The Rotary Club of Akright City in Wakiso district has flagged off a 310km walk to Ishekye Primary School to raise funds for disabled learners at the school located in Sheema district.
The walk was flagged off by Kenneth Mugisha, 47, the former governor of Rotary district 9211, which covers Uganda and Tanzania who emphasized giving back to those in need.
“Rotary looks at disease prevention and treatment seriously and as one of our key areas of focus. When we see such disabled children, we can’t let them down. Whereas the rest of the world looks away, we have to help them,” Mugisha said.
He applauded the Rotary Club of Akright City for the initiative that he said will give the disabled children hope.
The president of the Rotary Club of Akright City, Pearl Kahindi Habomugisha said they aim at raising shs50 million by November 30, to support Ishekye Primary School work on the compound and walkways for children with disabilities.
“We hope by raising shs50 million, we shall impact the school to create transformation. We are also giving them clean water, lighting the school to give them a safe environment, we have also renovated the main classroom block and now working on the compound and walkways. Their terrain is not good, there are so many accidents suffered by the blind and physically handicapped children. These don’t have a safe accident and this means they are bound to have accidents. We are therefore coming in solve this problem,” Habomugisha said.
She said the campaign has been going on for two weeks, mostly on social media, adding that so far shs17 million has been collected.
Habomugisha called upon other Ugandans to join this cause to get a decent life for the disabled children at Ishekye Primary School in Sheema district.
Budget Hudson Mugabirwe, the director for projects for the Rotary Club of Akright City said having getting an assessment need for the school, they decided to help create a safer environment for the disabled children.
“Among the many things the school lacks, we identified buildings in poor state, walkways with landscaping, water and power. Since a large number of learners at the school are blind, lame, we decided to start with the classroom block but also the walkway to enable them be able to move freely,”Mugabirwe said.
Speaking during the flag off on Saturday, 47-year-old Shyaka Mbanda who is taking the 310km walk to Sheema said he aims to inspire many others.
“I am going to walk for mental health but also inspire many others into this. I believe that mental health is good physical health. You cant good mental health with a poor metabolic system. Your metabolism has to be good for you to have good mental health.”