(photos: some rainy day scenes on our street)
We hear on the BBC that because of the unrest in Northern Africa there has been a spike in prices at the pump. We imagine people are driving less and complaining more, but life probably goes on as usual. We are also suffering from some inconveniences due to the crisis in the north, but it works out a little differently in our setting.
You see-- gas and diesel on the island are a set government price. They get deep discounts from certain like-minded countries (one of them being the one that’s all over the news these days) in exchange for different political agendas—a UN vote here, mineral rights there, help with personas non grata, etc. So we have not had the problem of gas prices going up, but rather with gas supplies going down. At all the pumps there are long lines of cars waiting for fuel. Some of them have been parked for days. When fuel does come, it’s rationed out a few liters at a time. Our own cars (like many personal cars) have stopped running, since we don’t have time to wait in line, so we are all taking taxis again. This isn’t so bad except that the gas limitations mean less taxis on the road and we wait longer to flag one down. That’s not so bad either, except that it’s rainy season, and it’s not much fun to get caught in the rain.
There’s another part to it too. On an island, generating electricity is a tricky issue; no rivers to dam, no nuclear power plants, so instead they have generators—BIG generators. These generators run on...you guessed it, diesel. So gas shortages means frequent power cuts, food spoiling in the fridge, etc.
It’s funny, but you get used to stuff like this. Even the kids don’t react when the lights go out in the middle of bath time, and rejoice with us whenever the power comes back on. It really not that big a deal, we survive, life continues. Really all it is, is inconvenient. 
PRAYERS ANSWERED
Grace’s tummy seems to be doing better. Actually, not long after writing this we learned that a refueling ship has arrived and the ‘gas crisis’ is over for now. The dubbing project has been going well except for power cuts.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for lots of opportunities to share. Tom recently made anew friend who is coming over to play and sing music together. He seems like an interesting guy. The Canadian ladies arrive next week! As the team winds down there are many things that need to wrap up. Pray for finishing well.
