8.3%

 8.3%

Sure doesn’t sound like much, but it feels like a lot. This year we will have spent one complete month in quarantine. Two weeks were paid after traveling back to the US in April and just yesterday we completed our two weeks after returning from Sierra Leone.

It sounds easy: sit at home and do nothing. The first two weeks had their challenges; we really wanted to see our families in person. But these second two weeks came with a whole new set of challenges. Mold, intermittent electricity, intermittent internet, and our water tanks running low. Theoretically, we are supposed to get water from a reservoir maintained by the government. This reservoir routinely runs out of water in the dry season, but it’s still the tail end of rainy season and we aren’t getting any water! Rumor has it that the dam is under repair, and has been for the last 3 months. Nobody knows when the water supply will return.

We had gutters installed on the house to try to regain some control over our water supply. These gutters drain into big blue barrels. When it rains, the huge surface area of our roof, catches quite a bit of water and the barrels fill up in an hour or two. We also have six 20L containers (they are called rubbers here) that I try to fill up while it’s raining. Once the rain has stopped, Rachel climbs on top of the 3000L water tank and I lift up to her the 20L rubbers. Twenty liters at a time we fill up the tanks. So far, we’ve collected about 6000L and are tanks are almost full!

I’ve written before about how easy it is for my self-worth to be wrapped up in work. This stands to be further tested as the majority of the hospital’s buildings are a COVID treatment center. Renovations are underway for some other buildings, but currently there isn’t even a location for more than one person to see medical/non-COVID patients. Are we currently living in Sierra Leone without a purpose?

I don’t think we are purposeless, but sometimes it’s hard to see. Just like one 20L bucket doesn’t look like it adds anything to a 3000L tank, I’m sure the Spirit can use us in ways that are imperceptible to us. But man, it sure feels like the default to live by sight and not by faith.