STRANDED IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY AFTER A FRAUD- A RESCUE CAME IN HANDY! Part 1.

On the 5th of August 2025, I had two engagements. One was a planning meeting for an exhibition I showed interest in, the second one was a mini exhibition for honeymooners at Watoto Church same evening. A few minutes into the planning meeting I receive a call from a friend who happened to ask me to help him handle a trip. he notified me that a group of 6 had been scammed and were stuck in Rwanda. They wanted to continue with their trip to Uganda, and they needed someone organize their ongoing trip.

I was struck by this call, the urgency it needed because they had to be in Uganda in a day so that they could be able to use the already purchased chimpanzee trekking permits which were scheduled for the 7th of August.

As an experienced operator, I created immediately an itinerary that would fit their schedule while I was still in the meeting. Ask me if I concentrated again on the meeting, the answer is a No. I just rushed to the mini honeymoon exhibition at the church. we then scheduled a zoom meeting for the night so that we could discuss more about the trip of which we agreed on how to proceed.
I had billion of questions in my head and I couldn’t answer any of them. I put myself in their shoes and I couldn’t see myself handle the situation.

Business wise, I couldn’t imagine a group scammed over 30,000 USD would still continue to spend more money on the same Trip. How were they going to pull through after this hardship? Would they trust me after being scammed? How would I trust them, apart from my friend whom I’ve never done business with, I didn’t know them even when we had a zoom call in the night. They had gotten a hotel through earned points for a few days. They had spent all the cash they had during their “first tour”

This meant that the company had to make all the payments on their behalf to kick start their new trip to Uganda because there was no way they could make transactions at that point and they were to pay later. I thought what if the company loses money in a scenario these people wouldn’t pay, many thoughts kept running through my head. But the humanitarian side of me overpowered me. We run charity campaigns to people who are disadvantaged, unprivileged what about these who are willing to pay and above all visit our beautiful country? I couldn’t think of being stranded I had to help

I didn’t sleep that night, trying my best to look for a solution to evacuate them from Rwanda first thing in the morning. As a professional, I found means from kabale which is near Rwanda. I couldn’t get a car from Rwanda to get them to Uganda because it required payments which could take longer and yet we were out of time. A car from kabale went and picked them up

With the partnerships and the network, we’ve built over the years, I arranged all their ground transfers and accommodation which was seamless. Until they arrived their guest lodge, that was at Midnight into 7th August morning. That’s when I got a breather. Our good driver kept encouraging them and kept them strong throughout the journey. Encouraged them to look forward to the chimpanzee trekking which will lighten their experience.

Indeed, early morning they went for chimp trekking which was a great experience for them. And by the opening of the sky, I decided to go join them for the rest of trip. This was unplanned for, but I felt it would be more assuring and also tread the journey of creating beautiful moments with them. I traveled from Kampala to Kibale and joined them.