Everywhere I look, I see fear, pain and suffering

By Jean Baptiste HAMULI, Senior Communication Officer SBCC&MEDIA

I have just arrived in Bushushu and Nyamukubi where heavy rainfall led to landslides and swelling of rivers that flooded and washed away villages, leaving death and unprecedented destruction where it passed on May 04 and May 05.  More than 400 dead, over 5,000 are still missing, and 107,700 displaced.

A World Vision vehicle brings me to a point beyond which I can only continue by foot. I am in a hurry, and I want to help until I get to the village in Bushushu. No one prepared me for this devastation. Incomprehensible!  Two villages wiped out!  

I see a group of people who are checking lifeless bodies. They are looking for their lost family members. I suddenly see the body of a woman trapped under the walls of her house. I just don’t know how to start a conversation with these people lost in their search. How should I? World Vision implements programmes in most of these affected communities, and I personally know some of the people.  I opt to go to the nearby village of Nyamukubi

A journey that would normally take me 30 minutes, takes me an hour and 30 minutes. The national road is almost non-existent, and the situation is not any better. I meet people who believe they have no reason to live any more.  It was market day at Nyamukubi on that fateful, so many people had come to sell or buy goods. Some of them never had a chance to return home! No one can point out where the market, schools, churches and health centers once stood. Everyone seems confused, almost dazed. Kanyunyu, Kabushungu, Bushushu, Nyamukubi, Luano, Chabondo, Rambira became wastelands in less than 48 hours!

Celestin CIZA, lost his 4 children. He is overwhelmed and tells me that he will never forget this situation! "Only God knows why this happened to me and I don't know how to cry for my 4 children. Many other families have lost children and parents," explains Celestin with tears in his eyes.

The surviving population needs urgent help! They need food, water, medicines and other necessities! But more than that, they need psychosocial support. I am relieved to know that World Vision and the World Food programmes will distribute emergency food.

At the end of the day, my heart is bleeding! My heart is tired! I do not want to see more. My legs feel feeble yet I have to go back to office! It is all painful!