WHEN bad things happen to good folks, it sometimes feel as if God went to sleep. The Bududa landslide tragedy last week is just such an event, turning upside down the lives of several thousands of hardworking people who happened to be in the path of the killer mudslide. But this is not about the Almighty forgetting the people of Bududa. This is about bad policy of land management finally coming to a head thereby putting innocent people in harm’s way.
It is also about lack of preparedness for disaster, something I have been talking about for the past several years now. Today, though, is not the time to point fingers at anybody. There will be plenty of time for that later.
My focus is on the survivors of the mudslide, those whose lives were spared in order that they may push on, carrying the legacy of those whose lives were snuffed off in an instant. Foremost, the survivors of Bududa must not be treated like cattle, pushed this way and that way by officials eager to help, but not quite sure what needs to be done.
The most important basics must be provided to the people of Bududa for as long as they need them for survival—food, shelter, and medical services for those who sustained injuries during the mudslide.
Secondly, while attention is directed to fulfil the physical needs of the bereaved people of Bududa, there should be psychological support. These are fragile times when many of the survivors are left with the feeling of utter despair and guilt. Why did this happen to the community, and why did so and so die while I survived?
These are questions that will continue to haunt the survivors and for whom there must be counselling to help tide them through these moments of public and private grief. Grief counsellors who are experienced in dealing with disaster of this magnitude or those who have worked in areas of northern Uganda where the two decades left many so vulnerable should work with local officials to identify those most affected and in need of immediate counselling.
Thirdly, it would be arrogant and outright insensitive for long-term plans to be drawn in Kampala and then imposed on the people of Bududa. They are currently traumatised, but that does not mean that they are incapable of thinking for themselves.
In fact, I would argue that the best way toward the recovery of the whole community is to engage them from the beginning on the kind of new life they would like to undertake. For instance, I would like to suggest that any plan that removes the people of Bududa from the community and neighbourhood they have known all their lives would only compound their sense of loss. Yes, there ought to be utmost care to ensure that survivors are not exposed to more mudslides that will surely come at some future date.
However, resettlement schemes that see the people of Bududa permanently packed into internally displaced camps in which there is little to no opportunity for self-sustaining activities like farming, commerce and cultural expressions must be shelved. These are people who have only known work and who derive the meaning of life from the work they do.
Once the opportunity to work is removed from them, what is left is a community in despair with no hope for the future. Viable plans would see the people of Bududa getting right back to work. It will be a natural form of therapy, helping them to cope with their tremendous loss without feeling helpless and hopeless. Finally, the Uganda government must pour some serious resources into building a viable medical clinic for the community, as well as adequate school spaces for the children who surely need to return to school immediately.
The community may be devastated but as long as the future of the children can be secured through adequate construction of robust educational facilities and provision of resources then the despair will turn to hope. That is where, as Ugandans, we must press our leaders to look to—putting the people of Bududa on their own feet again so that they can begin to regain their lost confidence. That and our prayers is what they need right now.
Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca
