A random post whilst I work on Chapter Two

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And you thought being a number-cruncher was easy!

As mentioned in a previous post, I don't often write about what I actually do for the team, not so much because I am a diffident, self-effacing, modest person -- although, of course, I am proud to say that I am all that -- but because I have not yet figured out a way to make the trials and tribulations of being the team bookkeeper even mildly interesting.  Because of this literary failing, you have been spared the six blogs I would have loved to write chronicling Phillip Shero's and Mzungu Mama's determined efforts to open a bank account for the team.  Six blogs:  One blog for each visit to Barclays Bank wherein we heroically fought to convince the less-than-enthusiastic manager that he should allow the Mbale Mission Team to deposit thirty-five million shillings with his bank. Oh, it was an epic struggle.  Somewhere around the fourth visit, exhausted and weary from completing yet another set of forms, and compiling yet another list of documents, I was ready to admit defeat and agree with Barclays that certainly the last thing they would want to do is actually allow people to give them money.  But Phillip, who is made of sterner stuff, refused to contemplate surrender.  And so we battled on. Finally, on visit number six, Barclays grudgingly allowed us to deposit the first ten million shillings.  (Yes, we have since deposited the other twenty-five million.)  

I now know what Winston Churchill must have felt like on VE Day...well, no, not really. But I do have that "I'm ready for anything now!" feeling. Mzungu Mama has tracked rhinos in the bush, AND she has successfully opened a bank account at Barclays Bank in Mbale, Uganda.  What brave adventurous thing should she attempt next?

Postscript: I know what you're thinking: Man, I hope she never has to make a withdrawal. If Barclays made her jump through all those hoops before they allowed her put the money in the bank, what in the world will she have to do to get the money back out again?  Blood test?  DNA sample?  (Don't be silly. This is a third-world country.)  Complete another six-inch stack of Ugandan-style paperwork? (Please, please, anything but that!)  Well, strangely enough, two weeks after we opened the account, a wire transfer came through from the States and I needed to withdraw eight million shillings.  When I walked up to the window, I had neither cheque book nor proper identification.  To make matters worse, the teller did not show me as an authorized signatory.   And Barclays still allowed me withdraw the 8,000,000 shillings.  

Another lesson in learning how things work in Africa.