Southern California Fires….in Karamoja??

















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 watered and the faster my heart pounded as I thought – ‘I am not a firefighter!
What am I doing!?’

Well, the firebreak had worked. There were some very small fires burning on our property but it was not very long before they were extinguished with the fast heroic efforts of our Karimojong workers and friends. When you grow up with no fire department you become quite skilled at putting them out yourself. After helping us they were running to protect their own homes as well. God was very gracious. We heard of no injuries and the damage was extremely minimal. At the end of the day we were left with some very black fields, an intense burning smell in the air and a house full of ashes to clean up. It is quite amazing to think that the fire had burned completely around our three Mission compounds here. We are very grateful and praise the Lord for his protection!





A New Year's side note: We hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s! We enjoyed a night of soup (yes, even in hot Karamoja) and games with our teammates here in Nakaale. Thank you also for the many sweet notes via Facebook and emails for Sunshine’s birthday on the 4th. It was great fun to receive them!

Comments

Unknown said…
Your fire story reminds me of my boyhood in Montana when fires would start in the harvest fields of wheat on my father's ranch. Fire fighting was usually sudden and primitive and successful. There the fire was usually started by hand brakes left on by one of us truckers. My dad's usual response was to disable the hand brakes for the rest of the season.
January 13, 2009 at 4:11 PM
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