When There Isn't...

When there isn't much petrol, getting around Juba becomes tricky.
At the moment, there is a severe shortage of petrol in town.

On the mornings I go jogging, the streets are unusually quiet. Vehicles are few and far between. When we jog past the hospital, it is eerie, as the noisy mini-bus taxis are conspicuously absent. Normally, these minibuses come bumping past us, sometimes with heavy, thumping music disturbing the early morning. They grind to a halt at the roadside, the rusty doors swing open and crowds of passengers spill out onto the street. The fact that there are usually lots of people being dropped off on this road is one of the reasons it appeals to me as a jogging route, since I feel safer with lots of people and movement around. But at the moment, it is rather quiet.
Likewise, the petrol station, where I often run through the concourse to take a short-cut (!!) is now fenced off, to prevent cars from entering, as its fuel pumps are not operational (the fence also prevents lazy joggers like me from taking a short cut!).

When the garages do open to supply fuel, the queues of cars, motorbikes and trucks snake a long way down the street. It can take a long time for vehicles to get to the fuel pump, as the drivers wait their turn.It is a strange sight, to see these long queues, waiting so long in the sweltering heat.

On Tuesday, we were due to meet up with our YWAM friends for a swim at a nearby hotel. The hotel is only walking distance for us, so it is for us easy to get to. But our friends live right across town. They do not own a car and on Tuesday, they were unable to find any transport at all to bring them to the hotel. The Mum had to spend her afternoon consoling her 3 disappointed children, who had been looking forward to their swimming outing. This may not sound very dramatic, but if it is one of only a few outings a week for home-schooled kids, it is a big deal for them.

At MAF, we are able to find fuel to continue to operate and to be able to drive to shops or to church on Sundays. However, we are aware that supplies are low and that this has a big impact for many in Juba. Our house-lady Grace finds it very difficult to get to work from her house across town and sometimes needs to take several different mini-bus taxis to get here or return home. This obviously costs more, as each driver demands a fare, but each transport vehicle cannot take passengers a full route at the moment. It is a real problem.

Another thing which has been lacking this week is reliable internet in our house! We have had some startling, crashing thunder-and-rain storms recently and they seem to have knocked a vital component of our internet receiver off the roof. Today, I am attempting to write this in the schoolroom, using the office network for internet; so if you can read this today, you can know that I have found a way around the fact that there isn't a strong internet connection at home!