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Posted December 13
These past days since coming to GSF have gone by so quickly. I woke up earlier than I would have imagined at Bob and Carolyn’s house. The rooster started crowing at 5:30am and I went ahead and got up before 6:00. I had time to read Bob’s “Longest Night” which recapped his experiences in Uganda in 1999 when he and his friends were hiding from rebels who attacked the village where they were staying. That makes my trip look like summer camp. I took a long ‘cold’ shower, had a shave, and basically cleaned up. Since I discovered yesterday that only boys were shorts in Uganda, I put on my ‘trousers’ – not just my pants mind you – my belt, and tucked in my shirt like a big boy and headed out into the man’s world here in Africa.
The three of us had coffee at the house and I read the paper – it is fascinating to see how the current president manages the political world around him. I’ll say no more about that for now but found reading the Daily Monitor to be a very educational experience. After coffee we all went into Jinja to a local restaurant on Main Street across from “The Source” – a landmark for all the European / US folk in the area – an internet café. While Bob waited for our food I walked down the street to do Christmas shopping and got some great gifts for the family.
We visited the government offices in Jinja briefly so Carolyn could file paper work for a replacement passport for a GSF staff person. It was like walking backwards in time! There were just a couple of electric lights hanging from the ceiling, 2 old wooden tables and a number of old wooden chairs. About 6 ‘government’ staff stood around shuffling papers and standing at the attention of an older Ugandan man with a stamp in his hand. Carolyn said they had already lost the paper work twice… no computers and just stacks of papers without file cabinets. Next we went to the bank. Bob knew the Branch Manager who was a very kind Indian man who drank water out of an old vodka bottle that he filled each morning… We simply needed to exchange my US dollars for Ugandan shillings. First he looked at the money and said that the 50s and 100s would get one rate and the 20s would get a lesser rate. He summoned a secretary who came with an assistant. The two of them took a slip of paper with the instructions. Another man came and took the US cash and gave the manager a receipt which he stamped and gave a copy of back to the man. Some time passed and I could see the 2 secretaries consulting with another person who (after nearly 10 minutes) brought the manager the Ugandan shillings and got another receipt in exchange. They do things a little different here in Africa.
We found a computer store that Bob thought could help us and sure enough Ali spoke my techno language. We arranged to purchase 5 new computers and I bought 350 dollars worth of other supplies (power cables, printers, paper, transformer, dust covers, USB drives, etc.) We had to wait while the owner put 2 PCs together and the other 3 will be ready tomorrow. We headed back to the estate where Bob and Carolyn live and I sat talking with Carolyn while she made cakes for the 60 staff at GSF. It was a wonderful talk and she had such great wisdom to offer.
We went into Jinja and got the PCs and headed back to the Land. I was really glad to be getting out of the ‘city’ and headed back to the Land where life seems to slow down a bit. When we left for Jinja we had the beginnings of a computer lab… it felt really great to making this sort of progress on the project I’d come to assist with.
On the way to the Land Bob got a call that the GSF van had broken down with 2 flat tires and a bad spare – they had 6 kids with them and they had no idea if they could get the van back to the orphanage. Bob had to direct other staff to take the only other vehicle out to help them repair the tires with new tubes and patches. They all got back safely before dark… the plan was for one of the Ugandan staff to sleep in the van to guard it otherwise overnight out on the road – I can’t imagine having that job.
One of the ladies who works in the offices is named Anesia – we blessed her with a printer and I was able to present it as a gift from her brothers and sisters in Christ in America. She was so shy and so clearly excited. I offered to come back and install it whenever she had a few free minutes… she spoke up and asked if I could please set it up for her right away. When I printed the test page that came out in color you would have thought that I had just pulled a rabbit out of a hat or sawed a person in two pieces in front of her eyes… it was a ‘magic’ moment.
The rest of my day was spent with Joseph, Isaac, Alex, and John – these 4 boys helped me clean out the room that is now the computer lab. We organized things and they did a mirror image of what I did to set up a computer. John helped me and the other 3 boys stepped through the process of unpacking, hooking up, turning on, installing software, and enjoying the fruits of their labors… they listed to Jazz from the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s and Motown tunes on the new machines, played Pinball and were generally in total amazement of what they had accomplished by the end of the day. About 10 other boys all jammed in around the computers to listen to the music and see the games that were being played. It was a real joy for me to see these young guys figuring the PC out just like I’ve watched Miles and Liam do… the difference was that these were 12-17 year old guys and they have had less experience with PCs than our 6 year old.
It was a long day and I’m totally exhausted. I’m headed to bed and will sleep well I am sure… at least until the rooster crows. Lord thank you for this day, for every gift it brought for all the blessings it included. Watch over and keep us this night. AMEN.
Blessings to you ~ Steadman
Steadman Harrison
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