So, yesterday, 11th May 2022, my lawyer, Counsel Allan Ogoi, Partner in Okalang Law Chambers, advised me to be present in Mbale High Court for the hearing of my plea for a Court Injunction and Restraining Order to be issued in my favor against one that fits the description: “DEVIL.” Yes, devil in biblical sense:

Jesus says, “You belong to your father, the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

John 8:44

In the Registrar’s chambers, I sat there listening to the devil’s lawyer spew lies that the devil has fed him and I was overcome with emotion. And when I thought the Registrar was missing the point, he did well in reassuring me. One thing he did was refusing the devil to speak when he wanted to. But when I was overcome, the Registrar let me speak, and there after he reassured me. Kajabo Registrar (or is that inappropriate?)

However, when the Registrar tried to advise about mediation and mending relations, I told him point blank “let us not go there.” He, in a fatherly manner, immediately obliged and he stopped mid-sentence and did not go there. You see, for me I have since re-philosophized the saying: “blood is thicker than water.” In my version it applies only to family in my context; which is a few with whom I share blood and others with whom I don’t share blood, but with whom we enjoy impeccable mutual loyalty.

Papa, the late Ejakait Engineer George William Obityo Owaraga, under the care of the angel staff of Our Lady Consolata Kisubi Hospital, where he was hospitalised. Picture taken 21st July 2017.

Anyway, back to the point, as the Logistician for the organisation for which I am Managing Director drove me from court, the phrase: “the devil is a liar,” kept ringing in my mind. I resolved, don’t let the devil get the better of you. Let him not drive you away from your home, loved ones and hard work. And so I asked our Logistician to take a detour via our ancestral home, in which I have my own home, as well as a full fledged farm – a mini-forest really with an orchard, now partially damaged by the devil and his agents; as well as other trees now fully grown.

Mostly, I wanted to visit with my loved ones since transitioned. I visited my late father’s resting place. Hugged the headstone of his grave and let the tears roll. I did not wail, no need, for right there and then I felt a powerful connection to the spirit of my late father. And I loved the fact that the flowers that the devil had attempted to stop me from planting at my father’s resting place are now in bloom.

May the spirit of late papa continue to watch over me I pray.

It is weird, but I felt like I heard papa’s voice reassuring me and I was comforted. I then visited the resting place of she whom I am named after, my late paternal grandmother, and did the same as I had done at her late son’s grave. I felt I heard her voice too and saw her smile. I was reassured.

When we got safely back. I let it rip and allowed myself to cry into my pillow. And so the whole of today I was unable to do work in the normal Uganda business hours. It was great that I chose instead to work from 4:00 p.m. till 10:00 p.m. It is going great. I am so productive.

May the spirit of my late Tata Joyce Mary Alinga continue to watch over me I pray

“The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”

Psalm 146:9

I am comforted that the LORD is watching and the spirits of my ancestors too, particularly of my namesake and of my father. They will not let the devil prevail, no, no, mam cut. This far they have provided me with directions and guidance that have the devil behave as though he is afflicted with schizophenia – forgetting easily lies he has told in the past and telling new ones which contradict the old. He gives meaning to that static of 14 million Ugandans with mental ill-health. His, however, self-inflicted by his acts for which he now has to do battle with the spirits of my ancestors.

To you, the prayer warriors who prayed for me in those critical last years during which I had the honour to be the primary caregiver for papa, your job is not done. Please remember me in your prayers as I face-off with the devil. Please continue to pray for me.