How you’re helping families in Uganda who lost everything to floods

Kule Kennedy is a farmer in Uganda’s Kasese District, where he grows coffee and raises livestock. In July, everything he worked for was destroyed unexpectedly when heavy rains brought catastrophic flooding in his community.

Kennedy is not the only one who has suffered. Several of his neighbors died in the floodwaters. Schools, bridges and a hospital were swept away. More than 1,500 homes were destroyed, and the floods disrupted hundreds of families’ livelihoods and damaged crops, food stocks and fodder reserves.

“This was my home, but it is now bare,” Kennedy told our team. “I lost my house, all my household properties and my coffee garden.”

With nowhere else to go, he had to sell what was left of his livestock in order to rent a small home until he could find a way to start over.

Flooding and COVID-19: a challenging combination

Kennedy is fortunate to have a roof over his head, but he is not sure how to recover from the loss of his crops and herds — his sources of food and income. For many families, hunger is imminent.

What’s more, this disaster makes the risk of coronavirus infection all the more likely. With so many people suddenly homeless and empty-handed, it has become difficult for communities to follow the recommendations for COVID-19 prevention like staying home, social distancing and handwashing.

Your love reaches families in Uganda when they need it most

Though the roads are washed out and difficult to traverse, your love is reaching Kennedy’s community with essential supplies to help them weather this crisis.

Thanks to your generous support, this week 1,200 families received baskets of food and emergency supplies like jerrycans to store water, saucepans, blankets, mosquito nets and soap for washing hands. For families who have lost everything, these basic items are critical for survival and beginning the process of starting over.

And, in order to support the next stages of recovery, your caring generosity also enabled us to distribute bean and maize seeds to farmers whose crops were lost or damaged. Though this season’s crops were lost, these seeds will help to ensure livelihoods and food sources will be accessible next season.

Finally, as these distributions occur, local health workers are on hand to share important information on how families can prevent the spread of coronavirus and other communicable diseases.

Until your love reaches every neighbor 

Thank you for loving your neighbors through your generous gifts to& LWR. When you support the World of Good emergency fund, you ensure we can act quickly to help communities like Kennedy’s when disaster strikes — saving lives, meeting needs and offering hope.

In a world of need, your love does a World of Good.