ACT Dateline

Uganda 02/07

Uganda Flooding: “Next we will be displaced by a famine”

By Catie Corbin, ACT International

ADURUKOI, UGANDA. September 28, 2007 —George William Odeke is a local councilperson in the flooded village of Adurukoi in the eastern Ugandan district of Katakwi. “I don’t know what will happen next year because the food is just finished. If the rain continues, we will undoubtedly need food relief,” said Mr. Odeke.

Since July, the heavy rains have left most of the crops in the districts of Katakwi and Amuria submerged underwater. Many crops in the area have been completely lost. For the past three months, most families have been surviving by eating last season’s stored harvest.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a member of the global alliance, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, has worked in the Katakwi district for the past four years and is the largest non-governmental organization in the area.

Craig Kippels, LWF’s representative in Uganda said, “The region has not experienced flooding of this magnitude in any recent memory.”

A food crisis
The need for self-sufficient food production is vital for food security in these communities and there is a real fear in the Adurukoi village that the ruined crops this season will have catastrophic effects in the future.

Mr. Odeke shared how his community was first displaced by multiple armed groups and then by the recent floods. “Next we will be displaced by a famine,” he added.

The farmland in Adurukoi was once filled with groundnuts, sorghum, potatoes and cassava. Now, all that is left is marshlands, and months of hard work has been undone. Nevertheless, families in the Adurukoi village know that they must overcome their present circumstances in order to survive.

Increased flooding
The flooding emergency in Uganda is not limited just to the Katakwi and Amuria districts. Joseph Akol, LWF’s Monitoring and Evaluation Manager in Uganda said, “Additional flooding has now extended to northern Uganda, affecting the Kitgum and Pader districts where we have a large presence as well.”

“It is clear that some households have been displaced and crops have been submerged underwater. Sanitation facilities have also been affected with people in need of both immediate and long-term support,” added Mr. Akol.

Mr. Akol said that LWF’s intervention in the Kitgum and Pader districts is dependent on additional outside funding.

Partnering with communities
In the Adurukoi village, it will take months of hard labor for farmers to harvest fruitful crops again. Currently, the families in the village are planning and preparing their next efforts and they are not afraid of the challenges they face.

The head councilperson of Adurukoi, Stanslus Otwor, said, “If we have food relief for this month we can survive. We need seeds and better tools so that we can replant our crops in the future.”

Responding to the current and future food security crisis, LWF is implementing assistance to meet the needs of 5,000 people in the districts of Katakwi and Amuria through food distribution and further agriculture assistance. LWF is also working to provide shelter assistance to 2,000 people with damaged or destroyed homes, who are now living in schools, churches or with other relatives.

While the people of Adurukoi are looking forward to replanting their fields and rebuilding their lives, for now, they can only wait for the rains to stop and the land to dry.

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Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.

Catie Corbin is a volunteer with Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Uganda/Sudan.