We're Back

We left for Africa on Monday after spending the weekend in Austin with our friends and family at Brentwood Oaks. We landed in Livingstone Wednesday afternoon after an uneventful two-day trip. Then we bumped and jolted over and around innumerable and unbelievable potholes for the three-hour journey back to Namwianga.

Students and co-workers seemed glad to see us back, and we enjoyed a time of reunion with the Harding group as well.

We knew we were REALLY back when the electricity went off 45 minutes later. We managed to unpack all four suitcases by the light of our flashlights and went to bed early. The power came back on at 11:00 that night, and of course we had left light switches on, so the house flooded with light. We got up, turned everything off, and went back to bed—until 4 a.m. when the rooster decided it was time to start the day.

While we were gone the AfriConnect technicians finally got the Harding internet system up and running. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the electricity has been going off for several hours every day. The high school and college students have had their study time slashed by having no lights in the evenings. Leonard, the Harding chef, has to have a backup plan for cooking every meal because he never knows whether or not he’ll have the electric stove available. Every day is an adventure . . .

Even with all of the inconveniences, we are delighted to be back at Namwianga. When we asked some of the Harding students if anything exciting had happened while we were gone, one of them said, “Something awesome happens every single day here!”

It's good to be home.