World Vision Africa - Relief | Development | Advocacy

The organisation works with communities in Kachonga through Kachonga Area Development Programme (ADP) supported by World Vision Korea.

“World Vision has also distributed clothing including T-shirts, sweaters, shirts and shorts besides bed sheets,” adds Moses Kasajja- Programme Manger for Butaleja and Mbale Clusters.

ChildFund International, the other NGO operating in Butaleja, is also distributing some food stuffs and non-food items.

The Government through the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Refugees and Relief has dispatched 26 metric tonnes of maize flour and beans which the district authorities are distributing.

The District Disaster Management Committee spearheads meetings in Butaleja to address the effects of the floods. In Mbale town about 40 km away, the Office of the Prime Minister also heads coordination meetings attended by aid agencies to assist people affected by floods in Butaleja and by the landslides of March 1, 2010 in Bududa district on the slopes of Mount Elgon.

“The floods we experience here are a result of increased rain up on Mount Elgon,” Kasajja explains. When River Manafwa waters, which originate from Mount Elgon, reach the low lying plains of Butaleja below, they turn large swathes of land into swamps.

The return home of the inhabitants in Butaleja may be temporary. “The rains are expected to last up to June,” says Jackson Rwakishaija, an official of the Meteorology Department. El Nino is expected to sweep through the whole of eastern Uganda, and even the usually semi-arid Karamoja sub-region in the northeastern corner on the border with Kenya and Sudan.

“We are bracing for a possible return to a relief mode in the flood and drought prone Teso sub-region,” says Ronald Mayanja, Emergency Response Coordinator for World Vision Uganda.