Blessings 365: Day 4: Safety during our move

My blessing from 2 days ago was DEFINITELY safety during our move!!

Our “move” started the night before our move when we got a phone call that the driver of our truck was no where to be found.  His phone was shut off and no one knew where he was.  So Scott had to call around and was finally able to find another truck.  That truck arrived at 7 p.m.   It was already dark outside and power was out!  It was so much fun packing the truck by candle light.

The next morning we had a “false alarm” wet bed....at 4:51 a.m., so, of course, mama was awake.  It turned out to be good because by the time everyone else got up around 6:30, I had our game plan all worked out for smooth last-minute packing!  We were ready to pull out of the driveway at 7:27!  woo hoo!!  BUT the driver wasn’t ready until 8:00, so we played with our neighbors one last time before praying together and saying good bye!

About an hour and a half after we left, the moving truck (which was in front of us) started having problems and pulled over to the side of the road.  After about an hour and a half of waiting (with no end in sight),  Scott and I began discussing our options.  We finally decided that our best bet was for me to continue driving to Gulu, meet our landlord, and get a bit settled in the house.  Now that sounds simple and easy, right?!?  I forgot to mention that I’ve driven about 1/2 a mile (1 km) in Uganda....and that was in a nice quiet neighborhood!  I was about to set off on a 4 hour drive over terrible roads with huge buses, fuel trucks, pedestrians, bicyclists, pot holes like the Grand Canyon, motorcyclists and police checkpoints (complete with “fees” to be paid).  This was a huge step of faith for our whole family!

We prayed and off I went.  God was so faithful!  His hand of protection was definitely on our van!  There were MANY times that I pulled over to the side of the road (not a shoulder...just a drop off into the dirt from the asphalt) to avoid being hit by a bus.  Several times that a van suddenly decided to pass me, just as a fuel truck was approaching and I had to slam on my brakes.  Only 2 pot holes that caught me by surprise (sorry, honey!).  Overall, it was a GREAT trip!  The kids and I had fun chatting and listening to a cd of worship songs that we burned before we left (it was especially fun when we would hit bumps and the cd would skip half the song!!).

We were very blessed to arrive in Gulu safely.  Scott has written about HIS side of our Gulu move....I’ll just say right now that I am so thankful that God protected Scott during his journey!!

This picture was taken from our back door looking out at the moving truck at 6:30 am after an almost sleepless night!  Scott finally made it to Gulu around 12:45 am.  We were able to welcome him home to no power...and a mattress on the floor!  Love ya, babe!

from Scott:

I have moved a few times in the U.S. the steps are usually pretty simple after you have you stuff ready to move.

Step 1. go online and hire a moving company, give them the addresses you are moving to and from.

Step 2. supervise as they load your stuff.

Step 3. Drive to your new address and wait for your stuff and supervise it being unloaded.
(there is also the U-haul move, just insert yourself in the place of the movers)

Here are the steps to a move in Uganda:

Step 1. start a few months before you move and find "the man" that owns a big truck

Step 2. argue and eventually agree on a price

Step 3. have the price change a few days before because fuel prices have gone up since you agreed on the price.

Step 4. argue some more to make "the man" honor his original price

Step 5. the day before the move "the man" with the truck, be told that he has gone back to "the village" and is no longer in town. He will not answer his phone

Step 6. Go find another man with a big truck and argue and agree on a price and tell him you need the truck right away, to which he agrees and is on his way


Step 7. Wait 2 hours then remember that "on my way" in Uganda means "I might be there in 1 hour or 5 days"


Step 8. find another truck


Step 9. start the price negotiating all over again and agree on a price.


Step 10. truck arrives after dark , load the truck yourself (along with wife and children) by candlelight


Step 11. have someone guard the truck overnight so no one comes and steals everything off of it


Step 12. Pay the owner of the truck half of the agreed price to pay for the fuel to your new place of residence


Step 13. after the owner of the truck leaves the driver arrives to tell you that he needs to borrow money to buy fuel for the trip because he spent the money the owner of the truck gave him to buy fuel on a family problem.


Step 14. refuse to pay the drive and call the owner of the truck to complain about his driver asking for money


Step 15. get all info of the driver and truck and follow the truck closely because everyone has told you to not let the truck out of your sight because the driver will disappear with the truck sell your stuff and claimed he was robbed.


Step 16. the truck, if your counting thats truck number three since we started, breaks down. 


Step 17. its 9:30 and your in the middle of nowhere on a Uganda highway and the driver says he is going to get a mechanic


Step 18. an hour later the driver arrives on a motorcycle with two mechanics.


Step 19 Ugandan police pass by to ask why you are on the side of the road with  family, you explain we are moving and the broken down truck in front of you has your things on it. The police says you should have them fix the truck and get it off of the side of the road


Step 20. agree with the policemans brilliant idea to have the truck repaired


Step 21. have driver tell you the truck cannot easily be fixed and he needs to go and find parts to make repairs but will be back in less than one hour.


Step 22. the police from step 19 drives back by to ask where the driver went and says not to leave the truck because the people from nearby villages will come and steal everything if its left unattended


Step 23. send wife and kids on without you, remain with your belongings


Step 24. pray for wife and kids because wife has never driven in Uganda, but you have now sent her on a 5 hour drive on Ugandan roads (details on that in later steps)


Step 25. wait 2 hours and call the driver who won't answer his phone,


Step 26. begin calling the owner of the truck, who tells you he has another truck he is sending and will be there in 30 minutes


Step 27. after the 30 minutes turns into 2 hours call owner of the truck several times


Step 28. driver and owner of the truck turn off their phones


Step 29. the friendly and helpful policeman mentioned in steps 19 and 22 comes back by to say it is getting dark soon and if the truck is left overnight it will be robbed of everything and I would be beaten and or killed if I tried to defend it


Step 30. wet yourself slightly


Step 31 pay someone to go into the nearest town to try and hire another truck to complete the move


Step 32. receive a call from the person you payed to tell you he has found a truck, that would be truck number 4


Step 33. realize all you own is in a truck broken down on a road in the middle of Uganda and are desperate and any chance of negotiating does not exist


Step 34. truck number 4 arrives and you begin unloading what took 4 hours to load the night before in 30 minutes and begin to load truck number 4 in record time as the sun gets low on the horizon


Step 35. A different mechanic arrives and begins to work on truck number 3, but driver and owner still have phones turned off


Step 36. after a 5 hour absence the driver of truck number 3 arrives and the scene to see his truck unloaded and a large sweaty, hungry, thirsty, and irritated white man loading another truck.


Step 37. driver becomes enraged and demands full payment for the move


Step 38. decline to make full payment and demand deposit back


Step 39. driver of truck number 3 disappears again


Step 40. driver of truck number 3 reappears with 5 Ugandan policemen to have me arrested


Step 41. take a nice drive back to police station with the afore mentioned policemen, while one remains to look after truck number 4 that is now loaded


Step 42. arrive at police station and appear before the head of that particular police department to plead my case


Step 43. have driver of truck number 3 lie about being absent all day and assure them that he was with the truck and me all day working on the truck and has not been paid a deposit.


Step 44. have the frequent passerby policeman from steps 19, 22 and 29 show up at just the right time at police headquarters to inform his captain of the drivers deceit.


Step 45. watch as the driver of truck number 3 is arrested for lying to the police and truck number 3 impounded until the deposit is fully refunded.


Step 46. grin slighly


Step 47. have truck number 4 pick up at police station and continue journey


Step 48. wonder why headlights are not used until 3 hours after sunset.


Step 49. assume that Ugandan roads have been involved in an asphalt erosion test since the Nixon administration and have allowed testing for land mines on the parts that aren't eroded yet.


Step 50. fantasize about having and extra stick of deodorant to give to your new best friend, the driver of truck number 4


Step 51. have truck number 4 begin to squeal like a banshee and pull over


Step 52 have stinky (new nickname for driver of truck number 4) say that the U joint that has been giving him problems for some time has finally gone out


Step 53. consider murder after having a single tear roll down cheek


Step 54. wait an hour while stinky has a friend bring one of the U joints off of one their other trucks


Step 55. rejoice as repairs are made in less than 20 minutes


Step 56. after driving for an hour the driver pulls over again, the reason....."to take tea"


Step 57. recite 4 letter words learned in Junior High quietly to self


Step 58. after a 30 minute "tea time" back on the road


Step 59. go through 3 police checkpoints and give them a small payoff each time to avoid being fully inspected


Step 60. cringe while Stinky is forced to make the road his personal slalom course avoiding a small percentage of the potholes while convinced you have heard everything in the back of the truck either fall off or break


Step 61. if Stinky was a boxer his name would be Gaseous Clay because apparently b.o. was not enough of an assault on the world of odors


Step 62. imitate a dog and hang head out of the window of truck number 4 to maintain consciousness while Stinky continues his assault on my olfactory system 


Step 63. compare the ordeal to those of the S.S. Minnow


Step 64. what was supposed to be a 5 hour tour ends in just over 18 hours.


Step 65. Ask God for forgiveness for a day filled fantasies of verbal abuse, murder, dismemberment, hygenic insults, military invasion, pushing a certain driver from a moving truck (#4) and driving it myself. I will miss you and remember you always Stinky, all my love Scott