Sparks

Laura is in Northwestern Uganda these days. In her absence, I (Ruth) went to do a quick errand yesterday morning. Upon my return, all seemed quiet except that the office light didn’t turn on. When, our helper, Dorcus, came back into the house, I commented how strange that the light isn’t working. She smiled and said the problem is much more than one light. She then narrated the story of what had happened during the short time I was gone.

Our day guard/gardener, Biajo, had been trimming in the back of our house. He cut off one of the many nuisance vines and was tugging at it to get the rest of it out of the tree. Unknown to him, the vine crossed over a razor wire (which is used on top of the compound walls but this one was completely separate and who knows how it got in the tree). That brought down the razor wire across the electric line that is draped through the tree (safety standards are quite different here!) and it slashed into that wire causing a horrible bolt of flashing electricity. By God’s grace, Biajo was not hurt although very shook up. Dorcus, our helper, was doing dishes in the kitchen, heard the bolt and saw the lights flicker. Quickly she turned off the main switch for the house (good for her!) and ventured out to see what happened…and found Biajo still somewhat stunned from the experience…which is where she was when I came home. When I went out to see it, there were still small sparks coming from the slash. We thanked God together with Biajo that no one was hurt.

I called our electrician who, ironically, happened to be working in the same northwestern town that Laura was in, a 12 hour bus trip away. (This morning she and Beth traveled another 3 hours to the Bidibidi Refugee Camp.) When he heard our situation, he called another electrician who came within the hour and got the situation corrected. Praise God for His protection.