By Tom Gwebayanga

Rachel Namulondo, the 17-year-old girl who has been trekking for 12 kilometers for five months to pick her ARV’s from Kamuli Main Hospital in Kamuli district, has died.

Namulondo, whose plight ran in New Vision, died in her 85-year-old grandfather’s hut in Gwozira zone in Nabwigulu sub-countyTuesday night.
The teen has been a common sight along Nabirumba -Kamuli road en route to pick her ARV’s from the hospital and back to her home.

Her father, Amuza Lugandha abandoned her, saying he could not waste his money on an AIDS victim.

According to Stephen Namayo, the Community Based Facilitator (CBF) under Plan-Kamuli, Namulondo died when her grandfather, Nasani Musengawe was asleep.

She developed a high temperature and started vomiting after supper which briefly stopped after midnight

Her grandfather, thinking the girl was a bit okay, retired to his bed as the girl battled for her life but died. Mzee Musengawe woke up at about 6.30 am only to find his granddaughter lifeless.

The LC1 Chairman, James Balukube said Namulondo, whose mother, Monica Nakamya, , died four years ago, got infected with HIV a decade ago as she attended to her aunt, Monique Naggita, who was an HIV/AIDS victim.

She tested HIV positive in 2004 and has been struggling to live single-handedly, picking her ARV’s on foot for the last five months of her life, until Tuesday night.

Source: http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/630309-kamuli-girl-who-walked-12km-for-arvs-dead.html