The Banga Project team in Kalangala District has donated up to 100 life-saving vests to the island children and communities and Kachanga Landing Site and Kagoonya fishing village.
Kachanga is situated on Buwuvu Island, Bufumira Sub County, while Kagoonya is situated on Bunyama Island, Bujumba Sub County.
The life-saving jackets were donated to school going children who were struggling to move from one island to Kachanga where a primary school is situated.
More than seven islands benefit from the same school with landing sites such as Kachanga, Luwungulu, Kamese, Kaaya, Misonzi, and Banda, among other landing sites and islands.
“Children come in boats from as far as Kaaya fishing village to get here to attain education. And that is for the primary section. We only have one secondary school in the whole Sub county, and that makes teachers and students move on boats and many a time, they do not have life jackets which leaves many falling in water,” says Kazibwe Fred, the LC1 Chairperson for Kachanga landing site.
More than 60 life jackets were left for the people living in the area.
At Kagoonya landing site, school going children move every morning on wooden boats to get to schools on Bugala Island. All the children did not have life jackets.
However, the intervention by Banga Project and its partners left 40 life jackets within the area. These will support the safety of the young children as they move to distant shores in quest for education and the attainment of letters of opportunity.
Sanny Matovu and Edgar Kawooya, who led the Banga project team, say, the island situation has for long been dire with greater need for the life saving vests, thanks to partners who donated for the same.
Henry Lubulwa, from the Kalangala Resident District Commissioner’s office who moved with the team, appreciated efforts by the Banga Project in delivering such important assortments to the people in Kalangala.
“We have for long asked our people to buy the life jackets, for their own safety but they are expensive. A person who can not afford Ugx 20,000 as a boat fare can not literally buy a life jacket, which costs a lot more money. However, due to our peculiar transport challenges, our desire is that all people get a life jacket. So we thank our partners who mobilized resources and thought it worthwhile to support our communities, especially the school going children,” Lubulwa said.
Kalangala District is located in the middle of Lake Victoria. It is also referred to as the Ssese Islands, an archipelago of 84 independent distant islands.
The area only has four government landing crafts, which dock on one major island, Bugala, leaving the rest of the 83 islands without clear Marine Transport.
Many people resort to the use of wooden canoes and cargo boats, which oftentimes capsize in water, killing several of the passengers.
Despite directives the government issued to have each person moving on water have a life jacket, and many people have failed to purchase them leading to several people drowning each time there is a Marine accident.
