In May this year, after building staff returned onsite after 6 weeks absence due to lockdown, three of them reported they were having trouble with their homes and rising water levels. 

Richard was housing his own family and 11 relatives who had already been flooded out. 

During July, his own house (photo) was flooded out and he had to move. And in September he had to move yet again. Now he is building about 3 kms inland. 

Amari Denis, Chezera and Aheebwa have had to relocate, and more staff members are also close to getting flooded out.  

At this time (October 2020), about 20 Amari students and their families have also moved or are currently relocating.

Please consider helping to give food and shelter relief to the young and old in flood affected areas of Buliisa District. 

Unable to walk, and with floodwaters only one metre away from her hut,  80-year-old Lucy has no family close by to assist. 

COVID-19 had already created hardship, but unexpected flooding took devastation to a whole new level.

When asked what she would do if or when her home is flooded out, she started to cry...

It's stories like these that Marita has encountered day after day as she travels back and forth from flood-affected areas to offer assistance and relief.

After Mama Lucy's house and then the church she was staying in succumbed to rising waters. she was moved onto another plot outside the village (Photo 2 and video). However when Amari staff visited late September, this too was surrounded water. And by October Mama Lucy had had to shift yet again. 

Your gift today will help the most vulnerable people, like 80-year-old Lucy.

Susan already lives below the poverty line. Since March though, with the imminent threat of COVID-19 striking her nation, her whole community was placed in lockdown, and this only lifted in September. 

For families like Susan's, immediate problems quickly emerged:

• Loss of income, hence limited food.
• Lack of transport and access to hospitals.
• Delayed education.
• Limited access to law enforcement... and the list goes on.

And then came the flood...

The water started creeping inland around January. We thought it had subsided, but in fact it has been continuing to move inland ever since. Now the former Songalendu trading centre is no longer. As it is with many of the fishing villages along the Lake Albert shoreline in Buliisa.  For children like Susan this has meant being forced out of their homes, with nowhere to go.

Susan's house was washed away by the flood. But still worse was to come ...

As predicted by the WHO and government authorities, there are major sanitation issues, and an outbreak of water-borne diseases is beginning to occur. Susan's itchy mosquito bite swellings on her arms are now raising further concerns.

Amari Community Development Organisation is located about 2kms inland from Lake Albert. And as at Oct 15, the waters are only about 90m behind the Amari fence line.  The yellow lines on this Google maps snapshot shows where Amari staff recorded water levels early October. The actual map can be viewed at https://www.google.com/maps/d/...

It's a complicated scenario.

Uganda closed down at the end of March, and for six weeks (like much of the world) we were confined to our compound and had limited contact with 'the outside world'. It was when staff arrived back to work in May we became aware of the flooding issue, and the havoc it had already wreaked. 

At that point, half of Songalendu fishing village (down behind Amari) was already submerged. For security, curfew and border control reasons, the government had also been clamping down on nighttime fishing (the livelihood and source of food for many living along the lake shore) and forcibly closing fishing landing sites. While this may have been in the national interest, it severely impacted individuals. As did a continued public transport ban in Buliisa District although restrictions across the rest of Uganda had eased. 

So the situation at present, especially now that borders have opened, is that authorities are encouraging the non-indigenous to resettle back in their home districts. But in the meantime, the flooding is leading to nowhere to sleep while hastily constructed temporary shelters are being built, and more long-term resettlement plans being made. In addition, sanitation issues, a surge in malaria and other waterborne diseases and threats from snakes and wild animals getting pushed further inland are also posing problems. And if people are trying to relocate locally, there is conflict as to who land belongs to, and who can settle where. 

And this is affecting village after village along the shores of Lake Albert. (Video - temporary shelters at Kalolo and Katala fishing sites. Both of these have now been flooded out too, and residents have had to move yet again. 

In May, 2020, when ground staff returned to work at Amari, the flooding situation became apparent. We put up some posts, and immediately Amari supporters asked, 'What can we do to help?"

What a blessing! Over the last five months, over $40,000 Australian has been donated for flood and COVID relief. 

100% (and then some) of what reaches Uganda has been spent directly on flood-affected communities and individuals, and over 1000 households have been reached. 

This has included over 12 tonnes of food relief, 500 tarpaulins, 800 jerricans and water-guard tablets, and cash relief for medical and housing assistance. 

While authorities are working on the macro-level problems of resettlement, sanitation and medical issues, Amari would like to continue to assist at the microlevel. With water levels continuing to rise, and houses succumbing daily, people are in desperate need of tarpaulins to cover their temporary shelters, and for food relief. 

Buliisa has 32 gazetted fishing landing sites (villages), and Amari has only assisted 5 of those. We would love to help more, especially some of the bigger ones like Kabolwa, Butiaba and Wanseko.  (Video below of the Amari August distribution) 

With your help, we would love to provide more assistance