Faced with large electricity bills (often over £150/$200 a month), we decided to follow the lead of other families on centre who have reduced power usage by switching to LED tubes. Here's Andrew (apparently just home from work given the grease smudges on his face!), installing a new LED in our kitchen.
As well as the lights inside our house, we also have several lights on the outside to deter thieves. So a lot of the electricity we use is for lights. We also, of course, use electricity for appliances and electronics. Our oven runs from gas bottles, and the sun heats our water (or doesn't heat it, if it hasn't been a sunny day!)
We are often asked where our electricity comes from. We get much of our power from the national grid; power is produced at the hydroelectric plant at 'Yonki Dam', which is located here in the Eastern Highlands Province. We also have back-up generators on centre that start up if the national power is down. Andrew has been involved in working on these generators, as well as on generators at other centres around the country where Wycliffe members work.
Here is a photo of Andrew and colleagues helping upgrade the power cables that bring electricity onto the centre.
One of the most common questions we get asked is, "What do you eat?" The photo below was taken in the store here in the Ukarumpa centre. As you can see, we are fortunate to have access to basic food supplies. We generally have an adequate range of key ingredients, though we can never guarantee that a particular product will be in stock at the time we need it! Since getting back from Home Leave, we've already gone through one week when there were no eggs for sale at all.
What might you expect to pay for these products? Here is what we would need to pay for them in various locations and at different times:
| US$
| UK£
|
Cheapest US Price
| 21
| 13
|
| Cheapest UK Price | 23
| 15
|
| Current Ukarumpa Price | 51
| 33
|
2004 Ukarumpa Price
| 21
| 12
|
(For more information about how I came up with these figures, see our next blog post)
I won't pretend to understand all the reasons for these price differences. I do know that some of these items are imported specially because they are not items that Papua New Guineans would normally use. The increase in strength of the Papua New Guinean Kina against the dollar and pound has made a big difference to us over the last several months; this is one of the reasons that the basket of food above costs more than twice as much as it did in 2004, when Andrew was already living here and I was preparing to come. And of course all of you will have noticed the increase in food prices worldwide over the last few years.
Fortunately we are able to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and beans from local growers at an early morning market here on the centre. The prices are often lower than they would be in our home countries, and so we are eating a lot of market produce right now!
Increased cost of food is one reason why our expenses are significantly higher than they have been in the past. Of course we also have one more mouth to feed now. So far, Heidi seems to be enjoying food as much as the rest of us do!
Praise God:
-Levi has been healthy and happy since we sent out our January update asking you to pray.
-For financial support from a range of sources.
-For those who keep the store stocked with basic ingredients for cooking.
-I (Clare) am balancing my time and energy better.
-Two new Wycliffe members will soon be arriving to work at Autoshop.
Please Pray:
-That we will receive sufficient support each month to cover our outgoings. (Our positions are non-salaried and so we rely on God to provide for our needs through churches and individuals).
