When, on May 25, my ophthalmologist at Mengo Hospital, Dr Dan Bwonya, who had carried out laser operations on my eyes in March this year to replace my natural lens, which had developed cataracts, with artificial ones, finally told that the hospital was releasing me, I was overjoyed.

I had become a common figure at the hospital as I had to consult him whenever he told me that I should consult him. He told me:

“Your sight has improved tremendously. But you will need glasses to correct the defect of shortsightedness, which has persisted even without new lens. So I am sending you to our opticians. They will make for you the right glasses. As for me I am done with you”.

After thanking Dr Dan Bwonya for restoring my sight, I immediately informed Prof Wasswa Balunywa, the Principal of Makerere University Business School what had happened. The professor had been very instrumental in ensuring that I did not lack anything during my sickness. He did not want to hear that I experienced any psychological imbalance because of the sickness, which could trigger stress-related diseases. He allocated me a driver to ensure that I was safe from Covid-19 through interaction with the people in public transport. The driver did not only take me to and from the hospital, but also took me to my rural home in Luuka whenever I was through with the ophthalmologist.

When I told Prof Waswa Balunywa about the glasses, he told me, like he had always done, “Don’t worry about money or anything to do with your health. We shall ensure you are healthy”. He was aware that Makerere University was still withholding my in-house pension, almost 12 years since I retired in 2009, which is gross human rights violation by Uganda’s premier university.

When I first met Prof Wasswa Balunywa at Makerere University In at the beginning of the 1990s, I never foresaw that he would be instrumental in my struggle with conquering kindness. I had been close to him throughout his struggles with the Makerere University administration. I was Secretary General of Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA) and he had moved to MUBS as principal.

At one time he came at Ssemakokiro Flats with a huge file that contained a record of copies of communications between him and he Makerere University Administration. He wanted MUASA and myself to be acquainted with issues of contention between him and Makerere University. I was no longer ignorant of them. I decided to personally be on his side and to keep MUASA institutionally pro-the position of Waswa Balunywa in his struggle to give MUBs an identity of its own, administratively free from Makerere University but linked academically.

That was not the only link between Waswa Balunywa and myself. He is a stubborn man. So am I. He has a very high concept of himself. So do I of myself. He loves leading by example. That was my stance too when I was a leader at Busoga College, Mwiri and Makerere University, and the top leader of Uganda Nile Discourse Forum (UNDF) and the Nile Basin Discourse (NBD), a regional NGO of 11 countries in the Nile Basin, and of which UNDF is one of the 11 Forums of NBD, one per country (i.e., Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda).

Prof Balunywa loves critical thinking. So do I. Creativity, initiative, innovation and imagination, are the hallmarks of Balunywa. If I have not preached these as critical human resources, I have also deployed them. So there is a good degree of congruence.

But more importantly, Waswa Balunywa’s dad, the late Ali Balunywa and my own dad, the late Charles Afunaduula, worked together in the Kyabazinga’s government in the 1960s before Milton Obote abolished the semi-federal institutions, alongside the federal entities of Ankole, Buganda, Bunyoro and Toro. Ali Balunywa was the administrative secretary of Busoga and Charles Afunaduula was the Speaker of Busoga Luukiiko, and later chairman of the Busoga Education Committee. They interacted a lot and reached decisions together regarding funding of the Luukiiko and the education committee and associated school system.

Besides, Balunywa’ uncle, Annas Kinyiri was, like me, a commissioner with the Presidential Policy Commission (PPC) of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) from 2000 to 2005, alongside Cecilia Ogwal, Dr James Rwanyarrare, Prof Rubaihayo, the late Prof Jethro Opolot and the late Prof Adonia Tiberonwadwa. His other uncle, Kirunda Kivejinja, was a friend of the Charles Afunaduula family until his, and in fact, before his death, he was the chief mourner at the burial of my brother, Moses Wasedde-Mwavu, a former official of the Uganda Electoral Commission (UEC). I interacted well with the old man and learnt a lot from him.

Most people know Prof Waswa Balunywa more in connection with his academic and business education orientations than his human pro-people nature. His two homes – one in Entebbe and another in Kasolo, Iganga, are beehives of people of all ages, many at school or university. When I visited his Entebbe home recently before seeing my ophthalmologist at Mengo Hospital, I found many university students and some lecturers doing digital research. One could not fail to note that his home is an extension of MUBS although it is also true that Waswa Balunywa ecological system is distinctly evident, with flows of energy, information and materials.

After being discharged from hospital, I decided that this time round I would use public means but take trouble to ensure that my mask is on all the time, my hands are sanitised and social distance is observed. At nearly 72, I knew I was vulnerable to Covid 19. I had wanted to be in Newark, but somehow without prior thought I decided that I should leave Greater Kampala by public means the following day. I later learnt that it was God’s will, not mine. Knowing who Prof Balunywa is, if I had asked him to send me his personal vehicle to take me to my rural home, he would have quickly and positively responded. But I said to myself, “Not this time”. This too was not just my decision. I will show you why.

On Saturday morning at about 8 am, I boarded a taxi, the driver of which observed the Ministry of Health Guidelines strictly to Iganga town. It was the first time in a very long time I came to terms with the new truism that a journey which used to cost a traveller on a taxi Ush9000/- before the Covid 19 pandemic was now costing Ush20,000/- from Kampala to Iganga. I concluded that the government need not tell people from rural areas not to travel to the cities. Covid 19 had already condemned many to a sedentary life due to hiked taxi and bus fares.

Heavy vehicle traffic made the journey take too long and too tiresome. I abhorred another long, arduous and tiresome journey by bus. Jesus was right, “Give your burden to me”. surrenders the journey to him. When I arrived In Iganga, the driver did not stop his vehicle where I wanted. He stopped where he chose he should. When he opened the door, I was surprised to see someone with mask on, which made it difficult for me to establish who he was. It was as if he had been waiting for me.

He said, “That is the one I want”, while pointing to me.

I had not told anybody to wait for me.

“Who is this man?”, I asked myself.

On closer look and careful attention to his voice, I realised it was my pastor in Newark. He helped me slow down the vehicle.

I asked him, “Are you going to Newark?”

He answered in the positive. When he answered that way, I knew he was driving to Newark because he had a vehicle.

Indeed he inquired, “Where is your luggage?”

I asked the driver to give the luggage to my pastor. I told him that I wanted to buy a few things from the nearest supermarket. He said, “Okay do and when you finish wait for me in front of the supermarket. Let me put your luggage in the vehicle. I should be with you in 20 minutes”.

So it was. In exactly 20 minutes he was back. He opened one of the back door as he said, “I am going with my wife. We shall pick her up from my Iganga home”. I jumped in and off we went. After picking his wife, it was a smooth drive all the way. But before dropping me at my residence, the pastor did not withhold a counsel, which I thought was divinely inspired:

“Mzee, do not waste your time and energy trying to be rich. Just eat well, drink natural juices and continue to love and worship God. You will enjoy your latter life. If you waste time and energy trying to get rich, you will get stressed. If you eat badly and drink unnatural juices, you will have a weak, unhealthy body and live on medicines, which further compromise your health”.

So miracles are still happening. And one need not wait for church service to get divine counsel.

• A Tell report / By Prof Oweyegha-Afunaduula, a former professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Makerere University, Uganda