A not-so-atypical day in Uganda

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was fine- no turkey, but we did have some ham, green beans, and potatoes. Today has been a difficult day, but not all that atypical of some of the things that happen here on a daily basis. But, let me begin by sharing what happened over the weekend with one of the two cats here. Chipiana was a great cat (and I'm not really a cat person). She was fun to watch, and she would endure almost endless abuse from our kids in a very patient way. On Friday afternoon, we arrived home to find her left paw with some very deep cuts on it, and it appeared her leg might have been broken. Most likely she got into a fight with some dogs outside of our compound. I tried to locate the number of a vet on Friday night and finally got two numbers, but neither answered her phone. Saturday morning, Chipiana was getting worse, and I finally did get in touch with a vet, but she said she could not come until Monday to see the cat because she was out of town. Chipiana spent most of the day in hiding and undoubtedly in great pain. About 4 AM Sunday morning I heard a cat crying under my bed. It was Chipiana and she was in very bad shape. I made up a bed for her to try to make her comfortable, but things weren't looking good. Sunday morning when we left for church, she was just lying in the same place I left her and deteriorating quickly. When we returned from church, she had died. This was devastating for our kids as this was their first experience losing something they cared about and loved. We buried her up on the hill and allowed the kids to share some of their favorite Chipiana memories. I have been really troubled by this whole thing ever since she passed away wondering what I could have done differently. I just felt so helpless. I mean in the States I could have had her patched up and she would have been fine, although her leg would probably not have functioned 100%. But here it's just difficult to do even the most basic things one takes for granted in the U.S.

So this morning I got up still troubled by the events of the previous day. Our guard, Grace, informed me that we were not getting water and that we were down to a tank and a half of water remaining. We have city water (we still have to filter or boil it before drinking), but since we live high on a hill, it sometimes doesn't get all the way up here. So I have a number to call to get this fixed. Because this happens pretty much every other week or so, we have 3 large water tanks. One catches rain water from the roof, and the other two store city water when it is coming up to the house. Grace also showed me a leaking water tap that had been "repaired" the week before by a plumber. So I called the plumber to get him to come back out. I had Grace turn off the water from the tanks so that we would not waste the water in the tanks through the leaking pipe. Of course this meant we would have to do without water inside until the leak was fixed, but it was time to conserve. About this time, the power went out; this is an almost daily occurrence here. A few minutes later I got a text message from the internet company saying the internet was down, and to "bear with them" because they were working on the problem. Then I tried to call the water company, but none of the phone numbers for the water company would work. I tried consistently for 3 hours to reach them to no avail. Finally I gave Grace 5000 shillings to take a boda (a motorcycle that carries people on the back) to go to the water company office. He was successful in getting them to commit to sending a tech out tomorrow to fix our water. Whether or not that happens waits to be seen. Finally, about 3 PM the plumber finished repairing the leak, a 4-hour job for him that I don't think should have taken nearly that long. But he had to go buy a part that he needed, so I had to give him money for the part and for taking the boda to go get the part. Plumbers here don't carry a lot of materials with them. At least this one brings his own tools; most others don't.

So we were finally able to turn the water back on to the house. The power, however, is still out as I write this. About 4:30 I cranked up the generator so that we could keep the food in the fridge and freezer from spoiling. Plus I needed to pump the water from the rain water tank up to the other two tanks so that it can get into the house. So we're good to go for now on generator power, we have enough water for at least a couple more days, and the internet is back up so I can send you all this email! Only problem will be tonight when it's bath time. We won't have hot water because the generator isn't powerful enough to run the water heaters. But this is only a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things and may be for the best since we need to conserve our water anyway.

Between all of the events of the day, I actually did manage to get some work done. I pulled together some community development material for our radio programming in Sudan, although with only limited success since I had no internet and limited battery power on my laptop. I also spent some time learning some Bible stories that we share with the Sudanese on our trips. And the kids had a good day of school.

In spite of all the troubles today, we are still much better off than the large majority of people who live here, so we are careful not to complain, although sometimes I feel like letting loose! What's really twisted is that I actually feel good about today and count it as a success. It certainly did not go as I had planned, and it was full of challenges, but God has used them to stretch me and to humble me. I know the things I learned today will help me better minister to people here and in Sudan as well. I believe it was Clark W. Grizwold who said, "Nothing worthwhile is easy!" And on the more spiritual side of things, James reminds us that we should "consider it pure joy" when we "experience trials of many kinds." So we'll keep pushing on with joy in our hearts for the opportunity to serve here, realizing that our small trials pale in comparison to those others here endure, but still coveting your prayers as we continue to adjust to the different aspects of life here in Uganda.

Suzy, by the way, is still working on the write-up from her trip. A lot happened, and it's taking some time for her to process everything and condense it into one email. We'll get that up soon, Lord willing.