Salvation Army Responds to Agago District Leadership Call to Save Elderly from Hunger

The Salvation Army in Uganda Territory has called on believers and other religious denominations to help people in need with physical aid, rather than only feeding them spiritually with the Word of God. The leaders made the call while delivering food relief items to 250 households with elderly people above 70 years of age in Agago District in Northern Uganda. Lieutenant Peter Mukisa Rwolekya, the Public Relations Officer for Salvation Army Uganda Territory, said they responded to a call from the district leaders some weeks ago about the hunger troubling locals due to the prolonged drought experienced in the district. Captain Patrick Wanyonyi, the Emergency Officer in Uganda Territory, revealed that they managed to reach out to 250 households targeting the elderly above 70 years who are at risk of losing their lives to hunger. Dennis Tolit, a resident of Lira-Paluo Sub-county in Agago District and also a farmer, narrated that the situation was caused by a prolonged drought that destroyed people's gardens, leaving most families starving, with many having only one meal a day. Wilson Otto, the Agago District LC V Chairman, revealed that the district experienced drought for over four months, the seeds dried up in the gardens, and people are facing hunger, which compelled him to reach out to well-wishers for rescue. Otto added that they have registered 18 deaths, 351 admissions across Health Centre IIIs and IVs for malnutrition, 27 malnourished children under the care of an NGO, and 307 malnourished children and mothers under home-based care. The situation being experienced in Agago and the rest of the Northern Uganda districts is not only a sign of poor food management or farming practices, but a major call to the fight against climate change effects related to poor land use, destruction of ecosystems, and a call for strict regulations against human activities like charcoal burning and swamp degradation in the northern part of Uganda.