"Fire, Fire, Fire; Fire Fall on Me"

I went with a friend to church today, and about half way through the service, it looked like the lights flickered and then the projector started flashing, so at first I assumed the power was going out (not too unusual around here).  Then the projector turned off, but the rest of the lights didn’t, and I noticed that some lights were still flashing from overhead.  I finally looked up, and the projector that was mounted about 30 feet over my head was raining down sparks!  For a few seconds, we all stared in amazement and waited for the sparks to stop.  Finally (this was one of those slow-motion situations where all of this probably happened in less than 10 seconds), the 20 or so of us under the raining sparks decided it was best to move so that we didn’t get a burning ember in our faces.  The sparks finally stopped, and at first my friend and I decided to sit back down just outside of the 10’-radius of danger, just in case the sparks started up again.  All this time no one in the church seemed to be doing anything other than staring at the projector.  All the poor worship leader could do was say “Don’t panic.  I think the service will still continue.”  I suppose some leader types were doing something in the background (it’s a large building that seats over 1,000, so I’m sure it takes a while to get anything done quickly), but to those of us in the crowd, it didn’t seem like anyone was doing anything about the fire hazard over our heads.  I guess the hard part was that if anyone had a plan or directions, no one was communicating it to those of us in the crowd.  I can see how these disaster situations happen so quickly and yet it can feel like an eternity before anyone is able to react.  Finally the power to the building was turned off and some of the ushers came by and told us to clear out a larger section under the projector.  Once I got further away, I looked up and realized that the projector was STILL ON FIRE!  I couldn’t believe 1,000 people were just standing there watching these healthy flames suspended in the sky for several minutes!  I think everyone was starting to worry that the flames would eventually weaken whatever was holding it up there.

At that point, my friend and I decided to leave and have coffee.  I know, I know… but we had nowhere to sit and had no idea when/if the service was going to start up again.  I left a little slowly, processing my shock at the flames that I had been calmly sitting under and wondering what was going to happen next, when all of a sudden, the projector swayed a little and dropped a few inches!  SCREAMS and PUSHING and PANIC as people ran for the doors!  I definitely thought it was coming down, but just before someone pushed me out of the door, I saw it start to move UPWARD – apparently someone had gone into the ceiling and was pulling it up from above.  A few seconds later, I looked back through the door to see half the giant sanctuary filled with white smoke.  I’m assuming our savior in the sky used a fire extinguisher. 

Maybe that was the fastest anything could be done in such a large church, but I did leave feeling a little disappointed in the church’s response time.  It seemed like someone should have been able to run to a power switch somewhere and turn the power off sooner so that the projector would stop sparking, but I suppose once the fire started, it would have continued on its own anyway.  I guess I’m used to US fire codes where a church would have an automatic sprinkler system (in which case the whole congregation would be miserably wet), or at least someone would be able to reach for a nearby fire extinguisher.  Unfortunately in this case, a normal fire extinguisher wouldn’t have reached that high (I think the sanctuary is a former movie theater) and 200 people underneath would need to be evacuated first if they wanted to avoid getting wet/dirty.  Plus, in this city built of bricks, fire safety is not usually something one has to think too much about.

Anyway, quite a few other people left church with us, although apparently they eventually went on with the service.  About an hour later, I saw two different people ask me if I was at church, one who said “Why did you leave?  Let’s talk about it.” (presumably a pastor or something)  I think my friend and I were recognizable as the only Mzungus directly under the projector who initially had to get up and move while the congregation looked on.  Fortunately, throughout the whole thing, I don’t think anyone got hurt.  I bet you didn’t think your prayers for my safety would have anything to do with THAT!  Definitely the most dramatic church service I’ve been to!

For anyone who is wondering about the blog title reference, it’s an old gospel song referring to Pentecost.  Yes, flames were over my head during the middle of a pentecostal church service....  =P

Fourth of July in Africa

I generally don’t consider myself very patriotic.  I often roll my eyes at all the patriotic t-shirts and “God bless America” bumper stickers (I’d much rather ask that God bless the World).  I cringe when people talk about how great America is (generally because I assume that they are ignorant about the rest of the world and about the negative things the US has done, and I assume that they look down on others for being inferior – in short, I [hypocritically] look down on them).  “Pooh-pooh”-ing American patriotism is in fact quite easy to do while I enjoy all of the freedoms and rights and access to power that being an American gives me.

BUT, all that to say, that I felt quite “proud to be an American” last night while watching fireworks and singing along to “Born in the USA” and “Surfing USA.”  =)  Basically, I love the fact that part of being an American involves watching large firework displays choreographed to music (yes, this part is very important) each 4th of July.  After living in Boston for 8 years, and watching the Boston Pops live in concert while surrounded by hundreds of others picnicing on the grass by the side of the Charles River, followed by the best fireworks displays I’ve ever seen (and I’m a fairly critical judge), nothing else can really compare.  But, small by comparison though it was, I found myself quite enjoying the American Independence Day festivities last night at the American Recreation Association in Kampala, Uganda.  I think it was mostly that it was something familiar from home.

Of course everyone in Uganda has to work on the 4th (well, unless you work at the US Embassy), so the celebration was held on Sunday the 3rd.  I went with my mom (who’s visiting for 2 weeks) and a friend and her son.  We sat on the grass and had hamburgers and hot dogs while watching various acts: the color guard, a speech from the US Ambassador, some American students talking and singing about American history, a Ugandan children’s choir/dance troupe, a Karate demonstration, adult Ugandan dancers, and some fairly talented gymnasts/jugglers.  It was funny to be surrounded by so many Americans (there were also many non-Americans there), since even when you find yourself in a mostly-White crowd here, many people are often European.  My mom had brought some s’mores fixings with her from the US, so we happily ate cold s’mores.  (On Saturday, we introduced our Ugandan staff to real s’mores at a 4th of July-themed potluck lunch.  They seemed to be quite entertained.)  The best part of the night, of course, was the fireworks.  I was actually quite impressed with the display.  Many of them were the small-town-looking (or expensive personal) fireworks, but some were actually the large, loud real deal, with gold sparkles and everything.  Well, as I said, I was quite impressed and had a great time.  What a nice surprise: 4th of July fireworks, even in Uganda!  Happy 4th everybody!