in scientific discovery have been brought aboutt from wrenches.The whole medical field of psyhcology began when Sigmund Freud dismanteled his wife's Buick. Working on the car's rearend he told her, "Vhat difference does it make? Now that it is taken apart we can't go back." Thus bringing about the term Freudian slip, or more precisely, Freudian nonslip differential.

But seriously the greatest tool I have ever had in my hand is the word of God. It fits perfectly in my hand. It has great balance when used properly. It can gently tap and align the wayward soul back to Christ or beat into rubble those strongholds that stand against Him. It can cut to the heart of the most defiant sinner or cutoff  the legs of the worst false teachers leaving them no place to stand.

It can pry into the heart to uncover sin and then clean up all the crud that has accumulated in our lives. It can dismantle all the strongholds of the evil one and put us on the rock where our feet do not slip.When we carry and use God's word we are fully equipped to meet all the challenges and problems in life. No other tool can make this claim.

How much would you pay for one tool that could handle every job, that is easy to use because it comes with a full set of instructions It even has a built in support line, the Holy Spirit! All you have to do is get a copy and read it. What is there that you can't love about this offer? Nothing.

That is a tool I can love and use daily. Can you?  

46 dead as hunger pounds Karamoja, Teso

Heard from Mukisa that 46 people have died from starvation.

A group of elderly people and children in Moroto District wait for relief food that was distributed by the government on Saturday. PHOTO By Steven Ariong 

As the rains began showering Karamoja and Teso sub-regions, it was welcomed as a blessing, since crops were going to grow. But as the rains continued, the joy was turned into uneasiness as the heavy downpour started flooding gardens, washing away crops and roads. What that later meant was that there would not be any crops to harvest this season. That was in the first quarter of this year.

Today, the thousands of residents in Karamoja are going for days without food, while others are on the brink of death as a result of starvation. The severe hunger has so far killed 46 people in Karamoja in the last two months, according to local authorities. The worst hit district is Kaabong, where 20 people have been confirmed dead due to starvation. The other affected districts are Napak and Moroto.

The severe food shortage has forced more than 5,000 Karimojongs to flee the country into neighbouring Kenya, where the government is supplying food to its citizens. The government, through the Disaster Preparedness ministry, at the weekend launched an emergency food distribution initiative with the aim to rescue hundreds of starving families in the seven districts of Karamoja.

read more here