Accidental Millionaire
My Four-Month Fortune During A Worldwide Pandemic
Remember when every aspect of life went crazy in 2020? Everyone has stories of weird, out-of-the-ordinary situations resulting from the virus that wreaked havoc on the world. This little story is set during the first few months of the pandemic, and it’s a doozy.
I was living in Northern Uganda, working with Sudanese refugees. I had a business platform that provided housing and food for volunteers coming to lend a hand. When the news was hitting about COVID-19, I had one team from Texas who was with us in Uganda, helping to drill water wells. They had been there for a couple of weeks and had a couple weeks to go yet.
As global panic was on the rise, we were watching the news closely to decide what to do. It was becoming clear that the team from Texas would need to find a way to get back to America in the next 24 hours, or they may be stranded in Uganda for the next 3–4 months. So we pulled out all the stops and got these Texans down to the capital and onto a plane. It all happened so fast that they didn’t have time to pay their food and lodging bills. But we had worked with this particular team for years, and I knew they were good for it. I emailed them an invoice and banking information and forgot about it.
