My good friend Grace Nyiro, who is 31 years old, was a passenger in a serious car accident on Friday the 20th of November 2015. The driver was trying to avoid a head-on collision with a truck, but instead ran into a large billboard. Grace suffered serious and complex injuries while the other three in the car fortunately came off lightly. Grace has several fractures in the neck and throat, which caused pressure on his spinal cord. Grace has already undergone several surgeries in which doctors have been trying to artificially replace the bones in the neck and fix the other fractures.

Grace’s lower body is currently paralyzed, so he is unable to walk and sit up. The doctors advise that he be hospitalised longer so that his body can rest and heal and so that Grace will hopefully be able to fully recover.

Time is of course money, especially in the intensive care department in Uganda! Today (Sunday, 29/11/ 2015) Grace’s treatment amounts to approximately €5400. Doctors estimate that Grace must remain in hospital for at least another month, preferably even longer so that he is gradually able to recuperate. Grace’s fiancée, mother and siblings are finding it very difficult to pay for these hospital fees.

I had the privilege of knowing Grace and his fiancée Brenda for just over a year when the two were classmates of mine in the University of Gothenburg’s International Masters programme in social work and human rights. They both had the opportunity to study in Sweden after they managed to get a scholarship through a collaboration between Makerere University, the University of Gothenburg and the Swedish Institute. The three of us became quite close, and I chose to do my internship abroad in their hometown of Kampala in Uganda. There my girlfriend and I had the opportunity to meet Grace's mother, an amazing single woman who received us with great warmth. She even gave us gifts upon our departure despite being hard up! Grace’s mother's thoughtfulness is definitely a family trait. Grace and I had many interesting discussions about social issues in our home countries during his time in Sweden, as well as watching football together, cooking Swedish meatballs and tasty Ugandan dishes. In 2014 we celebrated Swedish Christmas together. I hope that Grace will be able to continue life as he always has but I also hope that he gets the opportunity to pursue his future goals: working to solve social problems in Uganda is a cause close to his heart.

It’s for these reasons that together with a classmate, Katie Gonser, we decided that we should do everything we can to try to gather as much money as possible so that Grace can get the care he needs to recover. So please, please, any contribution, however small, is appreciated. All the money will go directly to Grace’s medical costs and will be of great help to Grace’s future.

Grace is one of the best people I have had the privilege of knowing. He is a very, very close friend.

Many thanks!