Uganda – Salesian children's dormitory in Bombo destroyed by fire

30 May 2018

(ANS - Bombo) - In the early morning hours of yesterday, 29 May, a fire broke out in Bombo, Uganda. The fire destroyed the dormitory of the Salesian secondary school "St. Mary's Namaliga", which housed circa 100 boys. Providentially, there were no victims.

Fortunately, at the time when the flames first developed, just before seven local time, the building's guests were all gathered for morning prayer inside the center's church, located about a hundred meters from the dormitory itself.

The intervention of the Fire Brigade was essential in preventing the spread of flames to neighboring buildings, among which there is a Salesian Vocational Training Center. The fire, however, has reduced to ashes all the material possessions of the boys, who now have nothing but their clothes and the few things they had on leaving the boarding school.

Fr Gaudens Murasandonyi, a Congolese Salesian working at the center, said that the young are now housed in other premises of the Salesian complex, waiting to find an alternative solution for their accommodation.

On learning of the disaster, yesterday afternoon the local bishop, Msgr. Paul Ssemogerere, of the diocese of Kasana-Luweero, visited the center to bring comfort to the children and to the community.

The Salesian community, in collaboration with the local Planning and Development Office (PDO), now plans to promote initiatives to launch an extraordinary fundraising campaign and trusts in international Salesian solidarity so as to return the best possible reception to the children affected by this disaster, children who are, moreover, from poor families.

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