My name is Annette L., a wife, and mother to an adorable son. I am a banker in one of the best banks in Uganda.

COVID-19 pandemic came as a shock to me; a disease of its nature did not seem so serious since the symptoms are similar to flu, a common cold here in Uganda that always attacks us because of the too much dust that we have. Anyhow, on later reading about the disease and understanding the grave symptoms, and knowing that it can kill, I feared for both my life and my family’s.

I started panicking when the government of Uganda sent out strict measures to close schools, businesses, and public transport, which eventually led to a lock down. This was a complete lock down that I have never seen in my life.

As a banker, I straight away started to think about my sales targets. That probably I will not meet them, the reason being customers are confined to their houses. The pandemic has had its toll on businesses. For customers that have loans, payments will not be coming through as expect and for new business, the account opening process is at a standstill hence this translates to my sales targets for obtaining both my liabilities and assets targets not being met. Overall, what ends up affected will be my performance appraisal. The bank has made losses that it has to recover from at the end of the day thus bonuses to an employee like me will be affected as well.

However, on the brighter side, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought my family closer. Never in our lives have we spent the longest of our lives together as a family. We have play dates with our son and he has grown so naughty. We have bonded more as a family, the price that I will never take for granted.

In conclusion, we also need to look at the positives in our lives amidst such times. To God be the glory.