It is almost exactly 24-hours later that we meet with the folks from the U.S. Embassy.
I have been trying to get this appointment for two weeks, and after an incredibly frustrating series of missed phone calls back and forth, have managed to arrange a conversation with two senior USAID staff in Kampala, along with a member of our board, Dr. Ben Khingi, plus Hellen and Calvin. Anthony has been taken away for a funeral way up in Gulu and is not able to make it.
R to l: Dr Ben. Calvin Echodu and Hellen Grace Akwii from Pilgrim Africa. Dr. Seyoum Dejene and Dr. Kassahun Belay from USAID.
The meeting takes place in a lovely restaurant called La Petit Café. I know it should be Le Petit Café, and I’m annoyed every time I have to write it, but that’s really the name. When we’re all gathered, I start to introduce the agenda in the usual strolling Ugandan way. But these guys are thoroughly Americanized and waste no time. They want to know our anti-malaria credentials, and they want to know them now. When Calvin begins to describe the pilot protocol in Katakwi back in 2009, they pepper him and Dr. Ben with technical questions, mainly around the mass distribution of antimalarials, a highly controversial approach. But as we talk, they seem convinced that Pilgrim is a serious player, and they offer a hand in partnership, describing the USAID grant application process and giving us some other very useful information. This is more than I was expecting from an initial meeting, but of course, we are all delighted. When one of them has to leave, we are left with Dr. Kassahun Belay, who offers himself as our major contact with the agency.
Dr. Belay has just come to this office from Nigeria, where he directed the distribution of 53 million nets. He is a perfect blend of scientist, policy wonk and implementer, and seems to have encountered and addressed in Nigeria every possible thing that could go wrong in a massive intervention such as the one coming up on the 10th. As he talks, I can’t believe I what I am hearing. Yesterday we were handed an impossible job and today God introduces us to the man who can help us get it done. Yes, we have huge work to do, but we have already figured out that one key will be to supplement the Village Health Workers by mobilizing the churches down to the village level. Thanks to cell phones, this can happen faster than you might imagine, and Kassahun thinks it’s a great idea.
Then, the bombshell. “God is always ready to do a great thing, and He will do a great thing here. We are just trying to do some little thing for Him.” Can I believe my ears? USAID does not generally speak the language of faith. Is this man a believer? He laughs easily. “I am so glad we have managed to have this meeting,” he says. “I am so sorry we had such a hard time connecting. After your e-mail, I am not sure what happened. I said to my assistant, ‘I think I have lost my bishop.’ But then we found you.”
“I’m relieved,” I replied. “A lost bishop is a very lonely thing.”
He laughs again. “Yes, I have found my bishop. I am so glad.”
And suddenly ten days seems like plenty of time. And as ready as I am to go home to Pittsburgh, part of me wants to stick around to see what God will do.
Print 
PDF