Greetings to you all,

Happy New Month to every single one of you. I hope this read finds you better than you were last month. For us here it is a month of great optimism as most of the lockdown criteria have been revoked or lifted. More people are starting to flock the towns and trading centers than before. The President decided to lift the ban on public transport meaning that the taxis and buses will be allowed to ferry people from their residences to towns. The only condition set is that they shall only carry half of what they ordinarily would carry. This has caused the raising of the transport fares up to double the original fares. This means that a distance that cost 1,000/- now costs 2,000-2,500/- Uganda Shillings. Most people will not be able to afford the fares, mostly the lower socio-economic citizens, like the ones ISEE Solution Society serves. 

The problem over the past few weeks is that more and more cases of Covid 19 have been discovered in communities as well. The previous cases of Covid were discovered at the border posts, especially in truck drivers. The story is now different as only this week almost 40+ cases have been discovered in the community and the general masses. The total of Covid 19 cases have now risen to over 550+ cases. The only good thing is that we have not had any deaths yet and most of the people infected have recovered. Our hope like any other countries is to try and hinder the spread of this virus so we keep our fingers crossed for our population which surely has failed to keep social distance. 

ISEE Solutions has continued to look out for our Mama Nguvu partners and the following people are the ones we managed to reach. 

Francoise L, is doing well. She is healthy and she has her medication. I was worried a bit the first days I tried to call her and her phone was off. It turns out that they had no electricity in the area where she is stuck. She is still waiting for an opportunity for taxis to be allowed in her area so she can finally come home. I am constantly in touch with her to ensure that she makes it to her family safe and sound. Her children who have been cooking snacks in town have been sending her money for food and will hopefully send money for her transport home.

Dorah A is doing well. Her husband finally made it home safely too. He was stuck over 300+ kilometers away from Kampala in a place called Mbarara town. When the president allowed private means to move, he jumped at the first opportunity he got. He is now home with his entire family. Dorah wants to reopen her restaurant when she finds a new place to rent. She is still devoted to her trade and she wants to continue doing what she loves. I encouraged her to look out for the opportunity to rent a place so she can make some money since food stalls have not been closed. 

Harriet L is doing well. She was really happy and thankful for the support we gave to her last time. She also told me the good news that she finally got the relief food distributed by the government. This was really good for her family because none of them is currently working so this food came in handy for them. I encouraged her to eat it sparingly because it doesn’t look like the government is going to go back to the areas they have distributed before. I also encouraged her to look for new business opportunities that she could venture in. 

Lilly A is okay. She was not feeling good as she had a bit of headache on one side of her head. I asked her to see the doctor just to assess the situation. She finally opened her shop and can tailor or sew but says there isn’t business coming her way. I asked her to be careful as she opened her shop and to follow the operating procedures as set by the government. 

Anna M was attacked by thugs. She texted me that she was attacked on her way home. Robbers attacked her and hit her. They ran away with her phone so she reached me on Messenger. I have since been trying to reach her but all in vain. I have left her a message on Messenger to leave a number of someone I can contact to talk to her directly. 

Rehema N is doing well. The 3 infant kids recovered well so that was good. We sent her money just over 2 weeks now and she used the money to buy food and pay some medical debts at the clinic. Unfortunately one of her elder children, Reagan, was not feeling well as he had malaria. I spoke to him and he was receiving some medication so that was good. 

Betty N, is doing well. She has not had any new orders for fabric masks so she hasn’t been busy. Her husband got sick of Malaria, which is usually common in the dry season sometimes. He has been receiving treatment and he is recovering well. 

Hadija N is doing well. She managed to get back from the burial of her brother in a district in the East called Mbale. Our social studies class tells us that the first man came from Mbale, on a Mountain called Elgon. History says he descended the mountain with a cow called Behigo. There you go, now you know the truth about where the first man on earth came from. Back to Hadijja, she says that she is going back to frying chips because people are coming back to the road. She has done so well in this business and we trust that whatever she does, she is going to succeed. 

Annet N is doing well. She is catching up on business as more people are coming back to open shops in the trading center. She has been selling more tea and porridge. We spoke about her closed restaurant in the town and said she would call the landlord lady to ask about the safety of the business items she left in the kitchen. Annet owned another stall that she worked at every evening where she still served the tea and porridge. She sold this to evening market dwellers, people who brought in market supplies for the vendors. When the first lockdown was initiated, Annet wasn’t able to go back to town to figure out transportation for the supplies. 

I spoke to Asia N and Pulakiseda when I saw their market was being demolished. It turns out that the authorities are widening the road. The new road goes really close so it looked like they were cutting off some of the market. It turns out that Pulakiseda’s stall was moved a bit but she is okay. They had to push the stall a bit behind to create room for the road. Asia N also suffered the same problem as her stall too was moved. The good thing is that both of them managed to keep their spaces in the market. 

This week for me has been great, talking to our Mama Nguvu partners. Some are actually making progress. I am happy that the anxiety that was growing has actually reduced. My only fear deep down my heart is that I feel that this uplift is a bit too early. I feel that the public has not got the true perspective of how bad the virus can be so I believe that more and more people will contract the virus for sure. If this happens, lots of people here will die like flies. I only hope that this virus doesn’t spread more.

Thank you for your continued support for all our Mamas, something that we will forever be grateful for. For the lives that you have bettered and the families you have enriched in countless ways, we thank you. We encourage you all to stay safe, keep safe distances but always remember to be sociable as we continue to make this world a better place for all those we are able to reach out to. 

My biggest regards to you all,

Andrew Echel.