Masaka Resident City Commissioner (RCC), Ahamad Washaki has tasked youth to take a lead in protecting and preserving the environment by embracing sustainable development initiatives.
He said there is an urgent need to protect the environment and nature from increasing human activities that degrade the environment where youth can play a key role.
“Nature is increasingly being destroyed by daily human activities by people who are only interested in making money, even when they know that it affects the environment.
There is a need to adapt the innovations that are aimed at utilising resources sustainably so that the future generation can find the world still fit to be lived in,” he said
Wasahaki has made the call while presiding over the launch of the Modular Bamboo Orphanage project at Equator University of Science and Technology (EQUsaT) dubbed Nyumba Mpya” on Friday .
He was responding to the initiative being taken up by the contractor to construct the orphanage centre, which is going to be built using bamboos.
The Modular Bamboo Orphanage Project, spearheaded by “We Give A Hand Foundation”, seeks to construct eco-friendly bamboo housing units for vulnerable children using sustainable and non-destructive building materials, mainly bamboo.
Washaki said that if such initiatives are embraced, the country will be saved from people who destroy the environment in the hunt for construction materials and end up endangering nature.
Prof. Mouhamad Mpezamihigo, the vice chancellor of EQUsaT , revealed that the university has donated an acre of land to We Give A Hand Foundation, which they have partnered with to put up an orphanage center.
“ We are committed as a university to improve lives of the people where we are operating. Our partnership with We Give a Hand Foundation will ensure that the piece of land we are donating at Baja, Kalungu District where the center is going to be established, will be used sustainably.
“ We are partnering with our colleagues from Poland to establish an orphanage centre which will be constructed in eco-friendly materials(bamboo) and we are optimistic that this will also be a model which locals can learn from to embrace the use of such material for construction of homesteads. ”. He added.
Isaac Tulyasingura, the country coordinator for Nyumba Mpya , said the initiative is aimed at improving the welfare of orphans in the country by not only housing them at the centre ,but also teaching them skills that can help them become self-reliant after leaving the centre .
“We decided to use bamboo because of its cost and eco-friendliness and we don’t want to destroy the nature of the land where the centre is going to be established,”
Tulyasingura explained that they are going to sensitize communities on how to save the environment, and get simple skills on how they can use available materials to make construction works.
“The project aimed at empowering at least 120 orphans, is estimated to cost about Shs1billion, and it’s going to be in two phases, and we have started with fencing off the land and with in two months ,the first building which will have an administration block, and the main house which will accommodate the first beneficiaries will be in place , the second phase will involve setting up dormitories and dining hall among other structures.” He said
Ms Rolek Injji, the lead architect from Poland, said selected construction materials ( bamboo) are durable, cost-effective.
“ We are ready to collaborate and share skills with Ugandan people as a way of promoting sustainable, cheap construction in the country,” she said