Humbled By Hospitality

This was not a terribly eventful week as far as trips or unusual happenings, but trying to give a sense of the exotic ordinary can be interesting and a challenge as well. We are getting used to a way of life here that certainly differs from our life in the USA, but which has much to recommend it.

Probably the most striking difference is the weather. Coming back to Burundi in the middle of winter (in the USA) was quite a change. Seasons here are more subtle, but quite distinct. We first arrived in July, the middle of the dry season. I remember being struck by how hot and hazy the city seemed. Everything seemed dusty and polluted. I was a bit disappointed because our predecessors described Burundi as the Switzerland of Africa. I could not imagine what they meant. There was nothing that seemed terribly picturesque even though Bujumbura sits at the bottom of foothills on the edge of Lake Tanganyika.

January, however, is an entirely different season. It is the rainy season here and the air is very clear. It’s pleasantly warm instead of oppressively hot. As I mentioned last week, with the dust out of the air the mountain ranges of Congo rise across the lake, and the foothills of the Burundian countryside surround the city. It does have the look of Switzerland (although the mountains are not snowcapped.) I am appreciating the beauty of this place at this time of year.

It is nice to be able to walk about in our backyard and see flowers in bloom perpetually. We have many tropical blooms (see photos), palm, and fruit trees as well (papaya, mango, and guava). We have planted a vegetable garden where we have already harvested lettuce and a constant supply of basil. We just added summer squash, and will add spinach and broccoli soon.

Work was very busy once again this week as we are in the last two crucial weeks of strategic planning and budgeting. We have been meeting with our partners quite frequently to negotiate the grants we give them (with the inevitable cuts.) It is sad to make cuts because I appreciate how effectively they use the money donated by so many in the US and Canada, on behalf of those who really need it, in the form of programs that really change lives. Their commitment is really inspiring.

Onesphore, who directs Moisson Pour Christ (Harvest for Christ), is one example. His group is primarily evangelical, but has been doing some amazing work upcountry with a community income generating project (shared farm), that brings tutsi, hutus, and twa (pygmy people) together to work and share the fruits of their labor. This work is so important. It builds bonds between tutsi and hutu, but also with the twa, who are an extremely marginalized group, considered to be little more than animals by the other two ethnic groups. To get these communities to begin to share in common goals and mutual respect is really an astounding feat. Onesphore has even convinced the tutsi and hutu community members to help build better houses for their twa neighbors, an unheard-of idea! He is also setting up a twa primary school and even envisions a seminary for twa pastors at some time in the future.

He is a passionate evangelist and I asked him about his divergence into sustainable development as a focus in this project. He smiled and told me that although he has not been preaching the gospel with words, the actions are speaking volumes. “We cannot preach to them if we are not willing to show them Christ’s love in tangible ways.” Many of the twa, who have such low self-esteem that they will not even in eat in the homes of tutsi and hutu, were astounded that Moisson Pour Christ has been reaching out to them in love with a commitment to make their lives better. One twa woman asked him: “Who are you that you would care about us??” She was sobbing with joy and amazement.

It is hard to tell Onesphore that we cannot do more for him, as far as money goes. We have such respect for his work. But the global financial crisis and rising unemployment in the US is affecting MCC’s work quite directly. We are feeling the pain, and so are our partners. I am praying that as people in the US must reevaluate their lifestyles, that there might be a real desire to simplify, and not to sacrifice generosity first, before other things are put aside.

Speaking of lifestyles, Rebecca and I had a fairly humbling experience ourselves last week. My language teacher Jean-Baptiste and his wife had a baby recently. Rebecca and I decided, after my lesson last week, that we would go to his home to see the new baby. Jean-Baptiste was delighted. We drove with him to Kanyosha, a community on the outskirts of Bujumbura. Jean-Baptiste and his wife might be, in the US, a middle class family: he is a college graduate and a certified secondary school teacher with a good job; his wife works as an administrator at a hospital in the city.

Their whole house, however was about the size of our living room. With the dirt yard it would have fit in our living and dining room. But what really shocked me was the number of people in it: he and his wife, their two children, his brother and his two children, and about four other ‘orphans’ of relatives whose parents had died during the civil war, or as a result of disease. Taking care of orphans is the responsibility of pretty much every family in Burundi, as there are so many children without parents. So there were 9-10 people living in a house the size of my living room, and this was what I would consider a well-to-do professional class family. (They did have a tv in the room which was about the only thing besides the furniture).

They were, of course, hospitable to a fault while we were there. They brought us orange Fantas (the celebratory beverage of choice) as well as maracouja (passionfruit juice) and peanuts. I was aware that none of the children were given any of this. Only the honored ‘mzungu’ guests, and Jean Baptiste got the juice, fanta, and nuts until we offered them to the kids. We ate and drank sparingly because I was aware that anything we finished would be immediately replaced by a new one, something that would have been very difficult to afford. Hospitality is a value held above most others here and I know we blessed them by visiting, but I was also reminded, once again, of just what the level of disparity in our lifestyles looks like. In short, we are paid a lot more for the work that we do than he and his wife are. Living simply is a Mennonite value, and Burundi is a place where Rebecca and I are feeling motivated to explore it more fully.

Another lesson about hospitality: On Sunday, just as we were about to go out and meet some friends, we got a call from Denise, Oren’s nanny. She asked if she could stop by because she was nearby. We said that was fine, but ended up waiting for her for almost half an hour. We were getting annoyed and assumed that she was dropping by on a non-work day because she needed a loan or something. When she finally appeared, she was carrying a big straw basket filled to the brim with fresh green peas in their pods! She had just come back from a visit to her mother up-country, and her mother sent her down with this produce from the farm. We were humbled by her generosity. And we enjoyed Burundian peas and rice for lunch all week.

Oren had school this past week and got a mixed report from his teacher. Some days he was fine, but he also had some rough patches. During coloring period on Wednesday, Oren did not want to sit and draw. When they insisted, he threw his crayons and shoes all around the room (according to the teacher’s report.) When I asked Oren about it, he told us he took off his pants and threw them around as well. I am not sure if that was an exaggeration, or something the teacher deferentially did not mention to me. (Nor do I plan to inquire further :-) On Friday he woke up with a sore stomach and I was told that he vomited in class that morning, but apparently was fine the rest of the time.

I am working with him at home on drawing and writing skills to try to encourage him to be better about sitting still and working. He does seem to be more interested in French and has asked us how to say some words. He also announced to us that he has a ‘girlfriend’ in his class.

Something amusing: He acknowledged, for the first time last week, that he was aware of differences in race. We have not ever mentioned it at all. But when he was talking to us about Denise, his caretaker, he told us she was ‘purple’. I asked what he meant, he said “Denise is a purple person.” I asked what color our cook Marcelline and his friend Timmy were and he said purple as well. When asked what color he was, he said he was golden.

Rebecca and I are trying to find a good rhythm for work and parenting. Having Oren at school from 8-12 every day gives us plenty of time for work in the morning. We take David to the office with us. But in the afternoons we feel we need to make sure Oren gets parent time as well as time with Denise. We are trying out a “mommy day” on Tuesdays, where Rebecca takes care of Oren exclusively after lunch while Denise watches David, and a “daddy day” on Thursdays where he spends the day after lunch with me. We, of course, have our weekends and evenings together. It is tricky to be intentional about all of this when we share a job, and also have childcare options available, but it is clear he needs some help.

This past Thursday I put David and him in the jogging stroller and took them over to a small play area at the Rainbow Center. Rainbow Center is a small orphanage and health clinic where he can ride a tricycle and play on some swings. Usually a few of the orphaned children play with him. Here he is on tricycles with Dani and Anna.

David is still relatively low maintenance thanks to his lack of mobility. We are trying to set up his room better though, and last week we set up a crib loaned to us by Zachee. It is made out of very heavy wood, screwed together, and would be, by hyper-legalistic US safety standards ‘rickety’. But it does have a mosquito net which is de rigeur in Burundi.

As a footnote I would add that I am slowly but surely getting back into an exercise routine that currently features CAPOEIRA! Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that is danced (historically as a way to disguise its practice on slave plantations.) Much of break-dancing acrobatics evolved from it. What is cool is that I used to study it in New York City when I was a dancer. It is great to be able to do it again! The teacher is Belgian, and happens to be the director of L’Ecole Belge, where Oren goes to school. I played last night and I am sore this morning, but very happy for the chance to be able to do something physical and dancey.