Greetings to you all,

I hope you are all well. East Africa and specifically the nation of Tanzania received one of the most scary and worst news when they lost their current President, H.E John Pombe Magufuli last Wednesday evening. He was a President most of us admired for his frugal anti-corruption campaign and tendencies. He fought corruption with a passion — something most African Presidents have failed to do– but in one term, elected 2015, he managed to change the fate of his country with well-built infrastructure including roads and other public facilities. He will be remembered by so much he did for his country but also one of the most trending Twitter hashtags #WhatWouldMagufuliDo. 

The only challenge with his legacy would be his lack of efficacy, logic, and common sense in the fight against Covid-19. A prominent and vocal coronavirus hoaxer, he refused to initiate lockdown or order enforcement of public health measures like wearing of masks and sanitizing. He was quoted as saying that “This virus is an evil/demon and can only be combated by prayer.” 

He declared two days of prayer and fasting for the nation and at the end of the two days he declared his country Covid-19 free. This of course was a mistake; a mistake that likely claimed his life. He was admitted to hospital a few weeks ago with ‘heart failure issues’, although social- and professional media in Tanzania have widely claimed that he was hospitalized in Kenya (some said South Africa) for treatment of Coronavirus, and was declared dead Wednesday by the country’s Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, who will take on the presidency and gift Tanzania its first female President. We wish her well in her new task and hope she will continue with the great fight H.E John Pombe Magufuli RIP had started, as well as take a more science-based approach to the global pandemic. Women in power lately have been very fundamental in the development of their departments and have performed exceptionally well in their duties, and we hope and know that she will change the nation of Tanzania in many positive ways. Good luck H.E Samia Suluhu Hassan. 

Covid-19 in Uganda has also taken a number of very important and prominent people ranging from military officials, businessmen and also doctors just to mention but a few. Whereas I have said important and prominent, I must say that every life is important for a fact because many people have lost loved ones during this time to the pandemic and I don’t want to sound inconsiderate or insensitive. Every life is important and we grieve all those who have been through tough times, yet we can only send you comforting thoughts through the hardship of loss. We are with you.

This week I continued to feel better and more energetic but the only challenge has been the heat. In this limited edition offer, I would like to offer any reader my place in Uganda for the next few days because this heat is unbearable to me. So I am offering our dear readers a limited “Come to Uganda and take my place edition” to one lucky winner who hates his/her country’s weather at the moment. I could use some cold weather now please. 

Otherwise I am well and work continued with the visits to Dorah A, Francoise L, Prossy L, Lilly A, Irene L and Harriet L. They are all doing well and the following is what transpired during my conversations and visits. 

Dorah A. is living “the life” at the moment. Everything is going on well with her family and business. Her customers are happy and also her electricity issues seem to have subsided for a moment. The fridge we loaned her is still functional and serves her well even though it is a bit small, it continues to serve her needs really well. There is a sense of life and joy every time I visit her at the restaurant. This is the life we wish every single Mama and it is our hope that all continues like this from this stage on. The dream is to create sustainability for every family that we are in contact with through this project and program. This is why I continue to always thank all of you who support us every week, every month and every year. You make our dreams come true. 

The job for us is never done until we are sure a Mama is functional to the bare minimum. I had to visit Irene L again to ensure that she is fully functional to get the results we so desire. I was happy to find that she had pulled funds from God knows where and put the electrical wiring in the salon but unfortunately, she did not have enough money to get the actual electricity into the shop. This motivated us to arrange some finances for Irene to get the electricity into the shop so she could use her electrical appliances. One of the things that we like to encourage our Mamas to do, is to invest in their own business because we believe by doing so, they become attached to their business. 

I then went down to a place called Mitiyana District to visit Prossy L. and things seem to be going on well. Her pigs look really good. Their coats are clean and shiny which is usually a sign of healthy and happy animals. She has split two of the four rooms we built for her. The intention was to create a separate space for some of the grown pigs. This helps to identify also the ones that are ready to be taken to the males for fertilization. This is going to help her meet the goal of sustainability. The more pigs she gets the bigger the farm grows and then she will be in a position to start selling off the piglets or even the bigs and not run out of the pigs.

The search for a shop to rent still goes on with Harriet and no success has been met obviously because the story would be different otherwise. Her search still continues to find a good location for the success of the tailoring shop. One of the factors that determine the success of a business is usually good location, so we are giving her as much time as she needs to secure herself a good and favorable location.

Francoise L. is doing okay for herself at the moment. The food vending is helping her keep up the family’s needs at the moment. The season has been good for them because the price of the maize dropped a bit by 200/-, from 1,000/- to 800/-. This is usually good for business because then she gets more for less and is able to make more profits. Her children are well, Ambrose joined the police and Jolly is still waiting for her school to open.

This week it is unfortunate that we don’t have a Mama Boost yet but we will post you as soon as possible when there is an available Mama.

It is always a great pleasure to write to you all. Thank you for all the support you give to us, making dreams come true. We appreciate you all and please continue to support and spread the word. Stay Safe, Maintain Social Distance and Stay Sociable.

Yours in service

Andrew Echel

Director of Programs, Uganda

ISEE Solutions Society.

{note: we have received an email from Geoffrey Omongin. He was sick (not COVID, thankfully) but is making a recovery. His brick-making business has started up once again and they have made around 6,000 new bricks as of this writing. We are following up to find out how the sale of the first load of bricks is going and will keep you up-to-date once we know more. -ed}