Hon Patrick Ipalat (IPA)

Hello @Anite__Evelyn my dear, Happiest birthday. Today I will not call you Honourable, presidential advisor or by any of those big titles the world has known you by. Today I just want to call you what you have always been to me: My SISTER. There are things I remember about you and even shed a tear. They have been several but today I will remind you about just two. You gave me my very first opportunity to Moderate an event with the President in attendance while you were minister for Investment. Me. Yes Just Mildred. Many people would have looked for someone big, someone known, someone with connections which I never had. But you looked at me and you said, "You can do it." I remember well amidst the rush from the president's team on time, my session had tp almost be foregone. You were invited as minister to take over and you personally asked the president @KagutaMuseveni to accord me time to handle my session which he agreed to. 30 minutes it was, he sat watcjed and listened. That day changed my life. That day you did not just give me an opportunity, you gave me belief. You gave me confidence. You opened a door that I didn't even know how to knock on, and you have never stopped opening doors for me since. And again, you showed me what sisterhood really means. When I gave birth, when I was in my humble one bedroom house, tired, vulnerable, trying to find my way as a new mother, you came. You didn't send someone. YOU came. Even my landlord was afrqid when she saw a lead car and escorts 🤣. You sat with me on that little couch in a squeezed up room, in my simple place, and you loved me like family. A Minister visiting a nobody's home? No. A sister visiting her sister's home 🥹. I have never forgotten that day. I will never forget it. In that moment, you taught me that true greatness is not in titles or offices, it is in the heart. You have stayed close to me through everything. You have encouraged me, you have corrected me, you have pushed me to be a better person. Every time I feel like giving up, I hear your voice. "Mildred, you can do better, Gal you got this" . You don't let me settle, You don't let me shrink, You remind me who I am. So today, on your birthday, I pray for you the way a sister prays for a sister. I pray God gives you long life, good health, and peace that no politics, no pressure, no title can take away. I pray my girls Trini and Treasure will be proud of you the way I am proud of you. I pray you will always be surrounded by people who love Evelyn the person, not just Evelyn the Minister. And I pray that God will reward you a hundred times for every life you have quietly lifted, starting with mine. Thank you for being my sister, thank you for seeing me when nobody saw me, thank you for loving me when I had nothing to give back. Happy Birthday, my Lyn, my sister. I love you so much. I am forever grateful for you. Yours Truly Mildred