Bomb blast survivor receives help

By Gladys Kalibbala 

Juliet Kyomuhangi, aged 13 can afford a smile of hope after she received assistance for a pending surgery on her swollen leg.

After getting to know about her plight from the New Vision paper and website, Hwan Sung Furniture Ltd (Ntinda) lifted the hope for a healthier life of the young girl with a sh600,000 donation into her surgery.

Kyomuhangi’s aunt Lovinsa Karamagi received the cheque in the names of Kampala Imaging Centre to facilitate the required Arteriogram scan. 

Meanwhile, employees of Inchcape Shipping Services located in Ntinda donated sh450,000 to the girl for her upkeep.

 The operations manager of Inchcape, Sam Sekasi Kigozi explained the the employees were touched by her sad story. 

“Since Kyomuhangi is expected to join Primary Seven (P7) this year, she needs all the support possible to allow her study with a free mind,” Kigozi said. 

The young girl is survivor of a 2006 bomb blast which claimed the life of her cousin sister Dorothy and injured two other children. The blast occurred March 7 in 2006 at Kisojo village in Kibaale district. 

Dorothy died instantly as the bomb fragments ripped open her stomach. Kyomuhangi and the other duo were rushed to different clinics and received treatment.

”She got stitches and her wound healed well, allowing her to continue with classes.” 

But three years after the incident in 2009, Jaramagi explained, the leg started to swell and became painful.

 Police later told the family they suspected the bomb to have been left behind by rebels of ADF who fought in the area around that time. 

After several admissions at Mulago hospital in Kampala, Kyomuhangi was recently taken to CoRSU hospital in Kisubi where an operation will be performed soon. 

“We turned to Good Samaritans for help with the Arteriogram scan of the lower limb as the family no longer had funds after three years of treatment,” Karamagi explained and she thanked the donors for their generosity

She says since 2009, she has been taking care of Kyomuhangi as the girl’s father Stephen Byabona “has no money.”

 Byabona is a casual labourer in their home village in Kisojo, Kibaale district.