From Godfrey: ‘About Moses, we got to hear from him that he met his problem when one day in 1996 as he was coming home from a nearby trading center to buy some food items and other things for home use, some thugs grabbed him and beat him up taking all his shopping and some money, about 30,000 (£50p) he had left from the shopping. The beating was so brutal that he could not walk back home; he with a lot of difficulty crawled home as there was not even a soul to offer help. His limbs had been severely battered that he ended up paralyzed for a long time. He was helpless and for long has been unable to help himself to the toilet. He needed the support of family members who after some time couldn’t probably stand that challenge and so abandoned him in his late father’s house. Unfortunately though, the house he now lives in is on the land that was given to one of his brothers as an inheritance after the death of their father. This then makes it tricky for us to put up a new roof on property that is not his. We were informed by one of his brothers that Moses owns a piece of land as share of the inheritence from his late father and there he could have his own permanet home. As we we shared our intention and wish to support Moses, the brother Mr Asenge Charles said it would be possible to demolish the current house and make use of the bricks to build another house at Moses’ own land. I challenged him to the task to put up the new walls and we would put the roof. He agreed and a timeline was set. He said by the end of January he would have organised that since he also felt Moses needed to be nearest where he could get easy assistance from his family than when he is by himself in the thicket of the sugar cane plantation. A simple calculation for the roof requirement of a basic shelter over Moses is 10 iron sheets that cost 26,000 ugx each, roofing timber 20 pieces each at 15,000 ugx and 10 kilograms of nails at 4,500 ugx each. Labour charges will be negotiated once I get the right carpenter. We will go to see the land and also monitor progress on Mr Asenge’s promise to raise the walls. In a further conversation we were told that Moses was an exellent tailor but because of the trauma that he experienced on the fateful day he can longer do anything to earn a living, he depends on the generosity of some family members and well wishers to live on. He had 2 children but one of them (girl) passed on. She was the greatest support to her father while she lived but second (boy) doesnt really care. He stays in the capital and never comes home because he had demanded to have Moses’ land and he was not given. He hated his father since then. Briefly that is about Moses. Our resolve to support him shall not be hampered by any negative story told, Amasa and I will follow up on the matter and see that a smile is kept on his face.’
So dear friends do you think we could rise to this challenge and provide the funds for Moses to live in relative comfort? You’ve all given so much already through your mosquito net donations, but if you can donate just a little more to see that Moses has a roof over his head in a place where he can be looked after this would be so so wonderful and would be a great way to round off this year. The cost is 605,000 Uganda Shillings which at todays exchange rate would be £132 plus maybe another £20 for labour expenses. My hubby and friends must have spent half that on a meal yesterday which really puts things in to perspective! I’m determined to share my Christmas spirit with Moses! Please get in touch if you would like to do this too. THANK YOU!
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Gerry's Uganda Projects 