In the heart of Masaka town, where the rhythm of life is often set by the humming engines of boda bodas, 36-year-old Jordan Lubega is a familiar face. A hardworking rider, Jordan’s life revolves around ferrying passengers, making ends meet, and paying daily dues on his loaned motorbike. But one Friday evening in May changed everything.

Returning from a friend’s burial, Jordan began to feel unusually unwell. What started as a pounding headache and swollen lymph nodes soon spiraled into a full-blown health crisis. Still, like many in his shoes, he hoped over-the-counter painkillers would do the trick. They didn’t.

“I kept thinking it was fatigue from riding all day,” Jordan recalls. But by Sunday, strange pimple-like rashes had appeared on his palms. Dismissing them as minor, he stayed home, increasingly isolated by the pain that was spreading across his body.

By Monday morning, Jordan could barely move. But with bills piling up and a motorbike loan to service, he dragged himself back to work, his body in agony, his face covered in rashes. Little did he know, his life was hanging in the balance.

As fate would have it, that same day Uganda Red Cross Society volunteers were conducting door-to-door awareness campaigns about Mpox, a viral disease that had begun surfacing in Masaka. Jordan spotted them in his neighborhood, clad in masks and armed with vital information. Curiosity and perhaps desperation, got the better of him, and he stopped to listen.

“The symptoms they described were exactly what I was going through. That’s when I realized I needed help,” Jordan shares.

Moved by his condition and concerned for his wellbeing, the Uganda Red Cross volunteers quickly contacted the Ministry of Health. Within hours, Jordan was in an ambulance on his way to the hospital. After three weeks of treatment, he walked out healthy and deeply grateful.

“I honestly don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t found me that day,” he says.

Today, Jordan’s story stands as a powerful reminder of the impact of timely intervention and community outreach. In partnership with UNICEF, Uganda Red Cross continues to educate thousands in Masaka about Mpox prevention and detection, reaching schools, markets, churches, mosques, and yes, even boda boda stages.

For Jordan, this is more than a story of survival it’s a story of hope, awareness, and a second chance to life.