The piercing shrill of the phone ringing incessantly woke Nyamurungi up. When she turned to check, it was mother calling yet again……..the 8th time in two days and Nyamurungi knew that she couldn’t avoid her forever🤦🏾‍♀️. Mastering all the courage and positive energy available, Nyamurungi picked up the phone and chirpily answered in their local dialect, “agandi Maama….”😊

After the initial pleasantries, Her mother went on to tell Nyamurungi about the challenges she was faced with back home…. The recent floods had relocated part of her banana plantation to the valley yonder, the bean gardens had been affected by the heavy rains and she was no longer optimistic about the yield from there. Building on the uncertainty was the prolonged silence from Musheija, Nyamurungi’s brother, a tracker plying the route from Dar-es-alam, who oft times supported the family with supplies.🙇🏾‍♀️

After a prolonged silence, Nyamurungi tells her mother about her suspicions that perhaps Musheija had been caught up in the COVID-19 border watches and controls from either country. She further proceeded to share with her mother her thoughts and prayers from the previous day. Nyamurungi’s mother heard it all without interrupting her daughter’s lamentations…..then decided to chip in when she sensed the frustration in her daughter’s voice take another tone.🤔

“My daughter,” she said, “what you see today is not new to some of us. We the older generation have been down that route. During the years of war, we suffered travel inconvenience, lack of trade and some rather extremely harsh conditions….the difference for us then was; one misstep was the distance between you and death by gunfire. Today it is a choice you make to be healthy and live longer or get infected and hope against hope that it goes well for you and you recover.

• 

Nyamurungi, this is frustrating I know….. You seemed like you were at the horizon of your career and now everything seems to have frozen but it is for your good and it will all come back up. Don’t despair, rather prepare for your greater days could be ahead of you. They will only be your greater days if you use this time to rethink some of your previous norms that will be different in days ahead.”

Nyamurungi felt better and purposed to plan better. She had observed that perhaps investment in agriculture was a good starting point, setting up ICT friendly supply chains might be worth looking into. She remembered the money that was saved up with the security fund and decided she would consider seeking professional advice on how to get access to finance for capitalizing her new business ventures. She then wondered about Musheija…..🤔

What was happening with him? He was her brother and friend. She remembered how different communities had alienated truckers for fear of the spread of the virus. She feared for him, prayed and hoped that he would be safe where he was and that someday soon they would meet again and laugh about the precarious situation they found themselves in today.🤗

• 

Despite the piling costs, she had hope that tomorrow she would be able to work out a funding mechanism with a money lender. She had a few friends she hoped to approach, though we’ll aware that the timing was not right and it could result in negativity but she believed that with a good plan, she might land on a worthy partner that would consider it worth their investment.🙏🏾

Well, tomorrow was another day…… Would she find any such persons willing to fund her dreams? What was the economic path that she should consider? Was her life in the city a mere show? Was it better to invest back in the village in Kikagati or should she consider another place closer to her fiancé brith place in Acholi region? Could they chart a new path of hope, all other obligations notwithstanding?

……………………………………….