Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said.

⁵ Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. Matthew 28:5-6(NLT)

Let me tell you something, today is the 4th Sunday without leaving home to go to church. Precisely it is the 4th weekend to have church on TV and on laptop/phone on a live stream. 

Easter Sunday 2020 

It was all great today! Easter Sunday 2020. We started off with a church service conducted by our home church. The service was led by the Chaplain, the Rev. Onesmus Asiimwe. A good family led us all in praise and worship songs. One of those families you just admire. A man, his wife, and children singing in their home. Kind of well-polished home -  with music instruments and all. They look good too. The family head is the current head of laity at church. We call him the Peoples' Warden. After that, we did another service so that we receive a double portion. It was at All Saints Cathedral. The blessed  Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye led the service while the Archbishop  Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu preached. The message was clear.  

"Do not fear!"

 And so there is no point in fearing after all Jesus paid it all! He lives, and because he does, we can face tomorrow. This is assurance. 

Missing Home 

Who would not miss home in such times? You see, some people like the city. They never go home. But that's not me. I like home. I am a village man. I miss the real Easter holiday. I miss waking up early to catch the milking time. I miss wearing boots on - the - farm. I miss breakfast with everyone. With the whole family. I miss going to church at home. Maybe I would have been asked to preach at church. I miss everything at home. Can you imagine we had to buy matooke to cook? We are in a lockdown. In some house on Entebbe Road near Entebbe town. Not in kikonko during this Easter season. This is not cool at all. But we are not alone in this. The whole world is locked down. We are in this together. 

More about Life in the Lockdown

Everything is still slow and unlike last week, fewer people are on the roads. The President came back on TV sternly warning anyone jogging along the roads. He said he did not want to see anyone running around in the name of exercising. To him, that was indiscipline. He actually came about with a video of himself doing exercise indoors. In

President Museveni doing press-ups at State House. Man men tried this after his video. In what was coined as Museveni Challenge, many many men put out videos of themselves exercising at home.

what looked a cool spacious office, he ran around to warm up before counting 30 press-ups. Immediately he finished, I tried the same too. I made it. But the next day I had some slight muscle pains. So I continued to do it so my body gets used to more than 30 press-ups. I am trying my best. 

I continued to walk to the office and do work. 

How government works 

Many protested this labeling

During this lockdown, I have learned a lot. One of the things that I have picked is that the government always keep 'their' word. Let me give you an example here: if they say that they will distribute food, they will. This doesn't matter if you see them do it or not. They can even tell you that they were in your neighborhood and 200 families received food relief. Please never doubt such. You would be ashamed to learn that it is true. The food aid is being distributed by the army and the Red Cross. I hope to see them around, near my home. Or at least to see some papers with my signature showing that I received food. Maybe in the coming days. 

The corrected labeling after protests

The other thing I have learned is that the government is not such a sophisticated entity. They also make simple mistakes. For example, the President told everyone to be home by 7:00am and that thereafter a curfew would start. For the soldiers, they interpreted this to mean that everyone must be in their bed by 7:00pm. So the soldiers went out into people's homes asking them to go to bed. At one of the homes, one of the soldiers even beat up a dog that was at
their veranda. He beat the dog so hard with is army stick. The other simple mistake that I saw was very bad writing on the food that was being distributed. They wrote on bad words. I tend to think that some fellow just picked a paper and scribbled out whatever he wanted to be on the posho bags. It could have been some intern or maybe someone senior. People would not take it. The writing was improved. There was also some mistake that I realized with the issue of vehicle stickers to move during the lock down. 

While the President was addressing all of us on TV, he asked his Ministers to add a voice. To say something. The Minister of Works and Transport - Katumba Wamala who is an army General said this:

"Mr. President, we have issued stickers to all vehicles for essential services to move..for health, we have issued one with special features such that in case we come to a point where all have to stop, those of health care can still move. If an essential service has not yet received a sticker by now, then they are not essential". 

He said this with the utter confidence of an Army General. I moved my head a bit. He said this just a few hours after the Medical Workers Association had issued a statement that Doctors had no stickers to move. 

Positives and Praises

Uganda is not a country that glorifies its own. Actually many times people look at the bad.  However, the fight again the coronavirus has been different. The whole nation is united in thanking Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng and Dr. Diana Atwiine the Minister of Health and the Permanent Secretary of the same Ministry respectively. Even when there are issues affecting the process especially around the management of quarantine facilities, this has not yielded criticism to the leaders. We are all grateful. My take too is that the Ministry of Health has done a great job. Give it to them and the Macro level. At the micro-level however, at the district, the health facility and community levels, it's not been supper. A lot can be improved.   

Quarrels and Death

The President of the United States is unhappy with the World Health Organization. In fact, he said he would cut funding. Then generally, there is still too much death related to the coronavirus in the word. In the USA, the UK, Italy, Spain, and others. 

May God see the world through this.