Cheering for Improvement

 I was in the middle of cleaning up, when I heard the sound level on the street rise— more voices, shouting, sounds of running. I went out to see if I could figure out what was going on. People were all gathering and looking down the intersecting road. Since our more sedate, cautious neighbors were among the gathering throng, I decided to go down and see what the ruckus was about.

Our son points out where the fire location

FIRE!

A word that can spread dread anywhere! But there was no fear permeating the crowd, so I knew right away that it couldn’t be serious. People weren’t running to make a water line, people were just watching. The fire was in the big telecommunications office building near our house, but no one was in danger or trapped.

Several people ran by with fire extinguishers. Our son went on the roof and had a good view of the men rushing up the stairs to a room off the 3rd floor balcony, where the fire was. We could see each fire extinguisher come up and could hear them being used. After that, people stopped rushing around. It seemed like the fire must have been out, because people on the building’s third floor porch started talking together, and there was no rushing for water or more extinguishers.

The fire truck arrives to cheers

I went back to doing my chores, when suddenly I heard the odd sound of cheering on the street, followed by a siren coming close. The fire truck had arrived! People were hooting and clapping its arrival. The cheering swelled again when a group of firefighters in matching uniforms ran up the street. It didn’t seem to matter that the fire was already out, everyone was so excited and congratulating the firemen for coming to help.

I wasn’t sure the sentiment behind the cheering at first. Are they laughing at them because they came too late to help? Is it just the novelty because most islanders haven’t seen firefighters in action? But then I sensed that it was pride. They were proud that they had a fire truck and proud of the men responding. To be fair, I didn’t know that there was a fire truck in our town or even on the island (other than the required one at the airport). Other fires I had seen only had the community gathering buckets to respond to them.

Firefighters are on the scene!

A couple minutes later, a smaller ambulance-type vehicle arrived and my neighbor shouted, “Go, help the injured!” I turned to her confused, “Has someone been injured?” She laughed. “No, there’s no one injured.” Again I wondered if she was mocking them with her cheers, but I don’t think she was. I think she was proud to see her town having people ready to respond to emergencies and she wanted to encourage them.

Many islanders are aware of the things that their country lacks. So seeing improvement is a welcomed thing, something to be cheered and celebrated. Perhaps they were too late to be of real help this time, but there may be another time when there is a bigger fire, and unlike years past, there will be a fire truck and firefighters there to help! So, let’s hear it for steps in the right direction, and let’s hear it for the Clove Island Fire Department!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thankful to improvements and steps in the right direction. Muki has started coming again and Tom was able to study some more with him.  He keeps really enjoying the stories.  We just had a very enjoyable visit with one of our organizational leaders.  It was encouraging to hear some of his stories from other parts of Africa and to have him here to listen and pray for us. Our teammate made it safely to her holiday destination.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Clove Islanders are complaining about two things right now-- the heat and lack of water. Pray that we could get some rain to break the oppressive heat that has descended, and to provide more water in reservoirs and rivers. Megan is still trying to get together to figure out a regular time of study with Ma Imani.  Everything just seems to get in the way.  This week it was a sister’s wedding.  Pray that they could make a plan this week. Tom met a man at a restaurant who wants to sit down and talk to him about the truth.  He seems very interested to learn more.  Pray that this meeting would happen and that Tom would know how to encourage this man in his journey.  As a team we are praying to see and hear of more opportunities like this, pray that we might discover and encourage many who are searching. Our other team family has less than two weeks with us here in the capital before moving to the plateau to join the medical team— pray for the remaining week observing at the capital hospital, for the packing up of their house here and for the final preparations of their house on the plateau.