“Great achievement is usually born of sacrifice” said Napoleon Hill, one of the world’s best self-help authors. And so was the sacrifice of 20, executives of the ICT Teachers Association of Uganda as they skipped their public holiday to attend their general meeting on 8th March 2019.
As the country celebrated Women’s Day on 8th March 2019, the Executive Committee of the ICT Teachers Association of Uganda were locked up in a meeting to steer the association to greater horizons. This meeting was to be used as a follow up on the previous meeting that was held on 7th January 2019. This meeting was special in a way that it would bring together the old and newly elected members of the National Executive.
Ever wondered what it means to travel from West Nile to Kampala? If not, ask Mr. Opono Alex co-ordinator for Northern Region who boarded the night bus and slept at the bus park till morning. While the rest of us where in the fifth gear of our sleep, our colleagues were braving the night cold while travelling from Bugiri, Mbale, Fort Portal, Kamwenge and as far as Kisoro.
At 5:00 am, I was awoken by a beep on my phone only to read a message of the representative of East Apostle Mukisa who had started traveling for this meeting.
I personally reached Africourts Building on Buganda Road, the originally advertised venue for the meeting, at about 09:45am and I was welcomed by the members who were waiting there for the rest of us. I was informed that there were some last-minute changes in the venue – being a public holiday some staff in charge of opening the facility had delayed to arrive.
We had to get an alternative venue at St. Luke’s Restaurant near Mulago Hospital which provided us a free venue provided that we buy drinks and food from them.
We walked from Wandegeya to Mulago on foot as a team. The meeting earlier scheduled to start at 10:00am only started at 11:30 am.
We had two sessions, the morning session between 11:30am and 1:00pm, a lunch break and group photo session, then the afternoon session between 2:00pm and 4:00pm. A number of issues were discussed, and all regional representatives were given time to make their submissions. Detailed minutes of the meeting will be shared in a subsequent post.
As we wound up the meeting at 4:00 pm, my thoughts remained with the team that were traveling back to their regions with neither a coin nor a certificate for their efforts. Their only duty was in the service of the call of staying Together Against Computer Illiteracy. The sacrifice of the men and women who are toiling day and night to build our association, will forever be written on the walls of ITAU.
Long Live ITAU – Together Against Computer Illiteracy
Stephen Dumba
E-zone School of Computing
0772 111 223 / 0752 111 223
