Pilot Light Foundation

Commissioning of the Bridge

On April 14, 2009, I attended the commissioning of the bridge that was funded by the Pilot Light Foundation and built in partnership with Sikiliza Leo in Mulanda/Lwala, Uganda. It was a very warm day and many of the villagers gathered on the grounds of Sikiliza Leo's clinic, the childhood home of my friend Dr. Dorothy Ochola Odongo. The event was attended by the local politicians all the way up from the chairman of the village to the chairman of the entire district. The daycare students and the Sikiliza Leo Drama Group both performed songs that were written for the occasion, in which they thanked Fabian Odongo (director of Sikiliza Leo), Pilot Light. and the local government for making the bridge possible. It was the last day of what had been a long and exhausting trip to Africa and I started the day feeling truly tired and having to force my enthusiasm for the days event. However, as soon as I heard the first notes of the first song and saw the sincere joy and celebration in the faces of the singers and the innocence and beauty of the little kids of the orphan daycare, all my feelings of fatigue and also cynicism from the events of my trip quickly slipped away. I, too, felt very celebratory and so pleased to have been a part of this significant improvement in the lives of these people that were making such an effort to welcome me and show their gratitude to all who had chosen to help them solve their problem, which would allow them to go about their lives with one less major obstacle. When the politicians, Mr. Odongo, and myself finished making our speeches, the villagers and all guests were treated to a delicious meal and party there on the lawn. Several of the people stopped to tell me what the bridge meant to them. I left that afternoon, with renewed enthusiasm for this peaceful place and a new plan to work with the Ox and Plow Cooperative, the first cooperative of its kind in this village.