Not Elecricity..... Water!

Based on guide books, we had expected the electricity to be provided on a rolling blackout basis, with power provided to half of Kampala on any given day.  That could well be the case for other parts of the city but for where we live, the power is fine – it’s on all the time as far as I can tell although Michelle (our co-worker who lives across the street) said she saw it go out for ½ an hour the other night. The unexpected concern we have is for water! Our water is shut off during the day – it usually comes on sometime during the night and then is shut off again before morning. To address this issue, our house has a huge water tank up above the roof – you can see them all over the city, big water tanks perched above most houses. So whenever the water is on, everyone who is getting water is filling their tanks and then when the water is off you’re using up your “reserve.” A pump kicks in when you’re using your tank to bring the water up to about the same pressure as city water. It’s all automatic so we don’t really know when the city water is on or off except when we turn on the kitchen sink cold water which is connected directly to the city supply. Every other faucet in the house including the kitchen sink hot water is fed by the tank.  So we can tell if the city water is on or not.  Our hot water is generated entirely by solar although we do have a booster hot water heater in the kitchen for if we run out of solar-heated water which we haven’t yet. The solar does get quite hot and stays hot all night in an insulated tank – easily hot enough for morning showers.  Our co-workers Jake and Michelle have a much larger household than we do, with two children as well as their housekeeper and her son.  They have run out of water more than once when the city water did not come on at night.  Now they are able to come across the street to our place and fill up some buckets if necessary from our tank.  Praise the Lord that even in the midst of scarce resources He finds a way for His abundant streams of water to flow.          -Shauen

You are welcome

The common greeting here when you are coming into someone’s home, office, or market stall is “You are welcome.” It sounds funny to us since no one said “Thank you.” The phrase makes perfect sense, of course. They are saying you are welcome to come into my place, welcome to be my guest, welcome to make yourself at home. It’s often repeated several times in those first couple minutes when you’ve arrived. And that is exactly how we have been welcomed to Uganda – with open arms, a wide smile, and an eager handshake.  We should have expected it, of course.  Christ has welcomed us all with arms held open on the cross.  It is certainly the case that His love holds together brothers and sisters in Christ - even across the oceans.  We have been wonderfully welcomed home.   When you arrive, we will say also to you, "You are welcome."  -Shauen

We have arrived!

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Friends, Supporters,and Family,

We have safely arrived in Kampala.  I'm writing from my supervisor's dining room, right across the street from our house.  Praise the Lord for safe travels and no lost luggage.  We'll be writing more as soon as we can. 

God bless you all!  -Shauen

The Day After Tomorrow

The day after tomorrow we'll be in Uganda.  We leave tomorrow, Sunday, around noon from Sea-Tac airport.  But we arrive in Uganda on Monday night, Uganda time.  Right now I'm still trying to figure out what time it'll be here in the states.  Krista added a sweet widget on the right hand side of our Uganda page that tells what time it is in Uganda.  I think we'll arrive on Monday morning, U.S. time.

Yesterday we had an amazing afternoon.  We've had some difficulty establishing residency in Washington state because our permanent address is a post office box so all our mail has that address which (according to the nice people at the department of licensing) does not prove residency.  So we've already been turned away from getting our Washington State driver's licenses once.  Friday afternoon we were waiting for a package to be delivered that was coming by UPS direct to the house so it would have our physical address on it.  By 2:30pm it hadn't arrived.  This was our last business day before departure.  At 2:30pm. 

1. We set out at 2:39pm from my parent's house for the roughly 30 minute drive to Tacoma, stopping along the way to pick up a year's supply of contact lenses.  What we really needed was them to write me a receipt with our physical address on it.  There was no line at the contact lens place.
2. Our second stop was at the Voter Registration office in Tacoma which went without a hitch.  We didn't really need to register to vote so early before the next election but we did need to get a voter registration card (to prove residency).  Again, no line.
3. Our third stop was downtown Tacoma to get our background checks for our work permits in Uganda.  We got there a few minutes before closing.  There was only one person in line ahead of us.
4. Then back across town to the department of licensing.  We walked in and pulled number 340.  They were helping number 290-something when we arrived.  We were called up to the front about 2 minutes before closing time.  They were SO NICE!  They welcomed me "back" to Washington state and issued us licenses! 
5. With new licenses in hand, then, we had to high-tail it across town again to get to the AAA office for our International Driving Permits.  Once again, we arrived minutes before closing and there was no line at all.

I'm completely amazed at what we got done in the span of three hours.  My Mom was an awesome chauffer providing door-to-door service and lots of emotional support.  God provided hardly any traffic, fast stop lights, and perfect timing with easy waiting lines.  And He somehow kept us calm (at least outwardly calm) throughout our quest which was good because it's not generally a good thing to be all anxious and nervous when applying for a license or background check. 

It'll be different in Uganda.  As my supervisor says, "If you get one thing done in a single day you're doing pretty good."  I feel like a cliff diver gathering myself one last time before the dive.  I'm in that moment of a long, slow blink where you know what's in front of you, you know what you're going to do, but you can't see over the edge just yet.  If it weren't for that amazing lifeguard in the sky (Psalm 121), I'd be scared to death. 

See you on the flip side!  

-Shauen

2 days and counting...

Well, it is Thursday night and in two days we will be boarding our flight to Uganda. I have no idea what life will be like next week at this time. It is exciting and terrifying at the same time. It feels like there are a million things to do, all of them equally important, and surely, if not accomplished, disaster will occur! Of course, this is only my stress and anxiety speaking. I am looking forward to arriving, settling in, and making Uganda my home. Of course before that can happen, we have to finish packing!! Two more suitcases to pack and two more days to go, I can't wait!  -Krista