School has been struck 3 times

[ByaseL]

Written by Shifa Mwesigye & Hussein Bogere

Wednesday, 29 June 2011 20:51

In Kiryandong*o hospital’s morgue lay 18 tiny bodies – 15 on the floor and three on a concrete slab. One more body, of a little girl, was brought in later. The first three that catch your eye look like they are in deep slumber; peaceful and quiet. Then the gaze shifts to the flooded floor and there, the lifeless bodies of 15 other children lying on the floor drive the point home. The death toll was 19 by press time. The girls, 14 in total, were wearing green pleated dresses, while the four boys wore green shirts and black shorts. This is the uniform of Runyanya Primary School, whose motto is ‘Education Pays’. But for these poor little souls whose lives were snuffed out in an instant when a bolt of lightning struck on Tuesday afternoon, education didn’t pay. Something more bizarre is that this school has previously been struck by lightning; the Tuesday incident was the third in 10 years. In the morgue, a masked and visibly unbothered cleaner, probably from years of experience in this environment, lifts the legs of a boy and mops water from under him before placing them back. The room that was designed to hold no more than five bodies at a time is chocking with formalin. In just one week, lightning has killed a total 34 people in Uganda, mostly school-going children. Before the Kiryandongo incident, 15 people had been killed by lightning around the country; in Zombo, Jinja, Alebtong, Amuru and Mayuge districts. Toddy Patrick, an enrolled nurse, moves from one child to another to treat the bodies with formalin.

 

[ByaseL]

In Kiryandong*o hospital’s morgue lay 18 tiny bodies – 15 on the floor and three on a concrete slab.
One more body, of a little girl, was brought in later. The first three that catch your eye look like they are in deep slumber; peaceful and quiet. Then the gaze shifts to the flooded floor and there, the lifeless bodies of 15 other children lying on the floor drive the point home. The death toll was 19 by press time.
The girls, 14 in total, were wearing green pleated dresses, while the four boys wore green shirts and black shorts. This is the uniform of Runyanya Primary School, whose motto is ‘Education Pays’. But for these poor little souls whose lives were snuffed out in an instant when a bolt of lightning struck on Tuesday afternoon, education didn’t pay.
Something more bizarre is that this school has previously been struck by lightning; the Tuesday incident was the third in 10 years. In the morgue, a masked and visibly unbothered cleaner, probably from years of experience in this environment, lifts the legs of a boy and mops water from under him before placing them back. The room that was designed to hold no more than five bodies at a time is chocking with formalin.
In just one week, lightning has killed a total 34 people in Uganda, mostly school-going children. Before the Kiryandongo incident, 15 people had been killed by lightning around the country; in Zombo, Jinja, Alebtong, Amuru and Mayuge districts. Toddy Patrick, an enrolled nurse, moves from one child to another to treat the bodies with formalin.