Karamoja Okkens

We’ve tried to avoid an apple a day because we have definitely not wanted to keep him away! Yes, Dr. Jim Knox arrived this last week to Karamoja. It has been a long time coming. This has been his desire for many years. What a blessing to see it finally come to fruition. It’s a wonderful comfort to have a doctor around, for the Karimojong and also for the missionaries. Please pray for Jim as he adjusts to his life and work. Facebook Woes…If your friend request is not quickly confirmed, please do not be offended. For some reason, Sunshine is unable to access her Facebook account from our computer. So, for right now, if you want to contact her or be up to date with the latest goings on here, please just email us directly. As for the outstanding friend requests, eventually Sunshine’s mom will ‘check in’ to our account and confirm them. :)

Around 11:30am on Wednesday there was a distant fire burning in the field to the east of our compound. We would have immediately called the fire department if there were such a thing in Karamoja. I was a bit concerned but our Karimojong friends assured me that it would not reach our compound since the wind was blowing it in a bit more of a southern direction. Furthermore, when the rainy season ended we had cleared the fields all around us making a good firebreak. Nonetheless, amidst a situation which in Southern California would have most certainly called for the precautionary measure of immediate mandatory evacuation, what did we do? We went to lunch! We headed to the main compound (where we eat rice and beans with our teammates a few days a week). After just a few bites I heard that the wind had changed and fire had come our way and I was running back to our compound with several of our workers to make sure things were ok. The closer I got, the thicker the smoke was, the more my eyes...