A Life Restored: Moses’ Story

This story is close to my heart.

This story is close to my heart.. because it is about a man I have known for over 20 years. His name is Moses. When I first met Moses, I used to bring passengers to him on the Nile in Jinja when I was working as an African guide. He was a white-water rafting guide – bright-eyed, full of life, and building a future doing work he loved.

He met his wife. They had children. He had a home. Life made sense. Working with “Mzungu guests” meant stability, opportunity, and a good income so he had his whole life ahead of him. Then tragedy struck. Moses’ wife became sick and passed away in a very short space of time. In the aftermath, everything began to unravel. Without support at home, and while trying to continue working, he slowly lost his way. His children were no longer in his care. His income stopped. Then his home. And eventually, he disappeared from the life I once knew him in. For years, I didn’t know where he was.

Two Years on an Island

When I returned to Jinja many years later, I was told:

“Moses is not well. He is living on an island.”

At first, I thought they meant a house, situated on an island. They didn’t. Moses had been living on a small island in the Nile, used by fishermen as a resting point.

He had been there for almost two years. Sleeping on the ground. Eating what fish he could catch or what others gave him. Living with ripped clothes, no proper bedding, and exposure to the elements, including snakes. Moses living on the island At night, he would sometimes find a black mamba nearby. He told me he would just watch it quietly… hoping it would leave. When it rained, his shelter leaked. “But only a little,” he said with a shy smile.

What I Found

When I finally saw him again, I struggled to process what had happened to the man I once knew. This was not just poverty. This was complete collapse of stability, dignity, and health. And yet… he was still there. Still surviving. Still quietly holding on – and, to my utter disbelief, still occasionally smiling.

As he told me about the snake that would sometimes visit him at night, I put my camera down, thinking I had pressed stop. I was getting emotional and didn’t feel it was appropriate to keep filming. But I hadn’t pressed stop. It kept recording, unintentionally capturing that quiet, intimate, and deeply sad moment between us.

That day, I realised two urgent things had to change immediately:

He needed safety – a real home
He needed a way to earn income again

A Place to Start Again

I reached out to my community for help and once again, my calls were answered by my beautiful community not just in Australia but in America too. I was given enough to reach our goals.

The first step: A small house with a cement floor, a bed, bedding, mosquito net, cooking utensils, basic furniture and clothes. For the first time in years, Moses had a door that locked. A bed that wasn’t on the ground… and… no snakes!

The second step

A Way to Work Again

The second step was restoring his ability to earn money so he could support himself moving forward. So we built him a boat allowing him to return to the Nile and fish for Nile Perch, Tilapia, and other fish he can rely on for income. You know the saying, “teach a man how to fish”… well, he already knew how. So we just built him a boat to get cracking! Alongside housing and work, Moses also needed medical care. The money so generously donated covered treatment for the infections in his hands and stomach ulcers (likely caused by long-term poor nutrition) and slowly he became stronger. Over time, his life began to change:

A stable home, A bed and bedding
Cooking equipment and furniture, Clean clothing
Medical treatment
A working boat .
And eventually, the ability to earn again

Simple moments became part of his normal life again – sitting at a table, sleeping properly eating real meals. These weren’t small things. They were milestones, for him and for me, and it was incredibly special to watch it all unfold over the year.

The Moment That Stays With Me

There was a moment during this journey I will never forget. When I told Moses that people had given me money to support him — not just with a house and a boat, but a full restoration of stability — he became overwhelmed. After a long silence, he said softly:

“I thought God had forgotten about me.”

And before I could stop them, tears again.

Where He Is Now

Today, Moses is no longer living on an island. He is in safe housing. He has a boat. He is fishing and has even been on the river again as a white-water rafter! He is receiving ongoing medical care and is slowly rebuilding independence. This is not a sudden transformation. It is slow rebuilding. Step by step. Layer by layer. Life returning to him.

A Life Not Forgotten

Moses’ story is not just about loss.

It is about what happens when someone is given a second chance at stability after everything has fallen away. Not everything was fixed. But enough was restored for him to begin again. And sometimes, that is where dignity starts to return.

With gratitude, Carly Nzvimbo Founder & Executive Director of Ripples of Change Uganda