LIFE'S VALUE II

That was on a Wednesday. Torn to the core at the sight of our best friend so helpless in pain, Eddie and I did what we knew best; mobilize our friends/colleagues to contribute to Fahad Fund. We even lobbied the UCU administration so that when he’s discharged the hospital, the bills could be sorted out up-to the extent of our might since at the point he had been hospital for only 3 days and the bills were already soaring.

And indeed the response to the “Harambee spirit” was amazing for 3 days later, we had collected the last monies (sent by Moses Okumu, Peter Morse and Kelsey Spainhour…now Kelsey Groves from the bank and Sarah Atai also sent her contribution the following day Sunday) and hurray; we were hitting the 1 million mark to our shock at how an individual could have only touched so many lives in a short span.  Doreen (Fahad’s girlfriend) called me on Sunday morning to tell me that Fahad is showing recovery signs but still in pain.

I called Eddie to give him the good news of Fahad’s recovery and immediately he came over to Mukono. With fullest of hopes of seeing Fahad the following day, we plotted how we would spend the day with and chide him for getting a boda accident just to hear him laugh again; so we took 15K off the money to buy Fahad a very nice remote controlled toy car, wrapped in a gift pack and inside the box we wrote “Aim to buy a car like this and don’t give us a scare again. Desist from using bodabodas. Quick recovery brother”.

I remember Scarlet’s shock at the sight of the toy Car for a recovery gift; but to us, it was a well planned day to be boys again with one of our own…the three brothers we were (If you knew us, we were the biggest jokers but Fahad was the father of jokers and thus it was a poke at him). It had to be boys’ chill-out day albeit in the hospital precincts but we just wanted that smile and in our mind we knew what he would say. We were expecting… “Joe, really…whaaat? Eddie,even you? You guys are not serious; a toy car is all you could think of”? At that point, we envisaged he would be laughing and that is the Fahad we so wanted back in our lives. That same evening a phone call came through that his health had dipped again thus reaffirming the resolve to go the hospital the following day Monday.

In the wake of the morning at exactly 5.36am, a phone call came through from Fahad’s mama. “Joe, your brother is no more”.  Noo…I am dreaming, Fahad can’t die…not now. What of the unfulfilled dreams or so I told myself. Why God, why Fahad? Why did he even study so hard then dies even without getting the benefits for his top of University achievement? Our world was in tatters…it was spinning. I told Scarlet and she was speechless.

“Hallo Eddie, Fahad has gone away” was the shocking phone call I wired to Eddie. His apt  response was “Gone where? You kidding Joe right?” “Nope”, came the disappointing reply. We went to the morgue and that day unfolded in the weirdest way for me, Scarlet, Eddie and anyone who knew Kasozi Fahad Philip. By the end of that day 5pm, Fahad had been laid to rest in a strange Kayunga homestead he never even went to probably just at his death. He left whole trail of questions unanswered. Life had served us with a lemon…a bitter one for that matter and I bet you, this wasn’t turn-able into lemonade…if you think we could, tell me how?

 The recovery path has been very treacherous to most of us. I don’t know what everyone did to recover from this loss but at-least I know what Eddie did… (not for your reading folks; even Scarletto won’t know what he did), I have not approved of it yet Eddie; for heaven’s sake, how could you? Hahahaha...you see; it made all of us laugh and even Eddie is laughing at how he pulled this but a man got to do what a man got to do. Eddie, I guarantee you would even shock Kasozi to tears of laughter even in his grave.

In his entire period out of University, Fahad was constantly on the verge of getting a job at the Bank of Uganda (BOU). Sadly just 2 days after his burial, a phone call came through from BOU noting that he had secured a permanent job there. Ooooh, the sad intrigues of life.

Then enter last Saturday 27^th April, Senator Mutula Kilonzo is found dead in his Maanzoni Ranch. This 64 year old leader was a pace setter in most aspects who has been a performer in almost everything he touched. The bad taste with this is how can one exert all the efforts to campaign for a Senatorial seat, win it then die even before drawing the first salary?   

Following a discussion we had with Segecha, Kirui and David Kimaro, we analysed though that this is one person who has accomplished a lot in every docked he served. He served diligently those he met and was an achiever on the things he believed in. How many of us I life can attest that they have attained the much we aspire with our lives?

What legacy would you leave when the curtain draws down on your dance on the stage of life? Wherever you are, is it possibly to impact people positively? Be gentle to the ones we love and remember to let the ones we love know that we truly love them.

To the people who have impacted, continue to impact and will impact my life just know that I cherish you and if by any chance tomorrow never comes, you should know that I valued you so much.