On our own...

July 29, 2009
Since last time, we have gotten the last of the playground structures up. We have assembled all the Futbol Goals. We actually had a Uganda vs. USA match the other day on the small field… and by field I mean sloped hard packed dirt area. It was so fun, because the field was may be 50 yards by who knows how wide. There were children crowded around. It was the Guys on the mission team that wanted to play, and the interpreters that we hired to translate for VBS for us. We had bricks set up as goals, which were about 2 feet wide. We ended up winning 1 to 0. They didn’t like it all that much, but we dominated…

Electrically we have been tearing it up. I can wire one of these houses with my eyes closed pretty much. I know a good amount about the system, so I am somewhat of a go-to guy in that department, but I have Andrew and Steven on a team, and we form the “Trifecta” just a little name we gave ourselves. We have come up with Acronyms for our Trifecta maneuvers. Since we only have 2 ladders on a good day, we have to swap ladders, it’s a little hard to explain, but we have a ladder hopping technique that my Skanska safety people would probably not really think was all that great. We are attaching wires to roof trusses, and since it’s quicker, we just have the guy at the top of the ladder hold onto the truss while the guy on the floor moves the ladder. “H.A.S.” also known as the Hold and Scoot. There are a few more. But I won’t bore you with those details. As of Wednesday the 29th, we had 36 houses completely wired; give or take a few.

We had our Re-match today against the Interpreters. It is so much fun. There are tons of kids that come to watch. Every time you mess up, they all laugh, and they cheer when you do well. It is awesome. We played on the big field this time. It is still a little sloped, and a little rough, but it serves its purpose. There needs to be a little raking or dragging of some HUGE rocks and hard packed dirt clods. But it still is 10 times better than what they had before with tree trunks, and pot holes. It was much more interesting though.
We ended up winning again. We scored 2, they scored 1. but we have a tactic that is catered to a bunch of guys that cant play soccer; boot it down the field toward their goal as hard as you can, and hope that you get a lucky shot. We did.

Having the swings around is awesome, because those times when you have absolutely nothing to do with the kids and you just sit and stare at each other and smile, you can now fill with things like swinging or spinning on the Neutron Spinner. It is very nice to have that. I got to push Joan, Florence, and quite a few other kids on the swings today after our Game. I actually got on there a few times, and Joan tried to help me slow down, and I just blew her over. I felt really bad, but that is the way it goes I guess. I am sorry, and she was okay. She is awesome. She is like a little enforcer, and she understands what I am trying to say ALL THE TIME. It is awesome.

July 30, 2009
We got to the orphanage and started wiring homes. We actually wired 6 homes today; that is a good amount. It’s the most that we have done in a day so far. We got it pretty much complete by lunch time. Then the rest of the day I was basically sleep walking around the place. I was doing laundry last night till around midnight, then our bus left at 7:30 so that we could get as much finished as possible. It’s a vicious cycle, but its for God, and his orphans, so I’m down with it. =)
I got a shower tonight, last night our water heater was out, so I showered with a wet towel. Right now I have a couple extra people in my room; we just played a little beans, and now I'm about ready to hit the rack.

August 7, 2009
Its been a really long time since I have been able to update. Right now, it is just Steven and I at the orphanage. One of the interpreters, Bill, is still here with us. The team has already arrived back in Portland and the other places that we were from.
The last couple days were nice with the team. We had a miniature water celebration when we turned on the borehole for the kids; we are able to drink the water straight out of the ground because it is from so deep down. I believe the well is somewhere around 280 feet deep. We also had a light celebration in the Main Hall. The kids all crowded into the place in the dark, then we just turned the lights on; the Children went NUTS. They must have danced around in a huge circle for about an hour. All the dust in the place was in the air. It was hard to breathe, but it was worth it. That same day we also had a show from the orphans. They sang a number of songs, had 3 testimonies, and then we had popcorn and sodas for all the kids… Count it, 750 sodas.. I couldn’t believe that they had that many sodas for the kids. The last day the team was here we went to buy beads at the rock quarry from Stella, did our usual Souvenir shopping, then went to eat at a sweet restaurant on the beach at Lake Victoria. The Pizzas there were awesome. I didn’t take any pictures of the place, because I didn’t want to lug a camera all day shopping and to the airport. So many people have cameras that you can count on at least 2 other people having the same picture that you have.
That night we saw everyone off at the airport, then Robert, Scott, Steven, and I drove back to the Hotel through Kampala. Night driving always gets me. There is so much going on at night here. People are walking through the streets, music is playing, and it is all so dark. I think people like to go do things at night because it is usually so hot during the day. We had a nice chat with Robert about Ugandan Politics. I was shocked to hear that Their president Musevini has been in power for something like 25 years. According to Robert he has rigged the elections so that he continues to win. He also gave us a rundown of some tribal stuff. We also had a nice chat with Scott about what it takes to get into the FBI. Sounds like fun to me.
That same night we went back to the hotel, grabbed all the things that the team left for us in the board room, and took it to the orphanage. I cant believe how much food that we have. We are talking around 90 lbs. We have eaten some of it, but we have been passing it out to the kids when we wire at night. Bill has also been eating a lot of it. I think we had around 9 jars of peanut butter.. haha.
The first night here, it was pretty funny, we had our amazing experience of bathing… outside… in the moonlight… Let me tell you the Mzungu skin stands out a lot better in the dark than Mudugov skin. Zion (former interpreter, now works at the orphanage) boiled up some water for us, and handed us a small jerry can of hot water, a big jerry can of cold water, a pan, and a rag. Steven and I looked at each other…. Then Zion was like “To Bathe.” Bill gave us a rundown of what you can do, but I think I am figuring out my own technique.
So the other day (Dave Hamilton: Don’t read), we were going through the homes on the maps that we have been tracing just checking them and fixing problems as we go. We got to Jimmy’s house (Mark and Susan’s sponsored child) and the lights weren’t working. The panel that feeds that house was labeled, but the cover was hiding a good portion of the writing so we couldn’t really read what it said. For example, if it said 36, you could see the 3, and part of the 6, but the half of the 6 that we could see looked like a 1. I was down testing the junction box and I had Steven turn the power off to Jimmy’s house since we had a problem. Looking at our map we could see that House #31 could have been feeding House #36 (don’t worry if you don’t get any of this..) We turned off the breaker at the panel that we thought was feeding Jimmy’s Home. I was up on the ladder with the junction box open, and I pulled out the Line wires (Black) and one of the wires slipped out of the wire nut. I was like ”Well, there’s our Problem!” While pilling them out a little more, a spark came from the black wire that I pulled out… I looked at Steven and asked, “Is it Hot?!”
He said, “I turned the breaker off!”.
I busted out Dave’s testers that he gave me to use, and stuck one of the probes into the wire nut that had the black wires in it, and got another blast. I didn’t get shocked or anything, but pretty darn close. The wire nut caught on fire, and I had a nice big flame coming up from the J-box.. The wire nut was the only thing that caught fire, but I was just standing there in amazement looking at this big ‘ol flame coming from the wire nut.. I gave it a casual blow, and turned to Steven and told him to turn off the main. We had a little audience of like 5 kids all laughing and amazed. I don’t think they are ever going to touch a wire any time soon.
There are about 9 homes to a breaker in some cases, some more, some less. We have encountered a few instances where there is one short in the whole circuit, but all the boxes, switches, and lights are all screwed shut. Soooooo, we have had to go through each house; opening all the interior boxes, lights, switches, and exterior boxes looking for places where we had shorts. We have found many. There are a lot of places that the wires were stripped and in direct contact with other wires in the box. We have taken off decorative cones that don’t let the light bulb touch the socket, replaced light bulbs, mounted switches, we’ve found junction boxes completely open and unfinished, wired, re-wired, all the while feeding the kids leftover American lunch food(which the love). Speaking of kids eating, There is a child named Mustafa. He will come up to our house just before meal time pretty much every day and eat more food than Steven and I combined. He doesn’t say much when he is eating, I’d say because he puts food into his mouth around every 2 seconds. We have nicknamed him Bulldozer, cause the kid ploughs through the serving dish. He is 6, and he is just a little guy, but his belly is HUGE.
We went into Joan’s (my kid) and Rachel’s (Gosvener’s kid) house the other night after we got them power, and we made them English, Science, and Math tests. They asked us to... but we made them, and then corrected them. They want Steven and I to spend the night one of these nights. They were talking to Steven. And the told him, “Please stay, we have two open beds!” I love it. When you walk in, they say “You are most welcome.” If you let them use a camera for a little bit, they will run back to you and say “It has refused!” if they cant get it to take a picture. They are so cute.
I know this is a lot to read, but I have not been with a computer for like a week. We didn’t have a whole lot of time to use it at the Hotel even while we were there the last couple of days. I asked Felix (Project Manager for the Orphanage) to get me two outlets so we could charge some batteries, and run the computer back on Monday, and we just got them from Micah (Ugandan Electrician) today. So I am trying to remember all the things that have happened since I last updated, but that was quite a while ago.
We are heading back to the Ridar tonight for a little concert, and some swimming. We have a little checking up on some wiring to do before we go though. Luganda classes start on Monday from the Mums… What I would give for a toilet seat around here. Speaking of which, Steven and I will work on a list of things that you should NOT take for granted in the US. Stay tuned. Not complaining, just being thankful for how fortunate we are to have what God has blessed us with at home in the US. Sorry I don’t have many pictures. My batteries have all been dead for a few days. =)