Budo Fire Survivor Dr. Joan Nanteza Transforms Trauma into Medical Career

On April 14, 2008, a devastating fire ripped through Nassolo dormitory at Budo Junior School in Wakiso District, killing 20 Primary Four pupils amid thick smoke and chaos. The tragedy, one of Uganda’s deadliest school incidents, left survivors grappling with lasting grief and psychological scars.

Dr. Joan Nanteza, then a Primary Four student, vividly recalls the night. Asleep in the dorm housing about 60 learners, she awoke to cold feet and saw flames on an upper bunk. Her shouts of ‘Fire!’ sparked panic, but the locked wooden door—secured by the sleeping matron—trapped them.

Learners pounded the door, eventually breaking a hole to escape as smoke filled the air. Dr. Nanteza fled but lost all her belongings. Teachers and staff later rescued others, yet 20 did not survive. Heroic pupil Yvonne Namaganda, 10, repeatedly re-entered the blaze to save classmates, perishing on her final attempt and likely preventing more deaths.

The ordeal derailed Dr. Nanteza’s life. Trauma-induced depression kept her out of school for a full term; her parents hired a counselor. She switched to day school at Living Hall Primary, shunning boarding until Senior Six, and now opposes it for children under eight.

“Day scholars excel too,” she says, urging schools to enforce emergency plans and firefighting training. After attending Lubiri and Kawempe Muslim secondary schools, she earned her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Makerere University in 2024.

Parents of lost classmates weep upon seeing her success, mourning unfulfilled potential. Dr. Nanteza calls on authorities to prioritize learner safety.

Source: Daily Monitor