Katanga is one of the slums in Kampala located in the City Centre East of Makerere University and West of Mulago National Referral hospital.
On top of being one of the most populous areas in the city, it is also one of the most polluted with drainage channels overflowing with plastic waste.
I went to Katanga in a cool Thursday Morning and here is what I found.
Katanga a slum in the middle of a city. The high rise buildings in the background are Mulago hospital, a major contrast from what we see in the valley below.Katanga slum structures right infront of Makerere University Hostels
The children of Katanga, children play in one of the narrow walkways between two housing structures in the slum
Katanga; The environmental crime scene
I made a survey and moved around Katanga but the situation blew my mind due to the situation they are in.
What welcomes one visiting the slum is the emitting strong offensive odor that comes from the slim channels weaved between the informal semi-permanent structures. They are open sewage having water that is left sitting for a long period of time and it’s unable to flow or drain away properly.
Plastic waste on top of a house in Katanga. Waste management is impossible in Katanga. The people will throw waste like used plastic bottles and bags anywhere including on the roofs of their own houses. The stones in this picture are what holds the roof together to prevent the iron sheets from flying off with the wind
More plastic waste litters a drainage channel. Drainage is one of the biggest challenges in this settlement, in the rainy season, the Katanga valley often floods while these channels are blocked by plastic wasteTemporary solution. Sometimes the residents will take it upon themselves to unblock these small drainage channels but the waste isn’t disposed of. it is only moved aside so the water can flow again. Most of this waste later finds its way back into the channels
The residents living in Katanga say that the stagnant water stays there until heavy rains and floods and disperse sewage. The people here (Children, youth, elders) are exposed to this dirty water and garbage that is littered everywhere leading to different diseases.
A child walks past the heap of plastic waste on her way home. Children like her are most at risk of catching bacteria infections from their surroundings and life threatening diseases like Cholera and Typhoid
A house made of wood planks sits on soil packed with polythene bags. The bags have become incorporated into the soil here following years of pollution
Residents living in Katanga slum say that they have no hope for a better life because of the poor standard of living. They blame Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) for not doing enough to see that both the sewage and garbage are cleared from this place.
All efforts to reach Kampala capital city authority for comment on this story were futile.
