The other Lira team left this morning and they stopped by
the hospital to bring food to Matias.
It will seem strange to be by myself at the hotel. We’ve established a bit of a routine where we
all meet when we get back and have dinner together.
We set off for our last day in Lira but our first day with
our last SACCO; Oyam South. It’s about
an hour away but thankfully on a good road.
They have a great location at a junction and their premises are the best
I’ve seen so far. They had some problems
and the past board all left at the same time so, even though this is one of the
older SACCOs I’ve been dealing with, they have a whole new board. They’ve just finished governance training,
strategic planning training and risk management training (all in less than 6
months). This is just one more example
of the dedication they have and how seriously they take their responsibility
and their roles in their communities.
HIV/AIDS is a problem in Africa and this SACCO supports a
group of disabled people living with AIDS.
They made me a special hat and we had a presentation at the end of our
session. We’ll be back tomorrow to
finish our work with this SACCO and we’ll leave here and head directly to
Kampala.
When we got back to Lira we went to check on Matias and he
was feeling much better and anxious to get home. The doctors agreed to discharge him. His vehicle was at the hospital and I was the
only one available to drive him and the vehicle home. I knew he didn’t live far from the hospital
so I thought that would be OK as long as I followed Julius, our driver because
I didn’t know the way to his house. We
got him into the vehicle and he wanted to go to the ATM, there went the quick
and easy drive. The traffic in Africa
generally is awful and Lira has so many bicycles and motorcycles as well as
pedestrians and they all go in different directions at the same time. I’ve been told there are “rules of the road”
but no one appears to follow them and I suspect that most don’t even know what
they are or that they in fact exist at all.
They also drive on the opposite side of the road. Luckily I drive a standard so we set off to
the ATM and then got him and his vehicle home safely. So, I can now say that I’ve driven in Uganda.
I say goodbye to my friends at the Kanberra Hotel tomorrow
morning and they have become just that – friends.
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