The resettled children who have been living on the streets of Kampala were rounded up by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and partners in collaboration with Napak District Local Government and enrolled in schools where they stay throughout, including holidays.
Schools hosting resettled children in Napaka district are
facing an acute water crisis, forcing the learners to trek long distances in
search of water.
The most affected schools are Lodoi Primary School in Matany
Sub County hosting 131 resettled learners and Lokodiokodioi Primary School in
Ngoleriet Sub-County, a new home for 121 resettled children.
The resettled children who have been living on the streets of
Kampala were rounded up by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA)
and partners in collaboration with Napak District Local Government and enrolled in
schools where they stay throughout, including holidays.
The resettled children aged between 1 and 16 years are confined
in the schools where they study and get psychosocial support from social
workers. The psychosocial
support is meant to rehabilitate and change the mindset of the children from
the begging culture on the streets to living a responsible life through
education.
However, the water crisis in schools has opened room for the
children in Lokodiokodioi and Lodoi to interact with the communities, posing a
risk of luring these children back to the streets. In Lokodiokodioi Primary
School, at least three girls and two boys escaped when they had gone to fetch
water.
Although they returned to school, Martha
Nabok Chamcham, the headteacher of the school is worried that the water crisis
might lure the children back to the streets if no urgent intervention is made
to restore the water supply. She says that the water shortage has lasted for weeks
after the solar system that supplies water to schools got a technical glitch.
She says that besides worrying about the resettled children,
the school learning program has been affected by the water crisis.
// cue in “Some of them…
Cue out…go for water.”//
In Lodoi Primary School, children have been hit by diseases
related to unhygienic conditions. Mary Teresa Sagal, a Senior Woman Teacher says
that at least 3-4 children are diagnosed with Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) almost daily.
Lodoi has suffered a water shortage for more than one month. The
pupils walk almost two kilometres to access water from the community borehole
located along Moroto Road.
Richard Abura, a Senior Man- Teacher at Lodoi Primary School, says that some children have developed skin rash because they are not able to bathe or wash clothes regularly due to the water shortage.
// cue in “Since the water…
Cue out…all in vain.”//
The water crisis has forced the schools to assign soldiers
to accompany children to boreholes to fetch water outside the schools. The soldiers
were deployed to provide security for resettled children.
Joyce Nakoya, the Napak District Education Officer, says that the district is aware of the water situation in the two schools. “The district water engineer told us that the schools are located in areas with low water tables, making it difficult to drill boreholes.
