Two female Ugandan artists from Pader district based in London are battling for their lives after contracting Coronavirus Disease-COVID19. Jennifer Lawala and Roselyn Storms Otim were diagnosed with the deadly virus last week.
Lawala told URN in a WhatsApp interview on Monday that she was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) but was stable. She also disclosed that her son, Oscar Acellam is battling the same disease he contracted last week.
Lawala is the widow of Dr. Labeja Acellam, a medical doctor in Lewisham in the United Kingdom who succumbed to the same disease a week ago. Roselyn Otim also told URN that she is battling the deadly disease at her home.
The two renowned Acholi female artists left for the United Kingdom in the early 2000`s at the peak of the Lord`s Resistance Army-LRA insurgency. They composed songs in Acholi directed to console Joseph Kony, the commander of the Lord`s Resistance Army rebels to return home and abandon the insurgency because the Acholi people were suffering.
They also praised Acholi culture and tradition in their songs, which they said make them proud. Roselyn Otim also composed a song commemorating the heroic death of Dr. Matthew Lukwiya who succumbed to the Ebola endemic in the course of duty at Lacor Hospital.
The two artists asked people back in Acholi land and Uganda at large to adhere to government`s directives aimed at containing the spread of the disease. Gilbert Olanya, the General Secretary Acholi Parliamentary Group told URN that they are in constant contact with the two artists to monitor their condition and consoling them to remain strong during this trying moment.
United Kingdom has 47,806 confirmed COVID19 cases with over 4000 deaths. Uganda has 52 confirmed cases and hasn’t registered any deaths.
The News Editor ,Reporter at Kagadi Kibaale community Radio
