Email 9/21/08

I'm sending on my most recent journaling in reference to the humorouspart of our days here in Uganda...it's good for us to remind ourselvesof the odd little things about living here.

One added note...we have spent the day driving around some pastorsfrom Memphis - it was a delightful day, filled with lots of laughterand English we could actually understand. We had to pass through themajor intersection of the Kampala Highway coming into Fort Portalseveral times - and drove over the major electrical and phone linesthat come into Fort Portal - yes, drove over all of them. They wereknocked down yesterday by an 18 wheeler which hit the lines and pulleddown the pole - yes, they were hanging VERY low - and now they are notonly stretched across the highway, being crushed by 18 wheelers, busesand cars, but they are also running through the corner gas station,perilously close to gas pumps. If we hear an explosion in the night,we will have no doubt where it is coming from. Such is life here inUganda.

God bless your week as we know he will ours. Bob and Linda...keep reading below...remember, we still can't attachword documents - only copy and paste.

COME BACK TOMORROW…

Today in Barclay's Bank, I heard an employee ask a client to "come back tomorrow". The words echoed in my head, over and over, remindingme of how many times Bob and I, in four short weeks, have heard thewords, "come back tomorrow" – code for "we haven't done anything totake care of your problem, so let's see if tomorrow will be anydifferent". As someone who has been in the business of working tokeep clients happy, through both education and retail, the last thingin the world I would ever willingly put on the table to a valuedcustomer is "come back tomorrow". The thought of not having takencare of a promised or expected task is horrifying, as it is to mostprofessionals in many parts of the world. It is our honor on theline, for goodness sake!

However a different set of rules is applied to daily transactions herein Uganda, and we are learning in the fire, through the fire, and withthe fire all around us! Just a few examples of setting up life inFort Portal will explain the new system in which we are functioningand probably remind all of us how life in the states has no equal.

We could begin with our banking system…and we could end with ourbanking system. In fact, I think just a discussion on our bankingsystem alone would sufficiently make the point! Before we ever left Colorado, we made the decision to do our banking with Barclays –wouldn't everyone? Why would we choose Stanbic, or Centenary, bankswhich have no reputation with the international community and could bea cover for who knows what African mafia business (does the mafiaexist in Africa?). We felt confident.

While we had some issues with our first withdrawals (including Bobgetting to the Kampala Barclays on his first boda boda ride with Sam),everything seemed to move smoothly after we worked through all thepuzzling steps to get to our money. Our second wire, however, became another issue.

"Come back tomorrow", or even "I'll call tomorrow"were the words which frequently came at us from bank employees in FortPortal who were less than concerned that our wire was not showing upanywhere in the system. Sixteen days after the wire was sent from Colorado, countless unproductive trips to the bank in Fort Portal,constant texts back and forth to the US, a tracer which followed themoney from the west to the east coast and across the ocean to Uganda,and multiple conversations of exasperation later, we were gifted withAlex the Angel (this after Jane prayed for an angel to find ourmoney…). We never heard the words "come back tomorrow", but insteadheard "finding your money will be my top priority today". And with that attitude and the prayers of many supporting his search, Alex was victorious, and not once did he say "come back tomorrow". He is our new very dear friend.
"Come back tomorrow" was the litany at MTN, our internet serviceprovider for this past month. However, tomorrow looked pretty good tous instead of "come back in two months" from UTL, the competitor, sowe took "tomorrow". As all of our friends back home know by now, ourability to communicate through email, attachments and photos islimited, but to even get to this point, we had to get through a weekof "come back tomorrows". Promised on Tuesday, but no later thanWednesday, we finally received our dealybob on Friday…only to find outthat it couldn't be activated until Monday, which turned into Tuesday,then Wednesday, and then quite honestly I can't even remember how manydays of "come back tomorrow" it took for us to get the service thattakes us 10 minutes to get online, cannot do group emails, works only on HTML, and will not do any kind of attachment.

And remember the key in the post office box…stuck in its antiquatedhome of rusty box 706? Just back up the days to two weeks before whenwe began the process. Go to the post office to get the application tohave a box. Have to go find our LC1 in the neighborhood who must signand vouch for us (I suppose to be absolutely certain we will notterrorize the post office?)…"come back tomorrow" after you get hissignature. Find LC1, get the signature, take back to the post office,but find out that we "come back tomorrow" for our key. We go backtomorrow, but the maker of the keys is not around and we are told to"come back tomorrow" when he is, in fact, around. We go backtomorrow, we get our key, and we wait a week to see if our test mailhas arrived from the states. Insert key into box 706, move key toopen box…no, key is stuck in one position and won't move eitherdirection and won't come out. We report our stuck key and are told"come back tomorrow". We go back tomorrow and visit our key which isstill stuck in box 706, unfortunately looking very comfortable. Whilewe are not told to "come back tomorrow", but instead told to "comeback in thirty minutes", we are by now so disciplined to "come backtomorrow" that we automatically put it on the calendar to return tothe post office "tomorrow" and ignore the "thirty minutes".

We could happily ruminate on more "come back tomorrow" stories, butwe're sure you get the point. Please appreciate all those commentsfrom everyone you work with…comments such as "just a minute", "I'll beright back with that", "we'll have it for you immediately", and "canyou wait just a minute and I will get that for you". They are "applesof gold" to us in this country which moves at a slower pace, laughsgood-naturedly at itself, and probably likes the "come back tomorrow"culture because they want to see you again!
And perhaps the last…but definitely the most important thing we ponderin this "come back tomorrow" life is that our heavenly Father alwayssays "I'm here right now for you".

Mukama Asiimwe!