I was delighted to find some chickens at their poor home.

When I arrived at their home, everyone was away except the two chickens that you will see when you look closely. I had to look for them around the place. 

Dear friends, 

Let me tell you something. Some of you know, but others don't. 

Some families in our communities are so poor that all they have is life. They are so poor to the extent that they have no hope. The reason or plan for the next day. It is day by day for them.  

At the beginning of August this year 2021, I visited Kakumiro District to see one of the boys that we support. For this post, let me call him Baguma (not his real name). I like the name Baguma. It men's 'real men are courageous or strong'. We support Baguma under a program called Road to Hope at the organisation I head called PCAU. How would Baguma live without courage? How could stay alive if he was not strong?

Baguma is in Primary Four at a nearby school to his home. Of course, this is low for his age. He is fifteen years old. Normally,  a child should have finished Primary school at that age in Uganda. Unlike other children, Baguma started school when he was ten years old. He had other things to do first. I will tell you about that shortly. But Buguma is hopeful. He is so confident that when schools open, he will move on with school. In Uganda, schools have been closed for over a year due to Covid-19. Information around shows that schools will remain closed until January 2022. Some parents are teaching their children at home. 

Baguma is a 'total' orphan. His father died when he was seven years old. At that age, he was the one staying with his Dad in a two-roomed house. His Dad suffered cancer that put him down for many years. All that Baguma remembers about his Dad is that he suffered and cried all night. He was always in pain. He died when Baguma was seeing him. This memory disturbs the boy sometimes. He thinks about it whenever he sees children walk around with their parents. He thinks about it whenever he lacks food to eat at home and whenever it rains heavily at night. A downpour at night means that Baguma and his family will stay in the cold. Their makeshift house has a bad roof. It leaks almost everywhere. 

Baguma has no recollection of who his mother is. It is a long painful story that I could share another day.

Baguma stays with his maternal aunt. She is an elderly woman. She could be seventy or thereabout. The woman drinks alcohol a lot. Let me say this. She is a drunkard. Is it rude to say that of an older person? I am sorry.

But this grandmother has a big heart. She is housing Baguma and two other children.  The other children were abandoned by their mother who has mental health challenges and moves around small towns. The woman name is Mugwiraro (that's what Baguma referees her as...Mugwiraro means a mad person). Once in a while, Mugwiraro comes home and threatens to kill everyone at home. Baguma thinks she is dangerous. So he keeps guard.  One day the woman came and 'stole' the youngest child of three years. She took her by force and left her at the top of some hill. Baguma fetched his sister back home after a full day. He was so excited he found her. She had cried her head dry. 

Guys at home. 

During my recent visit, Baguma told me that he is getting 'a a little' stressed. His aunt drinking habits have worsened. Every evening, Baguma moves around looking for her along the paths. It is his duty to carry her home. He feels back pain. She is too heavy.  He also told me, that girls in the village tease him and mock him always. He hates it. But his aunt (by the way he calls her maama which means my mother) doesn't care. The boy does odd jobs to fend for food. But Maama will do everything possible to get money for alcohol. She recently sold a small piece of her land to a bar owner. She drinks on credit. The family is not left with the piece of land that has their 'house'. 

This family is poor. They lack almost everything.  If we didn't support them, I am not sure how Baguma would cope. During my last visit, I was glad they got two chickens in their compound. Baguma is hard working. He saved to buy them. So the family could have something. 

I have engaged in this kind of work since 2009. Right away from the University. I worked on a project on Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVC). This was the EMPOWER OVC Project. I was a social worker and letter a District Supervisor on the project. My, I and my colleagues on the project did so much and learned a lot. You can read about that here. 

That was then. This particular program of Road to Hope is unique. The program focuses specifically on children who are heading families while caring for sick parents is unique. It is work that is real. 

I will not write much more. It's already soo long! I don't think some people will read it all. 

I need your help to keep this work going.  I need you to partner with us. I request your donation.  Also, share this with your contacts.  

I promise you, I will return with a positive story. 

One of the boys we supported in another project is part of the Presidential  PR team in one of the East African Countries. Imagine that? A guy like Baguma coming through! God is alive! 

On this very project, one of the boys is doing his final year at medical school. I bet he will be a kind doctor.  He knows what it means.  

Please use this link and do all you can to support. 

I am counting on you. Thank you so much.

Mr. Rupiiha died last night.

 

Let me tell you something,

Everyone has their faults in life. Once on earth, none goes about perfectly.

What matters in my view is to do the right thing always and not to offer a mediocre attempt to anything one decides to do. I get bothered seeing people give half service.

This man Mr Rupiiha or AR as we called him when I worked under him was a good man.

He did his best each day. Never to miss correcting a fault. I was in middle management under him and he was at top management. By nature of my job, I took a chair at Senior Management with him too. Never was he to keep quiet. He calmly corrected even the tensest situations. I remember them - I mean the episodes.

So one day and as usual those days, I was supposed to recommend some documents before they got to him for approval. This particular one day, I recommended/endorse one on a hurry. It was a Friday afternoon. Someone reading this maybe will add the dots. I often got on the bus to Kampala nearly every Friday.

This man never took anything by face value. he scrutinized everything in detail. He was Acting as the topmost manager at the workplace then. He kept the document intact. He scolded me, and thoroughly well on Monday morning. He was incensed.

I took the lesson.

''Don't attempt something as serious as this on a hurry. You must be keen on detail if you are to be a good manager.''

Let in the evening of the someday, I met him. We talked about farming, football, buying land, politics and my late grandmother. She happened to be from his birthplace.

He was a fine man. Always generous with his wise counsel. So boastful about his accomplishments of long-life service.

We had him as one of the best mentors as we started out to work. I think we benefited a lot from him. Some of us were young. I worked under him for just 4 years before I left. To another place of work. We keep moving from here to there until we go. Until we leave for good.

I can tell you, we really worked. Smart and hard! He made his contribution.

Bishop Stuart University

should thank this man!

We are here for a season and maybe a reason. His time is up and off he has left. May God comfort your family.

This Season will End

Let me tell you something. 

The country is still under a lock down due to the pandemic. Senyiga omukambwe. 

Things are tough! 

Our leaders seam to mine themselves. 

A friend of mine told me that he is surprised. Some of the CEOs that he admired are not looking good. He thinks these great guys in town are not making the brightest decisions in this season. 

This week, the President of the Country came to speak twice. All TVs, Radios were tuned in. He spoke from Stake House Nakasero. I don't know if it is a state house or state lodge. But our President likes the place a lot. Maybe its where he resides mostly. On Sunday May 17th, we were informed that the President would be speaking to all of us on Monday at 8:00PM. On Monday morning information came through that the President would speak to us on Tuesday instead. They called it a slight change in the schedule. But on the same day, on Monday, afternoon this was changed, information came through that the President would speak to us at 8:00PM on the same day. 

So we looked forward to that. They said 

           "after wider consultations, the President has decided to maintain the earlier schedule and speak to   the country today at 8:00AM" 

By 8:00PM, we were all ready, all TV stations and maybe some people were on radios etc. We waited! The President showed up at 8:45PM. Then he spoke. I think we all left confused. He himself decided to come back to address us the next day at the same time. Information came through. Mainly on Tweeter that the President would speak again. To make some clarifications. 

He said:

" I have come to make classifications because some people did not understand aspects of my speech last night..."

He then spoke for a few minutes, he clarified that shops would remain closed and private cars would not be allowed on the road for a period of one week. He said that all of us would have to get free face masks provided by government first! The NRM givenment would give one free mask for every Ugandan above the age of 6 years. 

I am waiting for my mask but let me tell you why I had to write this evening. 

I traveled to the village - home last week for obvious reasons. I will share about that next time. I drove with Edmund my brother. On the way back, we picked a friend from Mbarara. He had been stack there. He is a good friend that I used to work with.  So we came talking in the car. We discussed a lot of issues and what the lock down had brought to all of us. 

let me tell you something: 

This whole situation brought about this pandemic will end. And almost certainly, you will be here alive and well. I am confident that this is the fact. It cannot be for ever.

So whatever you have lost this season, I don't know what, please raise your head. Actually, some of you have been through more worse stuff than this. I mean, close your eyes and look back. Ponder about those days. Life looked closed in. It was all black, dark! But you came through. For God's sake, here you are.

I don't want to encourage you. I just want to remind you. That you have come a long way. That seasons come and seasons go. That actually, you will share a story about this whole thing one day and smile. So get up, get your mirror, speak to yourself great words. Trust your creator.

Think about the next move in case you have lost something in this season.

Make a plan and commit that God. Say Dear Lord, you know everything. I am blessed, I am a blessing, I am more than a conqueror, I am yours and you are for me. Step out in faith my friend and get to the next calling. You will tell this story with a smile. A smile of triumph. I mean one day soon! Let no one make you feel bad, move on.

This season is for a reason. It is for you to rediscover your potential and conquer.

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. 

 

 

Mark Mwesiga's Blog: Lockdown - the good, the bad and living life full ...

Mark Mwesiga's Blog: Lockdown - the good, the bad and living life full ...: 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...

Mark Mwesiga's Blog: Lockdown - the good, the bad and living life full ...

Mark Mwesiga's Blog: Lockdown - the good, the bad and living life full ...: 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...

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.