A Day in Zack and Randy's Life

Today we were planning to Leave the city and travel back to Serenje. As is common in Africa, plans have changed. We negotiated to purchase a truck early next week. It takes a couple of days to do this. This being Friday, It will have to wait until Monday. Staying here will save us from having to go back and forth, 6 hours each way and a couple hundred dollars in fuel at about $8 per gallon. We found a nice off the beaten path hotel to stay at that has air conditioning.

I am continually trying to figure out this place. It is hard to understand why things are they way they are. I'm constantly shocked at how much things cost, the fluctuation of prices, and how people continue to survive. It is hard to have hope that there is a brighter future.

Today, I was in the city, people everywhere, dusty roads, unfamiliar languages, smoke billowing out of car exhausts, horns honking. As I sat in the car, trying to send an e-mail, which is amazing in itself that I can do that here, I made a couple of calls to the US. It suddenly struck me. I felt like I was in a movie. Who gets to do this this? This is so far from what we know. yeah it's usually not too fun, not real glamorous, but there is something about it. Definitely hazardous to my health, but I feel privileged to be serving here.

Another strange sight today. We went to a hardware store, when we park at the stores, people come up and try to sell cheap stuff to us. Sometimes we get some begging kids. today, I waited outside in the car to guard our goods. As i was there, just a few feet from me was an old blind man with a young kid begging. well, the kid was begging and the blind guy was just sitting there. It is common for cripples to have someone with then to guide them around and collect money. I then noticed that someone had given the boy a pizza, I assume to give to the blind guy. As I watched, I noticed that the kid wasn't giving any pizza to the blind man, as i continued to watch I noticed that the kid had the pizza behind the blind man and was trying to be very quiet when eating the pizza. He would also look around when taking bites to see who was watching. When he was done eating the pizza they both got up and left, but not without trying to get some money out of me. It was today's reminder of how desperate these people are, how sinful humans are, how corruption can begin at such a young age, and how much work there is to do here. Please continue to pray.