Working Toward a Perfect Weekend

David and Oren climbing on a 'dinosaur fossil' at Cercle Hippique.

I am admittedly late to report on the past week, which is surprising considering the leisurely pace of the weekend and the number of interesting events, but I think I was just enjoying the bliss of a perfect Sunday evening too much to want to  step out of the immediacy of the experience to the greater challenge of making it all into a coherent whole in prose.

I do not enjoy the actual act of writing, but I do enjoy 'having written' and I like having this kind of intentional reflection as a kind of regular weekly discipline, especially when it all seems to come together in a way that surprises me.  

The weekend as I mentioned stands out among the best I have had in Burundi.  So why not start with dessert today.  We had a fairly busy and ambitious week with both Rebecca and I taking turns at separate difficult responsibilites on our work days.  So the weekend was a very welcome opportunity to regroup.  Instead of 'relaxing' though, we had made plans the week prior to host one of our 'contradance' parties at our house.  This is a fairly ambitious project as it involves cleaning and tidying the entire house for guests, preparing some food (even though it is a potluck) and clearing all of the furniture out of living room and putting it on the porch so that our living room becomes a makeshift dance hall.  We invited all of the usual suspects as well as some new friends (the McKenzie's) among others and expected about 40 people counting children.  

On Saturday morning after yoga which we did at a friends' house, we went home to face the daunting task of preparing.  Yolanda was down from Gitega and Janelle our SALTer was there too so we did have some help.  We were ready at about the moment the first guests arrived.  We did have a very nice group including Astrid and Travis' famiiy, Thomas and Naja's family, the McKenzie's, Bela and Nina's family, as well as many other individuals.  It was a really fun evening with great food and great dancing!  That was a pleasant surprise as we are seeing the results of past experience paying off.  After starting off with "Cotton Eye Joe" (an icebreaker) we did a progressing circle and then square dance that became increasingly complex.  We ended of course with the Virginia Reel.  People seemed even more into the dancing than they have been in the past.  

Rebecca and I got to bed about 10 an hour after we had cleaned up the last spills and put back all the furniture.  We felt really satisfied and grateful for having such a an enjoyable community to be part of.

Sunday started similarly in that a great effort was required on our (my) part. I had been invited to preach at our church BICC. ( I mentioned this last week.)  I was honored to be asked but was intimidated by the topic that was assigned:  Christian Giving.  I had mentioned last week that this seemed particularly challenging to engage cross-culturally as we have very different assumptions and expectations about giving in our respective cultures.  But since we are together in an international church setting it seemed like a worthy challenge.  I used the story of the widow's mite as a take off point to about why, how much, and how we should give as a community of a newly formed church.  

The feedback I got was that the message was well received but very challenging to hear.  I did challenge the church to own its financial responsibilities and not look to foreign donors or missions to support the maintenance and salary needs of the church.  Since that is the case at the moment it will mean the congregation would need to take on the burden with a more systematic collection of offerings based on pledges.  ( not done now.)

I particularly challenged ex-patriates to consider their role in the church, especially those, like me who are here for several or more years.  "Where are you giving now?"  I asked.  "Are you like me, caught between your home and this place but not pledged to support either one?"  In 'tithing limbo' as it were.  Many as it turns out are just in that place.

But I also challenged Burundians to see themselves not as poor, but as capable, together of supporting a church independently of foreign money.

The testimony that most impressed them though was when I told how I had been invited to preach at the church of one of our workers at our house.  He lives in a very poor quartier (Kanyosha) and I don't think any of the members of that church would have made a tenth of my salary.  I did accept the offer to preach there and the message was well received.  But after the service the pastor took up a love offering for me! A rich mzungu!  And they gave me the money collected.  (This was after the regular offering.)  I told our church that I accepted it with humility and in awe of the act.  Instead of seeing themselves as impoverished I felt they saw themselves as having even more than they need.  I am so used to being asked by everyone for money that it completely floored me to see those with so little ask me for nothing, but give me something instead.  I concluded by remarking that that church was financially independent as well.

After church it was great to feel that we could really enjoy an afternoon as a family and after a leisurely lunch we went to Club du Lac Tanganyika and swam in the lake for several hours together.  Oren and David both love to play in the waves and to try to stand on my shoulders.  The weather and water were perfect.  We ended the afternoon with dinner by the Lake watching the sun set over the mountains of Congo.  It was a perfect evening and that night Rebecca and I agreed that it was one of the best weekends we have had here.  

Backing up to the work week that preceded this I will say that it started out normally enough.  We did take both kids to school as usual at 7:30 am but were a bit non-plussed to find David's teacher was out sick and was not expected back for more than a week.  All the children were left with a single teacher's aid.  We felt that this was too much responsibility for one person and raised the issue with La Directrice.  She explained that it was hard to get a quick substitute here and did not feel that much could be done immediately.

We did leave David there with some consternation, but feeling that we would have to trust that the responsible teacher's aid would be able to manage this situation temporarily.

Work on Monday for me involved prep-work for a 2 day conference on Planning and Monitoring by one of our back donors (CFGB).  I was going with one of our partners who receives a grant from them to better understand the process.  We had a pre-meeting with the facilitator Akililu (a Kenyan from Canada) at the office of our partner Help Channel Burundi that took most of the day.

I came home beat but prepared for 2 more long days of meetings.

Lunchbreak at the conference.

On Tuesday and Wednesday it was as I expected.  The conference involved CFGB partners from all over Central Africa so we had people coming from DRC, Zambia, Uganda, and Rwanda to join us.  (About 25 in all).  I really enjoyed starting each day with a morning devotional, singing, and a prayer.  It was striking to see all of these highly trained development and agricultural specialists ready to engage in technical conversations beginning with worship.  A reminder that the motivation to do this work here usually goes beyond professionalism.  There needs to be a heart and passion to be willing to work in this context and bring ones professional skills to bear here.  It was inspiring to me see this level of profesionalism following a vision guided by faith.

The 2 days of meetings though were fairly dry but certainly had value for those of us working with CFGB in terms of understanding their reporting guidelines.  (In case anyone is surprised, I can assure you the life of a modern missionary can be far more about results based management and logframe analysis rather than smuggling Bibles through the jungle.)  That is because for many of us, our witness to the Gospel is expressed in our efforts to accompany those in the majority world to overcome injustice, scarcity and other issues that keep them imprisoned in physical and spiritual poverty.  

I was glad to have a break after 3 full days of such meetings and on Thursday Rebecca and I reversed roles.  We had partnership meetings and other issues to deal with in Gitega so she agreed to do that trip while I stayed in Bujumbura with the kids and took them school and stayed home with them in the afternoons.

Here is her report of her time in Gitega:

During the first part of the week, Paul was really involved in hosting a visitor from CFGB and attending the M&E Workshop. So, I and the kids made independent plans for the beginning of the week. One afternoon, Oren and David got to go play with their friends Emily and Becca. It was very impressive to see how their mom had gotten a local carpenter to construct a playground set in their garden, with all local materials. It had a platform (castle, boat, etc…) with two swings on each side. More items will be added. While we were there, their gardener was constructing a chicken house underneath said play house. The chickens were a gift from the carpenter himself, presumably as thanks for receiving so much employment-- and encouragement for more jobs!

Another afternoon, I took new Bujumbura resident Danika out to explore more obscure shopping places which Oren was in afternoon school. We buy rice in bulk in the Quartier Asiatique, usually fairly good stuff rom Tanzania that is quite cheap. But this time the cheapest rice was from…the USA! The shopkeeper told me that it was food aid that was now being sold in the market. I've heard that often our government dumps low quality grain in countries like Burundi, ostensibly to benefit the people, but it actually allows the local government to sell this grain to get money. The major downside of this policy is that our low quality (subsidized) grain undercuts the prices that poor local farmers could get for their own grain. So, these are the things we see as we go shopping around here. I also took her to the Italian butchery (location of good dog food meat) and pointed out the best private hospital.

On Wednesday, the boys and I went to visit my German friend Tanja in the afternoon. Her son is in Oren's class and they enjoyed climbing a big mango tree together. Unfortunately, Nils is a better tree climber than Oren, and was able to swing down and jump from a semi-high location. Oren didn't feel comfortable following him -- I guess I'm glad he knows his limits. We ended up bringing a ladder to get Oren down. Later all four boys went to play in the mud behind the house -- the joys of rainy season! Tanja let me give David a bath before we went home.

On Thursday morning, I was the one taking a work trip up to the town of Gitega, about two hours away. I decided to take a taxi up there --  that is, a station wagon carrying at least 4 or maybe 5 passengers (4 in the back seat) and lots of cargo in the trunk. It's the way that our service workers get around, and it's a lot cheaper than driving up myself, and I wanted to leave the car with Paul. But it is nerve-wracking to be at the mercy of a driver one doesn't know. I prayed a lot in preparation for this trip, and did my best (with the help of a local guy) to find a chauffeur who would agree to drive slowly. It wasn't too bad, honestly. And once in Gitega, I was very glad to be a pedestrian.

Gitega has a really nice, small town feel. I can walk from the two farthest points of meeting partners within 20 minutes. It has a cooler climate than Bujumbura with lots of big old trees. My first assignment was to help our service worker Yolanda discern what to do about her housing situation for the next two years. She felt that she wanted to have more opportunity to meet people and go visiting in the evenings with Burundian friends. But her current house was too out of the way, and she ended up spending lots of nights alone, feeling quite isolate. So she had just found a small apartment that was available. It was not as nice as her current place in my opinion, but she was excited about living more simply on the level of her colleagues and having more of a local social life. She really is trying to practice the MCC value of solidarity. In the decision-making process, we consulted a number of people including Yolanda's colleagues. They are truly a wonderful, motivated group of Burundians, working hard to make a difference in their country. Yolanda really appreciates working with them and joking around with them, and I enjoyed the opportunity to be in their orbit. 

In the morning, I met again with Yolanda's supervisor to do a mid-term evaluation of Yolanda. It's great to evaluate someone who is doing well in their position, who is appreciated and making a good contribution, and who is requesting to stay and serve even longer. I had another meeting with another partner, who is trying to catch up on an AIDS education project that got delayed by the printer (Paul will tell that story). It was good to talk with them also, and see how their organization MI-PAREC is growing in maturity. They will celebrate their 15 year anniversary this coming week, and MCC was very involved in the inception of that peace and reconciliation organization during the Burundi civil war. 

Later that afternoon, Yolanda and I helped write the contract for her new apartment. Then we found a taxi to take us back to Bujumbura. This time, the two of us were sandwiched in the back seat between two men. We were really rolling local style. One of the men was a doctor with Doctors without Borders. He was very engaging and funny, and seemed to be someone who could help connect Yolanda to other expat medical people at their project in GItega. He is an extension officer for a new project in Gitega which provides care and treatment for women with fistulas. They are really reaching out to the most marginalized and disadvantaged women and giving them a new lease on life. 

I think the visit for me was a bit of an opportunity to practice solidarity myself, at least solidarity with one of our volunteers. I enjoyed feeling more a part of things, speaking more of my limited Kirundi than usual, and not rolling in a big 4x4. There is a balance between security and immersion, but I think on this occasion, it was the right choice to travel low-budget. It's good to get out of the office and a bit away from the administrative work and closer to the work on the ground from time to time. 

Paul again: 

photo by Oren

During Rebecca's absence the boys were extremely well behaved.  (They knew Daddy was going to struggle alone) and were very willing to observe their normal routines.  The highlight was Thursday afternoon when we went to Cercle Hippique, the colonial era stables and riding fields where they still have horses and European riding lessons.  David and Oren joined their friends Jonah and Milo (Bela and Nina's kids).  Nina was also out of town upcountry (she works for a German development agency, so Bela and I had a man play-date with our sons.  After riding at Cercle Hippique we went out for soft-serve icecream at the one place in Burundi where it is avaiable.  And it was actually open and the electricity was on so there was icecream available!!!!

So that is pretty much the week from both of our perspectives.  This week is not much different in terms of division of labor.  She will be in Rwanda for several days then I will go to Gitega at the end of the week for my speech.  Oops, I am going to be late to get Oren from afternoon school.  Until next week...

New Arrivals

Oren lighting the candles on the cake he decorated for Janelle's Birthday.


I really have to keep this weeks post short (if not sweet).  I have a ton of writing assignments to do this week including a sermon on giving (stewardship) this Sunday to my church here which has just officially become a church.  I am more than just a bit intimidated about tackling this topic cross-culturally.  Especially coming from a culture where tithing is, for the most part, an ideal and certainly never perceived to be a commandment for Christians, and preaching to a culture where many are indoctrinated to believe it is a salvation issue.  Not to mention the fact that I am a rich mzungu bringing this message to a congregation whose median income would be at least 3 times less than me.

I also have to give a speech next Friday.  Yes, a speech. It is a 15th Anniversary celebration of one of our partners and many local govt. officials and other VIPs are invited.  Giving speeches in the context of a former French colony is at least as, if not more, intimidating than giving a sermon.  First there is the consideration of language.  Then there is a precise protocol and decorum for addressing the honored guests (in the right order of importance) and leaving out no one who might be offended.  There also needs to be content, something about the history of the long partnership between MCC and the organization (to which I am privvy to 3 years out of 15.)  The conclusion also has to observe a precise protocol, and finally, I need to provide a written copy to several of VIPs involved when I conclude.  So talking 'off-the-cuff' is not really de rigeur in these situations.

skyping Grammy and Grandpa

OK that's 2 paragraphs and I have not even touched the events of the week.  What I will say in summary, though about the week was that once again I felt vindicated by our new routine,   especially keeping the kids' schedules as regular as possible.  They now fall asleep quite easily on their own at 8pm, although we do try be sure to have a bedtime routine of baths, stories and prayers prior to that.  They both have continued to have a positive attitude about school and I don't think we had any morning complaints at the gate about not wanting to go.  (Actually it is amazing to see how much that school has grown in the 3 yeares we have been here.  I think the primary school has increased from about 200 to 500 students.  I guess people are coming here.)

Some of the highlights for the week include:

1) We finished our data entry on schedule for the mid-term reporting due date.  Not a very glamourous sounding accomplishment, but we did it without any late nights or working after hours!  That is a huge improvement from last year.  (If there are any MCC reps reading this, we are not bragging, just pleased with our good time management :-)

2) We had an interesting evening Tuesday.  It was our SALTer Janelle's birthday and we also had some new arrivals who came into town join us for dinner that evening as well.  The new arrivals were Scott and Danika McKenzie with their 2 kids John and Jonah (see picture above).  They are here working with Food for the Hungry.  He is a pastor and will be working on church connections (and pastoral training), she is a physician and will be working at a clinic in town doing some training.  What is especially interesting about meeting them is that they are one of the families that have contacted us because of this blog months before coming.  So we had done some help in their preparation with as much advice we could offer as parents of young children here.

They are Canadians from Abbotsford BC near Vancouver and he even went to Regent Seminary for his M.Div (where Rebecca went as well.)  They know many of the same people.  So it was really nice to welcome them and to feel like we have some new friends who will probably be here for several years.  (It is not clear whether they will be in Bujumbura the whole time or spend some of the time up country.)

Kids playing at Ubuntu restaurant.

We also have made efforts to connect them to others doing similar work.  On Sunday evening, for instance, we out to Ubuntu restaurant with them, Tim and Jeanette (our South African friends) and Emmanuel Ndikumana's family (founder of our church.)  Tim and Emmanuel have had extensive experience in pastoral training and were able to give him some good advice on what to expect and how one might start in such an assignment.

3) We have been getting back into social networks including the men's prayer group and Rebecca's Wednesday Bible study.  We have not restarted our small group again yet but we are hoping to recruit some new candidates.

We had people over, in fact, most evenings this week.  And up until Friday we ate by candlelight as the power unfailingly went off right about dusk.  Happily, we finally replaced our inverter battery and are now enjoying light at least in the evenings when the power goes off.  (Our refridgerator and freezer are still merely functioning as storage closets but we are hoping that a more regular regimen of electricity will be coming soon.)

I still feel like we function here in a roughly zero sum game of good and bad news.  For instance, we finally have our staff Marcelline and Gaspard back today after several weeks of illness, but now our car is out of commission along with one of our toilets.  We are getting them repaired but I almost fear what will go next when they are back on line.  We also had a small scare as David had a high fever on Saturday night.  We did do a home malaria test just to sure he did not have it (which was negative) and he was better by Sunday morning.  Having this as a routine part of our parental care of our children is interesting and a bit traumatic as it involves drawing some blood (a few drops) to do the test.

If you heard about the news about the killings in the town of Gatumba.  (Which was an international news story)  I just want to assure those who keep up with us that we were not affected by the incident although it is disheartening to see these continued exchanges of killings between partisans of the ruling party and partisans of the FNL rebels.  I don't believe it will escalate into a civil war, but I do not see any end in sight as far as the low level of violence that continues to plague the country since the elections.

Finding the New Rhythm of Life

Oren and David showing off their bags on the first day of school.  Oren has a Buzz Lightyear jet-pack! Thanks Kate Hicks.


I have to say, this was a great week!

What made it great was the fact that we were really able to test out whether the new rhythms we have established with regard to routine will truly bring about the results we had hoped for:
1) more productive time together
2) more quality time with children
3) more quality time as a couple
4) a regular regimen of exercise
Definitely sounds like an ideal no?  And perhaps I am not quite ready to write a book on good time management, but I do think that our routine this week really did accomplish all of the above even with a fairly regular flow of guests and illness that kept 2 of our 3 staff home all week.  (the cook and the nightguard)

I feel like some of the changes were small but have made a fairly big difference.  The first is the fact that David  is old enough to begin premiere maternelle which means he can go to the same school as Oren.  (The Ecole Belge).  He is on the young end of the class at 2, but will have a Birthday in October.

Oren is in Premier Primaire (first grade).  This will be his 4th year at the Ecole Belge (seems hard to believe.)  School begins for the kids at 7:30 am which is better for Rebecca and I than last year when it began at 8 and we had to do two drop-offs at different schools and then 2 pick-ups at noon.  This left little time to work together.

The extra 30 minutes allows us time for a morning swim, prayer and we arrive at the office at 9 to work together for 3 hours.  In the afternoons we alternate days between parenting and working.  The simplified morning routine was a great success this week.

One of the not unimportant reasons for success was the ability of the children to habituate themselves to the school routine again.  I was especially worried about Oren going into the first grade.  It is somewhat intimidating because it is at this level that children learn to read and write french.  Oren still struggles with speaking and verbal comprehension.  He brought home about 6 workbooks of math, language, spelling, and even writing cursive.  (kids write cursive right from the beginning in Europe apparently.)  But Oren did not seem intimidated.  Indeed he knows most everyone in his class from the previous 3 years and has been going with little or no complaining.

David was a bit less enthusiastic as he misses his old school with the virtual menagerie of birds, rabbits, fish, turtles, etc.  He cried the first several days off and on according to his teacher.  But he seems to be getting used to it.

The other end of the day, the evening routine, has also been adjusted.  We have committed to feeding the kids at 6pm bathing them by 7 and having them asleep by 8.  It is not too hard because it is dark here by 6 and they are usually quite worn out by 8.

This gives the evening for Rebecca and I to chat.  We have created a small space with 2 chairs and table in our bedroom for conversation and reading.  Computers are not allowed in this area!  We usually go to bed by 11 at the latest.

This is more or less the weekly routine we want to maintain, and felt very sustainable this first week.  True, one of us will have to travel still about 8 days per month, but when we are home this really works.

To say the week was good is a true endorsement of the routine because there were many things that made it difficult.  As this is the end of dry season we have had unusually long water shortages which makes bathing, flushing, laundry and dishes very difficult.

To add to the problem, Burundi's power is hydroelectric so have had bad electricity shortages, sometimes off 3 days at a time and rarely on for more than about 8 hours per day on a good day.  (I know people in the East Coast US can sympathize after Irene.)  This will probably last for several more months for us at least.  We do have a back up solar powered battery, but it is not strong enough to endure the periosds of outages we have.  We have spent a lot of nights in the dark.

The lack of staff is no small matter either.  We have had several guests this week and had all 3 guestrooms filled for about half the week with Janelle our SALTer still waiting placement in her host family and Jodi coming down for a visit as well as Yolanda.  It is nice to have company, but without a cook and the absence of any quick microwavable meals here, or someone to even clean up, work is very hard.  Marcelline has typhoid now and it is just another reminder of the toll illness takes on productivity around here.  (Recently a cholera outbreak has been added to the list of maladies that people are suffering with.)

Other highlights of the week fell most heavily on the weekend, although I did go, one evening, to a parent teacher conference to meet the kids' teachers and the new faculty and administration at the school.  (I also put in a plug for my ballet classes which will begin in October.)  Both the children's teachers seem great.  Mlle. Mayviolaine is Oren's teacher, and I found that there were other anglophones in his class from her.  She said this was an excellent level to be learning french.  
Mme, Marie is David's teacher and she seems great as well.  (Less coloring technique and more work on vocabulary is her focus.)

We also had several meetings at our church here which has recently taken steps to consolidate its status.  We selected a new pastor and with Rebecca on the Commitee des Anciens and me on the Commitee de Communite (It is like she is in the Senate and I am in the House of Representatives), we had several meetings each to confirm this decision.

As an aside, I will say that I am getting better but am not perfect at accurately translating the African meaning of time into Western equivalents.  In this case, I was told to be at a Saturday morning meeting at 8:30 am.  Since it was on a Saturday I knew it would start at least an hour late so I did not even show up until 9:30.  But I had misjudged as the chairman actually arrived and began the meeting at 10:30 am!  The one other mzungu (who actually did show up at 8:30 had to leave before it began.)  But it was good to see the church choose a good pastor to continue to lead it, and it feels good to be part of a local church community here.  Our church is now officially called the Burundi International Christian Church. (BICC)

Saturday afternoon we spent at the beach with the kids (Club du Lac T).  We went with Yolanda, Jodi, and Janelle.  Oren and David had a great time in the waves of Lake Tanganyika.  In the late afternoon as we got some dinner (fish briochettes) under an awning we watched a spectacular thunderstorm, a sign that the dry season is coming to an end.

We got home about 6pm and Rebecca went out as our representative at the wedding of Zachee's sister Ina.  We have finally decided it is not worth it to drag the kids to all of these events.

Sunday, Rebecca began teaching Sunday school again and even got a bigger room (as the number of english and french speaking kids is exceeding 30 now.)  Still no chairs of tables though.

Sunday afternoon I went to a town hall meeting at the US Ambassador's residence.  Most of the embassy staff has turned over in the last 3 months so it was a chance to see the new faces.  We do rely on the embassy for security information so it is good to be in touch with them.  I wish I could say that things continue to improve here and in some ways they are.  But there is a lot of criminal activity as demobilized rebels turn to banditry.  There is also the problem of active rebel groups like the FNL who have left the political process and gone back to the bush.

Last week, for example, while I was at home with the kids, I had heard a firefight that went on for 15 mintutes with several spates of machine gun fire.  I found out later that the head of the FNL leader's body guards was chased in a jeep and gunned down by the police not far from our house.  This probably sounds really bad from the outside, but as the embassy security officer assured us, expats. are not the targets of these attacks and what is important is not to "be in the wrong place at the wrong time."  As we have lived here for 3 years I think we have a better feeling for what that means. Still, we do ask for prayers of protection on our family as I know that there is little in life we are truly in control of, both here and even in the US.

Sunday evening we invited our friends the Withrows: (Astrid and Travis with kids Nani, Zoey, Davine, Yaya, Jazzy as well as Stella and Astrid's mother who was visiting).  They are an awesome family who are establishing a children's village in the interior.  They have been in the region for 7 years and several of their daughters are adopted.  These are people who truly give testimony to what it means to be 'called by God'.  They are not people who are here with their return ticket in their back pocket.  I imagine extricating themselves from this place where they are committed to work would be exceeding difficult with the family ties they have here.

They are always positive though, in the face of often crushing obstacles and continually bring us testimony of how God is working to transform the lives of the children they minister to on the ground, despite the challenges they face at other levels.  (for more info. about them check out their website:  http://sozoministriesafrica.org/

I am always encouraged by others who have made a long term committment to be here, and often people like us do not find a lot of time to get together (everyone is so busy in their ministry) but when we do it is always a special time.

We shared mexican food with tortillas made by our substitute cook Enoch.  We finished at 9pm and the kids were asleep on the couch before everyone even got out the door.  Just as well since there was no water to bathe them.  We all went to bed early to begin another week.

Orienting and Reorienting to Burundi and Rwanda

SALTers Bethany, Annie and Janelle being oriented by Yolanda (on Oren's bed.)

I am trying my best to get back to the discipline of a weekly blog.  I am realizing that this is necessitated by the fact that I am having trouble with any recall beyond about 5 days.  I did not succeed this week, but that is partly because of how busy we have been since we arrived back home.

This is definitely a good place in the week to recap a bit.  It is about 10pm on Saturday and the kids are in bed.  We just had dinner with Onesphore and his wife Innocente.  He runs our partnership Moisson pour Christ which is the place where our SALTer Janelle will be working this year.  It was a nice evening and our children are about the same age.

Rebecca and I have somewhat different stories for the past 2 weeks since we had to divide up the work most of last week, and I ended up going to Rwanda with our new volunteers while she stayed in Buja with the kids.  We will tell our stories separately, here is her account: `

We have hit the ground running with our three new SALT volunteers. They are all sensible, well-travelled young women, and I think they will do well in their assignments. We've been trying to give them the important information they need to get started practically, culturally, emotionally.

Although our most important task was orienting the SALTers, we did not have the luxury on concentrating solely on that. As soon as we arrived back, our phones started ringing non-stop. Lots of people were calling to welcome us back, others were putting in their requests, reminding us of their existence, hoping for some kind of windfall, etc.

Also, entropy is a powerful force in Burundi – you can’t leave the country and expect your house to be the same as you left it, no matter how good the house-sitter was. We've had to repair our kitchen sink plumbing, toilet, back up power system, and other small electrical things. Our internet is totally not working in the house during the day, so we had to go into town to check email during our first week. It's just par for the course, I guess. But it's been hard that the basic systems were not running well when we're trying to do lots of work.

Paul had to squeeze in at least one very essential meeting. We were trying to get caught up with our program assistant Felix on all the important news. So it was very hectic. The kids were not getting nearly enough attention -- although they were really excited to be back with their familiar toys and trampoline. Oh, and I forgot to mention jet lag…not very good for helping the little grey cells get moving and working in the morning.

We were scheduled to take the SALT volunteers to Rwanda last Sunday as a family. But on Saturday morning, Paul suggested to me that he go to Rwanda without me and the kids. Since Felix was available to join him instead for backup, that sounded like a better and better plan. It turned out very well that we planned that way because everything went really haywire with our planning in general. One of the SALTers didn't get visa permission to enter Rwanda in time, so Paul had to leave without her (planning to send her on the bus tomorrow). But then about an hour into the drive, Paul realized that there was a problem with his passport and they had to come back. The consolation prize for this sad development was that all the SALTers got to meet our other Burundi volunteer Yolanda on Sunday night.

(Paul’s interjection—Actually Rebecca is being diplomatic here.  The ‘problem’ with the passport was that I had driven about an hour upcountry when I realized I had grabbed Rebecca’s passport rather than my own.)

The Canadian SALTer still did not have visa permission the next day, so Paul and the other two SALTers and Felix left Monday instead without her. I helped her start the visa application process again at the embassy here. I know it was a disappointment for her, but she and Yolanda were able to go out and tour Bujumbura on foot for a day, a nice additional orientation activity. The volunteer was finally able to get her visa on Wednesday morning and got straight on a bus to Kigali within the same hour. It was a bit of a nail-biter, but I was really thankful that this young woman felt secure and confident about taking a bus in a country she’d never been to before.

By Wednesday afternoon, I was finally able to work on our other major task: establishing a better routine for our kids and getting them ready for school. Because our house had been so full, and because of jet lag, we were all keeping crazy hours and sleeping (all four of us) in one bed.

The kids started on Thursday morning, Oren in first grade and David in the youngest level of preschool. I am positively impressed by both of their teachers, and both children were willing to go to their classes without tears or drama. I was particularly touched when I ran into Oren’s teacher from last year, Mdme. Christelle. She gave me Oren’s “Graduation Certificate from Kindergarten”, which she had saved for him because we had left the country before the ceremony. I asked if she might consider tutoring Oren as he tries to learn to read in French. She said that she already had this in mind that she wanted to remain involved in helping Oren learn French, since he knows and trusts her.

When I went ot pick up the kids, I found David asleep in the class. His teacher told me that at about 9:30 am, after snack, he started crying and crying. She told him he could lie down, and he did and fell asleep – until I came to pick him up at noon! This is unheard of for David! I think it was his way of getting out of the first day of school.  In any case, by Friday, I felt pretty good about the kids being used to their own bed again, getting up on time for school, getting us all there on time, even in a taxi!

Over the past week, I’ve seen some signs that Oren is feeling more at home in Burundi (in contrast to past years). Even as the plane landed, Oren said that he was really kind of excited about being back. Last week on our veranda, he said a very long prayer of thanksgiving that included thanking God for many of the good things about Burundi, (as well as other things like thanking God for outer space). Another night, our neighbor friend Cedric came over to play for a few minutes, and Oren's play-ground french seemed to return easily. They boys are really happy to be back with their dogs, and actually have done a super job of entertaining each other and not competing too much. 

Bethany Janelle and Felix with Ruth, Krystan
and baby Misha.

Paul Again:

The trip up to Rwanda was packed with what I would characterize as ‘relational work’ with our partners as well as the host families.  We arrived Monday evening with Felix and Bethany (Annie was still in Buja waiting for visa approval.)  We met Ruth and Krystan (and baby Misha), checked into our guesthouse and went out to dinner together to plan for the week.

We began full throttle Tuesday with extensive shopping to get the SALTers set up with supplies, phone and internet connectivity, pharmaceuticals (malaria kits) etc.  On Tuesday afternoon we took Bethany over to meet her host family.  Augustin Simparinka (the husband) is the legal rep. of the Friends Church and lives in a very modest home near our partner Friends Peace House and about a 10 minute walk from Ruth and Krystan.  By modest I needed to take a deep breath and appreciate what ‘middle class’ is in Kigali.  The house was small and Bethany’s room was the size of a walk-in closet.  (It really is great that they even had a spare guest room)  It had no furnishings except a twin bed and a small broken refrigerator.  She shares the house with Simparinka, his wife, and their 23 year old daughter. 

Bethany with host family.

We went as a group to drop Bethany off and I felt like a father leaving his daughter off at College.  As the MCC rep. I had the responsibility of making the official speech and presentation of Bethany to the family, almost like a marriage betrothal.  It felt a bit awkward but I think Bethany will be well received and cared for while she is there.  They are a very kind, generous family.

Wednesday was a bit unusual in that we had two simoultaneous field visits.  Felix went on a field visit with Bethany, Janelle and our Friends Peace House partners upcountry to the North to see the work of some women's groups.  I, on the other hand went south, back to Burundi to the Hope School for the Batwa in Nyangungu with Dr. Robin Wilde, the director of Hope for Africa foundation--a group that is supporting some building projects at the school.  He wanted to go down in preparation for a mission team visit in January.  I acted as guide and translator.  We met Innocent and Beatrice (our partners) and inspected some of the construction that was underway.  We also confirmed some lodging for them at the Seminary (next to where Jodi used to live) then headed back to Kigali after a 2 hour visit.  It was exhausting as the trip itself was about 3 hours each way. 

(One side benefit of doing this visit was being able to see the many cartons of books that had arrived from the US thanks to the efforts of many to send them here.   The next challenge is to build some shelves on which to put them.)  Innocent was very, very appreciative for this gift!!!

Innocent with books in storage at Hope School

We all (MCC team) rendez-vous-ed again in the evening at Ruth and K’s house.  By this time our third SALTer Annie had arrived.  (Her visa finally came through.)  We all had dinner together at an excellent Indian restaurant in Kigali called Zaffron. 

Thursday was the day we visited the SALTers workplaces and made introductions.   Bethany will be working at the training school for street kids called Mwana N’shuti, and Annie will be working as a capacity builder at the Transformational Leadership Center.  We then had lunch with Annie’s host family and took her over in the afternoon and installed her in her new home.  She also has a very modest room in the home of a couple (Jean-Paul and Jeanine) who do not, as yet, have any children.

Dr. Wilde with Twa elder
visiting the Batwa community.

Friday morning Felix, Janelle and I were definitely ready to leave.  We were quite exhausted from all the work of setting up the SALTers as well as from the numerous meetings with partners that I did not mention specifically, but happened, thoughout the week.

We arrived back Friday afternoon and found Yolanda here again for the weekend.

Saturday was good in that we had our regular morning Yoga class and visited some friends in the afternoon.  We had dinner with Janelle’s ‘boss’ Onesphore and his family.  (He is the director of our partner Moisson pour Christ.) 

All the SALTers will begin their terms with 3 weeks of intenstive language study in Kirundi before beginning work at their offices.  But the dinner was a nice informal setting for introductions.

Sunday was another day of visiting after church.  We had lunch with Janelle’s host family (she will actually move in at the beginning of October).  Then we went to one of our ‘school’ friends houses to meet some new American arrivals.  One was the head of the UN mission here.  It was nice to get to them and for Oren to play with some Anglophone school kids. 

Sunday evening brought one more interesting surprise (for regular readers).  I went to the airport at 7pm and picked up Jodi Mikalachki!  She is back in Burundi, not with MCC this time, to work back up in Burasira near the Hope School.

Epilogue:  Coming back at the end of the dry season is a tough time.  The water supply and electricity are at a low ebb, so we have less than 12 hours of either per day, and often less.  (We do have a water tank and solar power to soften the blow.)  Also, as Rebecca mentioned, the ‘entropy’ of life here takes its toll when you are gone for 2 months.  We have had a plumber visit, 2 electrician visits, and 2 internet visits to get things back up to speed.  I have not even begun the quest to restore our landline phone service yet.  To add to this I would describe the political climate here as tense and a bit pessimistic once again.  There is increasing violence with back and forth killing between rebels and ruling party militia groups.  Innocent neighbors, though, tend to be targets as well.  Many, many people are being attacked by bandits in their homes in the popular quarters of town.  The dollar is very strong here which means there is inflation and the currency is not stable.

Despite this we are happy to back to our routines and have been overwhelmed but feeling what we are doing is worthwhile.  (The only thing we might change is to arrive back from a long break with new volunteers in tow.  It was hard to get our household set up again at the same time that we were orienting them to their new places.)  Live and learn.

I am posting this morning having just gotten the kids off to school Monday morning.  Oren told me he had a dream that he went to school without his pants on.  I remember having that dream but I did not know that kind of anxiety started at 6 years of age!  I think school is harder on kids these days then when I was young.