{UAH} Reflections From Uganda Part 5

By Alex Ray Lubega

Reflections From Uganda Part 5

The Need to have either a Personal Emergency Funds Account or a Family Emergency Funds Account continued ........

On a Sunday evening while having tea at home in Namasuba with Dad back in Uganda last year 2016 during my December Holidays a conversation starts. Dad says "By the way you know my very good friend so and so (for privacy issues I will not mention the name of this person) owner of a once very reputable big company in Uganda that used to deal in foreign import of Japanese Auto Spare parts which used to make alot of money and had big business." I respond back "Yeah I know him". Dad goes on to say "He is really very much sick right now suffering from cancer. By the time the doctors found it, it had spread. He didn't mention the type of cancer." I was like "really, oh wooooooooooow that is so sad and really terrible."

Dad briefly gave the background story behind this long time friendship and bond between him and his good friend and how they met. He gave details of how his friend helped him with starting to travel abroad to do business and so on and so forth. But while he was mentioning all these details I could see the sad look on his face and I could tell his friend meant so much to him and he was very important to him. His friend played a very big role in helping him to be the man he is today in so many ways than one.

After all those details Dad paused and took a deep breath and he shock his head as He said "You know the sad part about of all this is that my good friend is broke and he has no money at all. We have to do fundraisers between us his friends and come with money to help cover the medical and treatment costs that he is incurring at the moment. Also some of his children are helping out as well and we are also providing guidance on medical decisions on what needs to be done for him."

As we were having this conversation, I asked my Dad "but what happened to all the money your friend was making all those years. He didn't save up anything for a rainy day or set aside some money for "emergency funds account" or something with that regard. This is when the statement "Emergency Funds Account" comes up. Dad responded by saying "Son I don't think you will understand and besides it is very much complex that it will be hard to explain." He went on to say "Alot of things have changed over the years, those days we used not think about Emergency Fund Accounts or things like that. We used to live life as it came by."

Alot of what you see now and what you know now we just didn't know and because we weren't that educated or aware of those things we didn't bother taking the necessary steps to prepare for those uncertainties. Today there is alot more information available to us about things that were valuable to us back then but we did not follow through. That was the life back then. There wasn't that sense of urgency to take the necessary steps and prepare ourselves. We just lived life as it came our way.

We went on and on about the Subject of Savings and Emergency Funds Account and we came to a conclusion that these things are necessary whether on a personal or family basis. It is important to have an Emergency Funds Account exclusive from your Savings Account. As a result of this conversation that day, we the children of the Lubega Household had to come together, all 11 (Eleven), sit down on a round table family meeting and have a deep conversation on this very important issue. By the end of the meeting, we decided to institute an Emergency Funds Account where each one of us regardless of whether you are working or not working, going to school or not, you have to pay money towards this Emergency Funds Account on a monthly basis.

Now for us we started off with a very small amount of money since it was the start and eventually we shall raise the amount we are contributing to a higher amount as agreed upon by everyone. But it all adds up in the long run and there are terms and regulations governing this Emergency Funds Account as it cannot be used for just anything and as anybody may feel like it.

Man oh man, there is alot more information that I can write with regards to this subject matter but I will stop here. Last week I introduced this Two Part series about "The Need to have either a Personal Emergency Funds Account or a Family Emergency Funds Account" and I wrote a pretty good introduction you can read for yourself BUT I HOPE BY NOW YOU ACTUALLY GET THE BIG PICTURE. Please please I beg of you and I plead with you either as a family or on a personal level, take time to follow through with this great advice. For your sake and your family's sake, if you haven't started doing it or you are already doing it, put some money aside regardless of how Little the amount may be for your Emergency Funds Account. You will thank me later.

The end .......

--

Allaah gives the best to those who leave the choice to Him."And if Allah touches you with harm, none can remove it but He, and if He touches you with good, then He is Able to do all things." (6:17)

--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com