Northern Uganda might be called Republic of Kenya as far as agriculture goes.
Enterprising Kenyans have leased huge tracts of land in Amuru, Nwoya etc and planting - maize, soy beans averaging >200-300 acres. One farm has 3000 acres of land and 250 will be for maize this season.
In 2006, I was at a travel agency on Samora Machel Avenue in Harare collecting my flight ticket for my trip that evening to London. Those days we had to physically go and collect our tickets.
I saw a young man who was literally in tears. He had been given money to pay for his ticket because he was going abroad to study medicine on a scholarship, and the money had either been lost or stolen on his way to pay for his ticket. He was devastated.
I asked the agent, Sis Elizabeth, why the young man was crying, and she explained the situation to me. I was not a man of huge means. I asked to see his paperwork, and he showed me everything. He was with his brother, and he produced the scholarship letters and all the relevant documents.
His waiting touched me, but I could not use my UK credit card to help him because Zimbabwe had a dysfunctional banking system, and it still does. So I asked the agent to issue the young man his ticket and put it on my account. I took his details, and I also gave him mine.
His parents, both ordinary school teachers, called me to thank me profoundly, and asked to meet with me when I am back from my UK trip. They eventually paid the money about a year and a half later.
Nineteen years later, someone from my home in Britain called me today to say there was a parcel for me. I asked her to open it, inside was a 1962 vintage Glen Grant bottle of whisky worth £2,500 (R56,950).
This not-so-young man anymore has sent it as a Christmas present. He is now a specialist practising medicine in France.
Thank you so much, Ronald, for the whisky. Writing this made my eyes well up. I continuously wish you and your family well.
This reminds us that when we do good for others, regardless of how much time passes, people never forget the kindness that lifted them when they needed it most.
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