For every fisherman drowned in Uganda, there are on average 7 dependents left behind. The cycle of poverty is perpetuated when the main income earner is lost. Amelia lives on Lake Albert. She is mother of 16 month old twins. Her husband is a fisherman. She worries, “he will die and not return to support the family”.

Although landlocked, almost 16% of Uganda’s landmass consists of fresh water, supporting hundreds of thousands of people who live and work on the shores of the Great Lakes; including Lake Victoria, Lake Albert and Lake Edward.

A consequence of living, working and travelling on the lakes is the tremendous loss of life from drowning, and the health risks associated with water borne diseases. Until July 2002 the Great Lakes did not have any waterborne Search and Rescue facility (SAR), and as such, the National Lake Rescue Institute© (NLRI) was founded in 2002 to combat this unnecessary loss of life.

NLRI is the only independent waterborne SAR service operating on the Great Lakes and rivers of East Africa to be officially recognised by the East African Community. Grace is 42 years old and a mother of 5 children. Her 21-year-old son was rescued by NLRI after a fishing accident. She ‘thanks God for the rescue station and for the boys who saved her son.’ A 2001 report in the journal Injury Prevention stated that “drowing comprises a large, mostly neglected problem in Uganda..In the rural sample area, Mukono, ..the leading cause of fatal accident was drowning (27%)”. [Ref: Injury Patterns in Rural and Urban Uganda. Injury Prevention. 2001; 7;46-50 O. Kobusingye, D. Gutwatudde and R. Lett.] All the same there are no official statistics of drowning or boating accidents in Uganda. NLRI has therefore started to collate its own incident records. A typical example is: “2 persons went to collect baits. When they were coming back the paddles broke and one of them fell into the water.

Since he had no lifejacket on his body, he just went down without coming back up.”

In early 2007, NLRI conducted a 100% coverage household survey of Kaiso village, Lake Albert. Kaiso, population 2600, is typical of all fishing villages on all of Uganda’s lakes; 70% of households cite the fishing trade as their main income source, and more worryingly, 50% of fishermen cannot swim.

The lakes are not only used by fisherman; due to limited road access in many areas along the shores, the lakes are used as a thoroughfare for travel and business. Transporter boats are heavily overloaded and often capsize. In an area where few can swim, and with limited SAR coverage, the results can be disastrous.

NLRI have a simple mission: saving life on water. Their basic objective is being achieved through various projects spread throughout Uganda and involving a combination of programmes:

The Megafloat: a community based lifejacket manufacturing enterprise, producing internationally tested, but locally affordable lifejackets.
The Megafloat Club: membership benefits including free life insurance and training in exchange for purchase of a megafloat lifejacket.
4 Search and Rescue stations, operating in two National Parks and at Kaiso village on Lake Albert.
Watoto Apana Zama: a fun children’s club to teach all things water, from swimming lessons, personal survival techniques and hygiene & sanitation lessons.
Women’s enterprise groups: to skill women particularly among fishing communities where they are frequently widowed and left to fend for their dependents.
NLRI is seeing very positive results in its project communities and a shift away from the fatalistic boating culture. Bithum Oyer was wearing a lifejacket when his fishing boat capsized. He survived and was able to rescue the other two persons who were onboard. He has since become a strong advocate for Lake Rescue in his community.

“I have learnt that Lake Rescue is the only organisation which will care for the community/fishermen in the villages. I have organised kids training in the village to encourage younger generation to get use with the lifejackets. I am also giving safety briefings to the transporters and fishermen to always use lifejackets whenever they are going on water, as well as sensitising the community fishermen about the benefits of lifejackets.”

In its first 6 months of operation, the Kaiso village lifeboat (donated by Tullow Oil) was called out to61 casualties.47 people were SAVED and 14 non- survivors were returned to their families for burial.

NLRI is seeing direct results in terms of lives saved, and also monitoring a change in the culture of fishing communities from fatalism, to self-help. As the boating communities are made aware of how to stay afloat, they are empowered to rescue themselves and each other, keep trade safe and help sustain the economic livelihood of their individual families and communities as a whole.

In early October a transporter canoe capsized near Butiaba with 35 people onboard, only 7 survived. 6 had managed to cling to 3 Megafloat lifejackets to stay afloat long enough for rescue and the 7th, a NLRI volunteer, swam the 5 miles back to shore. These results are as stark as evidence can be and show the value of a floatation programme ahead of a lifeboat service.

Despite these very positive results NLRI is facing an immediate and CRITICAL need, which is to be able to finish off the first floor construction and furnishing of its head office/training school at Kawuku, Bunga. Over the past five years $75,000 has been raised to purchase the land, create a marina and build a rescue station on the NLRI site, however the offices remain partially completed. NLRI has already committed large investment to its Kawuku location and for obvious reasons; it has to be based at the lakeside with boating access to the water and requires specialist facilities to service boats and engines and train crews and project staff. NLRI urgently needs a further US$65,000 to finish its office and pay for furnishings, a generator and so on.

MTN have recently sponsored the start up of Megafloat production and the Megafloat Club to operate from the NLRI Kawuku offices. This funding will allow NLRI to serve the community neighbouring its head office, Gabba landing site being one example. NLRI has sourced and trained the seamstresses for this project from Kawuku Women’s Volunteer Association (KWVA) in a bid to partner with and support other small, community based projects. KWVA also provide the catering for the NLRI weekly staff lunches and training sessions: ‘Wadanga Wednesday’.

* Eds Note: Since this Article was written, the Swedish Sea Rescue has donated the equivalent of USD35,000 to complete the NLRI HQ offices. *

For more information, please contact:
National Lake Rescue Institue
179 - 181 Kawuku Road, Bunga.
Email: info -at- lake-rescue.org. Website: www.lake-rescue.org
Mobile: +256 772 574848.