This week’s report is shorter than usual as Andrew’s “brother” (cousin who was raised with Andrew and who is of the same age) passed away and Andrew had to travel to Lira to attend to the burial. Our sympathies to him and his family. We have included an update from Geoffrey, at the end of the report.

On another note, should you live in the Central Okanagan and have a fridge or know someone who is getting rid of a fridge, the community fridge on Cawston needs replacing. Please let me know if you have a lead!

July 5th: Greetings to you all,

I hope that the weekend went well for all of you. I was glad we had some rainstorm here on one of the days. It helped cook the temperatures a bit. The Covid situation has not changed much as the deaths are still going on, one after the other. We lost about 5 senior government workers and some lawyers too. One of the deaths was from a former President candidate in the 2006 presidential elections called Aggrey Awori RIP who died early on Monday morning. 

Monday I didn’t do much because I had to walk to town to pick up some cash for myself to be able to deal with my monthly dues. The walk was long and it took me about 4.5 hours to and fro. It went really well as I was able to walk to and fro safely and at the end of the day, I was able to see my mum who happened to have called me as I went back home. 

There were so many roadblocks on the way but of course for cars mainly. I managed to maneuver through and the sun was not as hot in the morning so I was able to walk successfully. Of course I got a few water breaks and bought some drinks along the way. It was quite refreshing because I thought about a lot of things on my way. 

I will now order my groceries in the confidence that I have the money to pay for them. I will try to organize tomorrow to see if Pulakiseeda can have her son ride his bike and drop me the goods. 

On the other note I am happy to report that Dorah A. who had traveled to bury her father and was locked down in her home district managed to make it back safe and sound. She is back home with her family and children. 

July 6th

I hope that you are well. 

Today for me has turned out to be a dark day as I lost one of my brothers called Denis. He succumbed to kidney related complications during dialysis later this evening at about 6:40pm. He is survived by two beautiful daughters. 

He became unconscious about 4 days ago, regained consciousness the day after and started his dialysis just yesterday morning. Denis got diabetes at a very early age during his early teenage years and since then he had been in and out of hospital because of high blood pressure related issues, diabetes and now kidney failure. We grew up together, played a lot together and when I received the news, all I could see was the last visit I had with him just a few weeks before lockdown. This afternoon as I write this all I can think about is our early childhood days and some of the last conversations when I went to see him. I had never seen such optimism in a long time as we spoke. He was full of life and positive energy but it is sad that today he lost his battle. I will surely miss him. We are trying to work on the paperwork that will allow us to travel or else I might not go because of the lockdown restrictions. But I am certain that I will travel for the funeral and burial. Life is full of surprises sometimes. 

Today I spoke to Amina A and she is still feeling sick. Her children have been in isolation and taking medication for the last few days since they lost their dad. The last born is the one currently getting his treatment but she has run out of money and herself, she is not feeling well. 

I finally got through to Angel N. and she is okay. Her shop is open as they take turns with her younger brother because it is so far to walk daily. 

Angel was able to make it back in time before the lockdown was initiated the next day because I remember having called her and she was out of town. I am glad she made it back on time. 

Otherwise thank you for keeping up with us today. I have not much to say today because all I can think about is my brother Denis.

I might be away for a few days but until we meet again, stay safe but remember to stay sociable. 

Update from Geoffrey

We made 2,034 bricks today. We finished the heap of clay we had. We finding out what we can do to remove the water from the pit so that we can dig out more clay by at least Friday this week. Bricks in the third phase of digging out clay (11,600) are almost ready for baking. One of our neighbors baked his a week ago from the place where we are supposed bake from. We are waiting for his to be bought before we can bake ours. The heap of clay in the fourth phase produced about 13,000.

Someone either intentionally or unintentionally allowed his cows into the compound where fresh bricks are laid yesterday evening. Cows walked on the bricks and caused several damages on the freshly laid bricks. About 500 bricks were destroyed. I followed up until I got to know the owner of the cows. He denied but finally accepted because there was a witness. His continued denial prompted me to go to the local council one chairperson. We went with him and local council leader up to the site. He was made to pay for the destroyed bricks, to which he accepted but said that he would pay at beginning of August since he doesn’t have money. He was also warned against his recklessness with his cows.