8:00-11 Help get breakfast ready for house guests. To the Keep to open, breakfast. Jen and I met with a friend and talked. Contacted Mbale CURE hospital to make an appointment for Jen. We leave tomorrow for this consult. This is a Capetown-trained neurosurgeon and radiologist. This is the last stop before we decide if we need to evac Jen to South Africa. I also meet with some folks at th keep that are interested in finding jobs for locals they know. Introduced the free courses at the training center. Took Declan to carpool. Went to the CTC to check in and try to find my technician.
11:00-2:30 Began to try to track down my technician. He’s got 1,500,000/= shillings that belongs to a customer. His story doesn’t add up. At all. He took the money and the machine to this reputable place in Kampala who “imported a new mac motherboard”. The motherboard didn’t work so they “offered to refund the money 500,000/= a week”. He’s been back and forth for weeks with the money and the machine. Missing work, missing the IICT class. I called the place in Kampala. They have never seen him and haven’t imported a motherboard in a year “because of the high cost”. They asked if he has a receipt, a job sheet, a contact name or number. He of course has none of that. Yesterday he said he had a “coupon” they gave him. I sent him to get it. He disappeared then texted that he might have been taken by a “corn man” (sic). He’s mentioned this place by name many times during his absence over the last weeks and I know he’s lying. Got all my documents in order and realized this same technician is into us for 4,500,000/= for an ipad he broke (“repaired” against our policy), this laptop and several other laptops he was responsible for losing. We have legal documents on the latter, stating that he would pay back that debt by March 2013.
I called the tech eight times back to back. Then he switched his phone off.
I feel for the guy. I really do. I believe in second chances because without them I’d be dead. This is his third chance. I even hired him back after his last MASSIVE 2.5M/= “blunder”. But this is ridiculous. His lies and dodging are the last straw.
I took the paperwork and a photo to the police, and we rolled out to his house with two detectives. We had to stop along the way to get a regional detective. Our tech wasn’t home. It was a waste of time but at least the police know where he lives so they can pick him up without me.
3-4:30 To the keep with Jen for the staff bible study. Got some lunch.
5-6 Dinner prep and eating with our house guests. I wasn’t really hungry. Late lunch.
At some point I also blogged and Facebooked and tried to get my head wrapped around this stuff with Jen. I also had to wage the becoming-all-too-frequent internal battle of “What am I doing here?” and “Is this all really worth it?” I also got frustrated again because I spent yet another day without doing anything technical.
I feel like we were called here, and haven’t yet been called to leave. But I always question why I spent 20 years of my life in IT if I wasn’t meant to use any of it. The only answer I have right now is that it gave me a platform and it gave me you as a supporter. The community is simply amazing and you’ve stepped up to every financial challenge we’ve run into. And maybe that was the point of my 20-year run: to get to know you and be an advocate for you.
But I’ve come to realize that we need more. There are projects here in Uganda that need doing. We need some folks to come to Uganda because there’s tech stuff that needs to get done. And with each passing day of me treading water that list grows.
I’ll put togehter a list soon. Think and pray about it. Whether you’re interested in coming or helping to fund a trip, we need you.
