Perseverance

Things in life are never as easy as they should be, especially if you are in Africa. So this morning at the 6am Mass that starts our every day here in Malawi, the homily was about perseverance. Little did I know how quickly I would have to employ today's lesson. Today our water well repairs almost didn't happen. Currently there is a HUGE shortage of fuel in the country causing many of the gas stations to shut down. Along with some fights breaking out in the long lines at the gas stations many are turning to the black market where prices can be greater than 2x higher than normal. This means they are paying $8-15 per gallon! Yeah, that's per gallon! Today, our guide who did the well assessment was no where to be found so we left 2 hours late. Also, in Malawi, much is driven by strife between traditional tribal authorities and governmental political parties, so we were taken to the wrong wells to repair wells that were not broken. Compounded by the cultural differences which make communicating almost impossible at times, today was a reminder of how thankful we must be for what we do have and how complicated the answers can be. Africa is always about making progress were you can and persevere to fight another day. As a blessing we have repaired 4 wells so far serving about 3800 people. For this I will fight another day.