Lockdown - the good, the bad and living life full of uncertainty

Let me tell you something about this Lockdown.

I should have written some days ago but I have been a bit busy. I have been into so many meetings and engagements about COVID-19, the response and all sorts of things. Of course, some of the meetings were as basic as what should we have in stock at home. I mean, I had to meet with Omukyara and plan this out. We couldn't afford to take any chances. We did google search and read about how people in China, Italy, Spain, and the UK prepared for the lockdown. 

Then I had numerous meetings with a team of staff that I lead at PCAU. By the way, some of them were interesting, they thought I was very fearful by asking them to prepare. Some of them thought it was a joke etc. I have realized that being a leader requires a lot of patience. There are people who will not look beyond today. They don't want to think about next month, next year, etc. 

But maybe before telling you more, I should inform you that I was supposed to travel a lot in the month of March and April 2020. You should have seen some posts on my social media platforms about my process of renewing my passport etc.  On the 7th of March 2020, I was supposed to leave Entebbe to Belgiam Austria, via Amsterdam then Vienna. I had planned my trip in such a way that I would take a 2.5hrs train from Vienna to Salzburg. I love this journey, while a colleague that I was going to travel with preferred to fly straight to Salzburg, I had opted to use the train from Vienna. I have done this twice before. That train is so comfortable, it has swift WiFi and all that. It is lovely to see the developed world from the windows of the train etc. 

Message received from Brussels Airlines about the cancelation of flights. I had sent them the reason that I was pulling out of the travel given the threats of the Corona Virus. They had indicated that tickets were none refundable. I was fine with losing money other than travel in the circumstances. Good news they came to me and all their customers that we could reschedule flights using the tickets paid. I have rescheduled my travel plans for October and December 2020. Hoping we will have defeated Corona Virus then. We are in this together.

Then after one week in Salzburg, I was supposed to leave on March 13th for Chicago USA, I would take a bus from there to South Bend Indiana. I was supposed to stay in Mishawaka somewhere on Confort lane near Centre for Hospice Care for one week before heading to Washington DC for a week's conference. I would leave the USA after many meetings on April 4th. Back to Entebbe.

All that did not happen. Some bad disease which had started in Wuhan city in China stopped everything.  It started with lots of stories including that people who eat wild animals ate the virus from some meat. Anyway, anyone who will be born from now will learn about this Corona Virus. It has ravaged the world. Airlines have canceled flights, airports have been shut down and public transport  and driving private cars are burned etc. 

Pretty leading Praise and Worship at Church today. It was Palm Sunday remember! April 5th 2020.

Today is the 3rd Sunday that we had to be on TV to attend church. It is amazing. Its Palm Sunday! I had to catch up with our friend Pretty Kiconco Patience leading praise and worship on Twitter live.  I and my people go to St. Francis Chaple Makerere. This is the place we call home church. We also go to Watoto Church (especially those Sundays when I wake up late). Watoto is also a bit convenient in dress etc. Actually, you can get on your jeans and canvas or flat shows and go praise God at church. You may appear funny if you did so at St. Francis Chapel. Much as this is a university chapel, it tends to maintain an Anglican tradition. People are always some kind of formally dressed. We have lots of friends there. We just cannot imagine church for many Sundays away from St. Francis Chapel. 

So we are actually in a Lockdown. That's why we didn't drive to church today. It is the 5th day in the lockdown in Uganda. For the past 3 days, I have been walking along the road with Omukyara. We leave around 4:00PM and take a walk. We return to the house at about 6:45PM. The roads have other couples and children walking or jogging. It is as if, the Lockdown has reminded all of us that we should exercise.  If we're out until 7:00PM, the LDUs would beat us. The President has called them pigs. Some of LDUs are really bad-mannered. One of them beat up a dog at someone's home. The man was holding a baby, his wife was near him, they were talking. Just like you know families do at the end of the day. Then the LDU came. They asked them to lock themselves inhouse. As they prepared to move, one of the LDUs beat up the dog badly. With too much force. The video has been going rounds.

But there is this other one thing intriguing. Among the 48 people who have tested positive to have the coronavirus in Uganda, some of them are among Watoto Children’s Choirs. Some people and some of our leaders have come up to castigate Watoto for taking children around the world. Let me tell you something. Since I graduated from Makerere in 2007, I have been working with NGOs. If there were no NGOs paying school fees for children, some of the people would not have studied. Regardless of the faults therein, let's not castigate the leadership of Watoto at least during this time. Some of these children can look to a future with hope because of some generous people. I can put my hand, the government of Uganda cannot look after all these vulnerable children. The government would do so if corruption and all other bad vises were not as rampant as they are. let me pen off here.

For now, bye!
We are in this together.