Global Courant
The Ugandan school where attackers killed dozens of students on Friday was built with the help of a Canadian nonprofit, the group’s co-founder and former vice president confirmed to CBC News.
The British Columbia-based Partnerships for Opportunity Development Association (PODA) helped build the school between 2010 and 2011, Peter Hunt told CBC News by text message on Sunday, rejecting previous statements by Uganda’s education and health minister. report from The New York Times.
Hunt served as vice president of PODA until 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile, and he says he and Natalie Hunt, his partner and co-founder of the group, have stepped down from the board and “have been for several years.”
The pair are “incredulous” about the attack, Hunt said.
“We are shocked that something so horrible could happen to innocent young people,” he said.
“Our hearts go out to all our friends, the students and teachers, and the members of the community of Mpondwe and Bwera, who have lost so much so senselessly.”
Thirty-eight students were among at least 42 victims of Friday night’s attack at Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School, located in the western town of Mpondwe near the Congolese border.
A dormitory destroyed by fire can be seen in Lhubiriha Secondary School on Sunday. (Hajarah Nalwadda/The Associated Press)
Founded in the early 2000s, PODA describes itself as a volunteer-run organization that raises money for and sends volunteers to development-focused projects in Africa, according to the now-inaccessible website.
“This was a…community-led project,” Hunt said, referring to the people of Mpondwe and the neighboring town of Bwera, adding that the initiative “included dairy goat programmes, women’s initiatives and honey beekeeping.”
He noted that the school is “community owned and operated” and there are no properties owned by Canadians.
President denounces ‘terrorist’ attack
Some students were burned beyond recognition in the attack; others were shot or hacked to death after militants armed with guns and machetes attacked the school. The Ugandan authorities believe that at least six students have been kidnapped.
The attack has been blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which rarely claims responsibility for attacks. The ADF has ties to the Islamic State group and has been accused of carrying out numerous attacks on civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo in recent years.
In a statement on Sunday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni described the attack as “criminal, desperate, terrorist and senseless”, promising to deploy more troops to the Ugandan side of the border.
