Freedom City: Mother recounts last moments with her two deceased children

In Wakiso District, Maganjo Mau Zone, the family of 14-year-old Daniella Kibuuka and 10-year-old Daniel Kibuuka gathered to mourn their deaths in the fatal Freedom City crowd surge.

Namulindwa, leaves her husband Gabriel Kibuuka and other mourners to talk to the Daily Monitor about the tragic night.

"I left home at around 4:30pm and headed to Freedom City with my four children. 

At the facility, the children played in the pool. At around 8pm, they closed the swimming pool and other places where children were playing. 

A group of children then went on a stage that had been prepared for the musical fete and started entertaining the revellers," she narrated.

Prior to the announcer's directive that sparked the surge, Namulindwa was already on her way out of the venue. The MC's announcement sounded like the last nail hammered into a coffin.

"At 11pm, I decided to get out of the venue. We planned to leave early so that the fireworks could find us outside.

As we left, the MC (master of ceremonies) announced that those interested in watching the fireworks would use a small exit.

They found us in the line as we headed out..," she said.

However, their fate would be sealed until the small gate that was busting at the seams with the crowd was unceremoniously shut.

"We were next to a small corridor near the upper parking space.

As people continued to get out, the person who was manning the small gate closed it and ordered people to go back inside.

Remember, there were many people trying to go outside. People were packed at the end of the small get and more continued to move towards it.

In the process, we got stuck," she continued.

Later, after the crowd had been disbanded, she still had hope that the two children had survived the worst of it because they were separated from her where she was struggling to stay alive.

However, as soon as the crowd stopped moving, people started dropping unconscious around her and the children. The two older ones fell away from her sight into the crowd. She grasped at straws and handed the younger ones to a Good Samaritan.

"Many people started fainting and children started crying. I was also struggling to stay alive. My two older children were holding each other and got separated from me.

When the stampede started, I requested a random man to help me get the younger children I was holding over the fence because the youngest had started fainting.

I then started looking for the older children but I couldn’t move. Some people fell down," she recalled.

When the chaos stopped, like many others who had lost their loved ones in the surge, Namulindwa's nightmare began.

"I moved in and around Freedom City but I could not find them. I could see many people on the ground.

I requested a police officer to take care of the younger children and went inside but I didn’t find them.

A police officer called me aside and asked me for the ages of the children I was looking for. 

When I told him, he advised me to go to Mulago [hospital]. I got scared. I loaded airtime on my phone and called a friend to come and pick up the younger children.

As I waited for her, another police officer advised me to go to the nearby clinic in Namasuba on Entebbe Road.

I then walked to a clinic called Dr Hakim Clinic where some of the victims were being taken."

The next clinic is where she found her bag. It had been with the girl when they got separated.

"I asked a boda boda to direct me to where the ambulances were taking the victims. He directed me to another clinic.

When I entered the clinic, some dead bodies were on the floor and covered. I checked the legs of two dead bodies looking for my daughter but she wasn’t one of them.

I proceeded to the next room. Here, I found my bag next to a body which was completely covered. When I uncovered it, I discovered that it was my daughter."

All around her, the ghost of the suffocating, fainting and dying people haunted her as clinics in the vicinity filled with casualities, and her son's lifeless body.

"I didn’t know where my son was. While at the clinic, police continued to ferry in victims of the stampede. Some of the victims’ relatives were also picking up the bodies of their loved ones.

"My daughter’s body was taken to Mulago while I continued to search for my son. I went to another clinic in Kabowa where I found his body. There were many people at the clinic. Other victims were taken to Kiruddu."

According to one of the entertainers at the event, who talked to Monitor, when he attempted to leave he saw police officers beating people at random. He retreated into the control room and spent the night there.