KAMPALA – Kampala International School (KISU) held a successful blood donation drive at the school premises in a call to increase the volumes of blood at the blood Bank Nakasero.
The function that started at 9:00am was spearheaded by two students from Year 11 at KISU, Davida Ruharo and Malack Hamid with support from the school administration.
When asked as to why this exercise was conducted one of the students who was among the organizers said that they did so because they wanted to increase the volumes of blood at the blood bank. They also conducted the exercise as a Corporate Social Responsibility CSR exercise.
The school was giving back to the community through donating blood to save the lives of Ugandans, an idea that impressed the School owner, city tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia.
The students developed the idea with the support and encouragement from Mrs Lang Jacqui their Global and Perspectives teacher.
Over the weekend, there were over 200 units of blood donated by the parents, teachers, and auxiliary staff as the drive kicked off.
Speaking during the drive, Mr Ruparelia said:
“I am glad that these young students have the heart to save lives,” he said.
“We are all potential patients and you will never know when you need blood to survive or save your loved one,” Mr Ruparelia said, adding; –
A student chats with a colleague as she takes the needle to donate blood at Kampala International School Uganda (KISU)
“Nationally, we need at least 340,000 units of safe blood annually, but the government normally collects up to 200,000 units or less. We are asking other schools to join us in this drive to compliment this effort as it saves people from dying,” Mr Ruparelia said.
Blood bank officials were full of praise for the KISU student’s initiative.
“We were shocked when the children came up with these brilliant ideas that don’t benefit them but the community,” said Joan Odyek senior nursing officer at Nakasero Blood Bank.
“We are thankful to teachers and staff for efforts aimed at saving lives and joining other partners like the National Social Security Fund and the Indian Association of Uganda,” Ms Odyek said.
