The situation of Ugandan students who were studying abroad is alarming especially those who are in countries like Italy and Egypt with high cases of COVID-19. Their worry is about lack of funds to access essential needs such as food, masks and sanitizers.
Through their leaders, Ugandan students in Egypt and Italy have appealed to government for financial aid to help them sustain themselves during the Coronavirus lockdown in their respective countries.
Speaking to journalists, Abbey Musinguzi, a Ugandan student doing a Masters in International Management and Business Consulting at the University of Messina in Southern Italy (Sicily), says students in Italy have become financially constrained and need government help and if nothing is done they are likely to risk their lives as they are looking for what to use.
“We have tried our level best to seek for support from the government of Uganda through filling of various forms with all the necessary requirements but we have not yet received any feedback. Some us do not know what the next few days could be, if we continue to live in this dilemma since we do not work and the whole of Italy is on a complete lock down. But we shall welcome any form of support,’’ Musinguzi narrated.
The situation is the same when it comes to over 48 students who have been studying from the North Arab republic of Egypt which is among the most affected countries with COVID-19 with over 400 cases and 20 registered deaths.
According to Aron Ndimukika, a Ugandan student at the Cairo University and leader of all Ugandan students in Egypt, the situation is not different from that of their fellows in Italy.
“Schools were ordered to close on March 14, 2020 and from then life has not remained the same. Egyptian students were told to evacuate the hostels and return home so it’s only the foreign students who were advised to remain in hostels. The situation is worrying because we do not have food, no sanitizers and even no constant supply of water for us to use. I have explained the student’s situation to the Embassy through writing, but the diplomatic procedure and protocol makes the entire process very slow yet the situation calls for urgent response and solution,” Ndimukika said.
It is remembered that Egypt was the first African country to announce a positive case of coronavirus and also the first African nation to go into lockdown when President Abdel Fattah El Sisi announced earlier this month for a period of 100 days.
You must be logged in to post a comment.