Giving Thanks Amidst Shortages

The family decorating the tree to herald the Christmas season here.

I have not written much recently about the change in season and how we experience it.  Last year around this time I think I had a picture of a bucket of mangoes which was about a daily yield for our trees in November.  We are indeed in the height of mango season again and while they are readily available in the market, our trees seem to have suffered from a blight that has rendered them all but fruitless this year.

I comment on this only because it is just one of several cases where we are experiencing shortages.  The others however are not nearly as innocuous as a mango virus which one can hardly blame on some ethical shortfall by the government.  

The other two items that seem to be in an ever-shortening supply are sugar and electricity.  We are now well out of the dry season, a time when hydro-electric power is down, and we seem to have less than ever. We are blessed to have a solar back-up system but there are times we have no electricity for 3 days at a time.  

The more insidious shortage we have experienced recently is the complete disappearance of sugar from the market and in fact anywhere in Bujumbura.  Since Burundi has large sugar cane plantations and is self sufficient in sugar, we can only presume that someone in the government has found a way to profit personally from some manipulation of the market or perhaps selling it off as export to other countries.

The same is true of ARV drugs which are provided for free by several countries but seem to not be available at HIV clinics or hospitals anywhere in recent months.

It is in these ways that corruption is experienced in countries like Burundi.  Whenever something is not available, no matter how valuable or ubiquitous, you can be sure that someone is benefitting (profiting) massively from the inconvenience or suffering inflicted on a large number of people.

Seeing the stately mango trees in our yard that are bearing no fruit, reminds me of the story of Jesus' encounter with the fig tree out of season which was bearing no fruit.  I think that more and more the international community and the local populace here are getting fed up with the current government and its lack of 'fruitfulness' since it won the elections last summer.

Although we do not eat a lot of sugar ourselves, the lack this year did have some disappointing consequences at Thanksgving.  Last year Rebecca found a very good substitute for cranberry sauce using locally available Japanese plums instead of cranberries.  It was a very tasty alternative, here is a link to the recipe. (cranberry sauce recipe).  

However, as we were not able to find sugar she made the sauce without it.  It was unfortunately, extremely bitter and not very tasty as a garnish.  The pumpkin pie was OK because we had received as a gift a jug of Rwandan honey which was an acceptable substitute in the pie.

I should probably back up a bit and talk about what we did for Thanksgiving.  We have been fortunate to have had an interesting gathering to share this traditional American feast every year that we have been in Burundi.  We have chosen this meal as one to share with Burundian friends and this year we invited the family of Normand Ndayizeye (him, his wife and 3 kids) to sup with us.  Normand's family is in fact the host family for our SALTer Janelle.  So she joined us as well as Jodi Mikalashki who happened to be in Bujumbura for car repairs and two other young women Safi and Helene (from UK and Sweden respectively) who are here working in various capacities with the Friends Church.  

It was a very enjoyable gathering and we did savor some traditional favorites including succotash and mashed potatoes and stuffing, but had to substitue rotisserie chicken for turkey.  We celebrated on Friday night rather than Thursday as the latter was the last day of the visit of our evaluation team.  In fact Thursday was one of the longest work days of the year as the team debriefed us a bit on their findings on Thursday evening after a long day's work.  Since Toss had to be on a flight out of Burundi at midnight we ate dinner together and then talked over the finding until about 11:30 pm.   We were pleased with how thorough they were in their work, but were completely exhausted by the time they left.

We did not take the day off on Friday as we had other work that had been set aside, but did take the afternoon off to prepare for our Thanksgiving guests.

The weekend was the real day of rest and family time, and we had felt that the children had been somewhat neglected during the time the evaluation team was here, or at least relegated to watching movies in the backroom while we talked.

But Oren was up bright and early Saturday morning and ready to set up the Christmas tree in the living room.  (We had promised him that we would do this after Thanksgiving but not before.)  He got out the tree and all the decorations and we began the process of decorating the tree and the rest of the living room for Christmas.

Honestly since we do not experience any of the seasonal changes in the year as far as weather, it is nice to create changes to our internal environment to feel like we have entered into the Christmas season.  I can almost feel nostalgic for a touch of Christmas commercialism (Black Friday) because here the and months and years can plod along with little variation.  It is up to us to create the feeling of a new season.

It is nice ot see the season through Oren's eyes who is really into crafts and decorating.  He is dying to make Christmas cookies.  The one thing which we do not have that we managed to bring in last year is a gingerbread house kit.  He would love to have the opportunity to make one of those again which he considers to be a tradition now.

Sunday was another day of rest with church in the morning and an afternoon of laying around the house.  We would have happily gone out swimming or something but Oren really just wanted to spend the day in the house with the Christmas tree.  (we did watch the original Grinch who stole Christmas, Rudolf, and Charlie Brown Christmas on the computer that day.)

We did go out in the evening to visit our friends's Thomas and Naja and their kids.  They are the Danish family (he is here as Director of World Relief).  We stopped by a pizza place on the way to their house and brought the pizza over to share with them.

It is good to see the children playing together and Oren being comfortable speaking french with them.  They spent a good part of the evening drawing a picture of two dinosaurs fighting from a comic book.  (Dinosaurs are Oren's new favorite thing and he has been asking for a dinosaur robot for Christmas,)

Rebecca, our auditor working at our office this week.

Sadly I began getting sick on Sunday might with a fever and went to bed shortly after we returned home.  On Monday I was still sick but did go to work.  We picked up 'Rebecca' (a different one) our auditor who arrived from Canada in the afternoon.  She will be with us for a week

I went to bed early on Monday and Tuesday and am finally getting this blog entry out today (Wednesday).  Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and Happy Belated Birthday Jonathan!

Evaluating Our Program

Oren has been suffering from Christmasitis this week and even brought out and decorated the tree in the guest room.

Sometimes when I think back to my life prior to living and working here, I marvel at the change in reading material I find I surround myself with.  My inbox is full of embassy and UN updates on security, as well as regional development work. My reading list is now primarily comprised of books on latest development theories and regional history--a far cry from the history of dance in 18th century France.  (Although I did always teach that from the perspective of how political power shaped art institutions in European history.)

Now I am working through a book called "Dead Aid" about the generally negative impact foreign aid has had on development in Africa, and simultaneously reading a book about the influence Chinese investment is having on the subcontinent.  I am looking forward to finishing so I can begin reading "King Leopold's Ghost" about the history of Congo, because that history has played a large roll in creating the dynamics of the Great Lakes region where we work.  I am not an expert on anything, I would say, but I am aware of changes in my capacity to be able to assess what is good and bad programming around here.  This is helpful because much of our job is to see that money provided by MCC is wisely used to have a positive impact that reflects God's character (justice, mercy, hope, love.)

It is actually always surprising to me how much work it takes to see money used in a way to do more good than harm.  

Toss and Jimmy our two Congolese evaluators.

In that light, we have continued to be busy hosting the Evaluation Team that is here to help give us strategic direction for the next 5 years.  I think it is fortunate that all of the 4 evaluators are African, from DRC, Burundi and Rwanda.  They have a deep familiaraity with the context and have been able to get at the real marrow of some of our partners programs.  They have generally been committed to meeting 'benficiaries' of all of our programs and not just the partners.  (The level where Rebecca and I primarily interact is with the partner.)

They have also helped us sort out how to relate to two "Mennonite Churches" in our region.  Those are 2 churches that have registered themselves as such with the Burundian Government but have no connection to the Mennonite World Conference of other Anabaptist organization.  It is tempting to regard those who registered them as simply opportunists wanting to plug into some mzungu money, but the reality is often more complicated than the appearance.

I did my own evaluating this week when I went up to Gitega on Friday and did a follow up of the Great Lakes Peacebuilding Institute.  It is a project we have been funding for about 7 years and it is encouraging to see it beginning to move into self-sufficiency this year as a well respected peace-building program that trains trainers in peacemakers throughout the region.  It is also the only one of its kind that does instruction in French.

Friday was fortunately the only travel day and I went up with a Congolese colleague on Friday morning about 6 am and drove back with him the same afternoon.  It was funny because we were supposed to go up and stay the night Thursday.  I told him I was leaving at 3pm and he said he would get to Buja by noon.  As I suspected that meant 5:15 pm, an hour too late to head up country as driving after dark is not considered safe upcountry.  We stayed the night at our house where we enjoyed talking about regional issues (he helped me understand better the deep animosity Congolese feel toward Rwandese.) and left early the next day to get to Gitega by 8am.

We talked quite a bit on the drive about how MCC could be more involved in Eastern Congo and both agreed that we really need a volunteer living in Bukavu.  (I know MCC Congo is advertising for this position, so if any readers feel a call to serve in this region through MCC, there is a great need for ‘eyes on the ground there’ to accompany with our church and peace partners.)

Rebecca was at home with the kids and took them out to a park with our friend Jeanette (from South Africa) and her daughter Isabel as well as Kirsten and her daughters Emily and Rebecca.  I have included some pictures.  Most playground equipment here would be illegal in the US.  For instance notice the slide that goes down about 50 degrees straight into a hole, there is no deceleration curve at the bottom.  (more like jumping that sliding.)

Other than those events, the week has been fairly consumed with doing logistics for our evaluators and meeting them in the evenings.  It has been good to see things through their eyes.  (We do not participate in the interviews, but do get feedback afterwards.)  They spent the early part of the week in Gitega and at the Hope School and seemed very positive about the work of our partnerships there.

We have also had several Skype meetings with some of our colleagues in the US and Canada regarding new projects.  It is always amazing to me that we can be so separated by distance and yet have a conversation that makes us feel as if we are in the same room.

Saturday was a bit logistically challenging as we had some work responsibilities related to the evaluation team as well as the adult ballet class I am teaching.  I have to say it has been a real pleasure teaching these past 2 weeks especially as I find that there are about a half dozen young NGO workers here who have had some dance experience—2-3 professionally. 

Sunday the evaluation team left for Rwanda and we went to church.  David was beginning to get sick (again) and slept through most of the service (which means I could here the sermon.)

The pastor shared on the parable in Luke about the Shrewd Steward (or manager).  If you haven’t read it for a while it is worth looking at.  One of the more confusing parables, but quite rich if you take time to flesh it out. 

The observation the pastor made that I appreciated was the 3 choices the steward seemed to consider he had as professions;

1) begging

2) scrapping (working, digging)

3) being a steward for someone. 

Since the master was going to fire him, presumably for not doing the last one well, he decides to cut the debt owed by some of the master’s clients to ‘make friends.’  The master commends him on his shrewdness. 

The pastor observed that it does seem that in life the three choices about how we acquire and use our wealth are quite applicable.

1) we can beg, that is live in such a way in which we consider that we are victims and depend on others for our livelihood, not taking responsibility for ourselves.

2) we can work, (the word has the sense of digging or clamboring)--we can believe that we are earning everything for ourselves, and that what we get is ours and clambor unceasingly to get as much as possible for ourselves.

3) We can be stewards:  That is in recognition that what we have we are holding for a master, and that what we do and the way we use our resources should reflect the master’s priorities, as all that we have belongs to  him.  

In the story of the shrewd manager, it is clear that the master is generous in that he compliments the steward for his generosity in cutting debts (self-serving as it was) it reflected the master’s priorities.

Anyway, I enjoyed the reflection and the different ways we might see our own lives as Christians.  Living as stewards rather than beggars (victims) or ‘scrappers’ (clamborers in the rat-race).

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving this week which we will celebrate Friday for logistical reasons.  I tried unsuccesfully to get a turkey.  (I asked Yolanda to get one from the Swahili Quarter in Gitega.) They wanted about $50 for a pretty small one so we will have rotisserie chicken again this year.

Bonus Photo:  Oren working on the car proving the adage that "If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."  Definitely true in the NGO world!

Strange Fruit

Say Awwwh!  Cutting open a jackfruit I found on the road by our house.  They are not native to Burundi, but someone apparently has one in our neighborhood. 


I feel somewhat remiss this week in not bringing my camera around to take pictures during the week.  Although we were in town most of the week, it was not uneventful.  I do have to admit that the fact that we were not traveling almost made it feel like we had a week of vacation.  Just to be back in our normal routine is quite refreshing.  When we have it, the week looks something like this:
Monday, Wed, Friday--
6:00 wake up
7:15 kids to school
8-9 swim
9-12 work together
12 pick up kids and go home for lunch
2-5 one of us goes back to work the other stays home with the kids
6 dinner
8 kids in bed asleep

On Wednesday's I teach ballet in the 2-5 slot to kids at the Ecole Belge.

On Tuesday and Thursday Oren goes to karate in the afternoons.

The routine has a rhythm to it of work and renewal activites that keep us balanced. (I did not mention the women's Bible Study and the men's prayer group that meet weekly as well.)  It is also really nice to not be on the road for a long trip with the stresses that accompany that--bad drivers, bad roads.

So we savored the week even though we were working very hard to prepare the logistics for an evaluation team that was arriving on the weekend.

The weekend itself was very busy but did have some high points.  One for me was the addition of an adult ballet class on Saturday afternoon.  I had been encouraged by several women who are here working with various NGOs to try one.  I had my doubts about whether there were any interested adults, but was shocked when at 1 pm, just through email and word of mouth about 10 students showed up another 5 expressed interest in coming in the future.  I will plan to do this every week until Christmas and then decide what to do after that.  It was inspiring to teach a class of people who were really interested in dance, and at most had previous dance experience.

Saturday was also the day that 3 of our 4 evaluators came.  Two were coming from Kinshasa, both Congolese, Jimmy Juma and Toss Mukwa.  Jimmy works for MCC in South Africa and Toss is part of the Mennonite Church leadership.  The other two evaluators are coming from Rwanda and Burundi respectively.  They seem to be an able team and we had dinner with them Saturday night at our house.

This make the work week feel like it had been extended a day, but it was interesting to be with them and share some of our thoughts.  They will be here for 2 weeks and will interview all of our partners and service workers.  They will be going up country and to Rwanda.  Fortunately we do not have to go with them on all these visits.

On Sunday we took them to church with us.  It was good to be back after a missing last week because of our retreat.  It is definitely a part of our routine we do not like to miss.  David is still not old enough for Sunday school and has trouble sitting through the service though.

Rebecca's Sunday school is enormous now, but she is getting some volunteers that are helping her split the class.

One of the mother's who has helped voluntarily is our new friend Danika ( of Scott and Danika fame), who are here with Food for the Hungry.  She is a family doctor and has been volunteering at the the large public hospital where she has been working in the maternity ward.  She recently related a harrowing story that I am directing you to here by this link.  It is about her experience of saving a life of a woman about to give birth who needed a C section.  It is truly by her actions that this woman survived, but does point out just how substandard maternal healthcare is here  (my-scariest-day-at-work-ever/).  We have had several colleagues lose their wives in childbirth and just today Rebecca was talking to one of our partners who said they lost a nurse in their clinic this past week when she gave birth to twins then had some problem with her C section several days later in the hospital.  Despite her cries of agony, no doctor was available to see what was wrong and she died of 'unknown' causes shortly thereafter.  (no relation to the person in Danika's story.)

I do admit that this and other stories does give us an understandable anxiety about needing medical care here.  What seems to prevail in many of the horror stories we hear is this sense of fatalism--like whether one lives or dies has little or nothing to do with medical care, it is all just fate.  I think that explains why, in Danika's story there was such a lack of urgency, even in an emergency.

I will relate one last story just because it is so bizarre.  A relative of one of our partners was in a car accident here.  It was serious and the spinal injury could not be treated in Burundi.  Her family was wealthy enough to send her by air ambulance to Kenya's Aga Kahn hospital where she was operated on successfully.  Unbelievably, though, on the way from surgery to recovery she had to be transported to another floor by elevator.  On the way down though, the elevator cable broke and it fell more than a floor to the bottom of the shaft while she was in it on a bed.  The attendants were not seriously injured but her spinal injury is now far worse than when she arrived.  And this is in one of the best hospitals in the sub-continent.   (Of course in all of these incidents there is no legal recourse as far as hospital or doctor liability.)

I think I will leave the topic of health care at this point and return to the happier subject of Sunday after church.

We did take the evaluation team out to lunch at one of the local beaches.  It was not one we usually go to.  We had a nice conversation and when our guests left Oren and David ran down to the lake for a swim.  We all enjoyed playing in the waves for about 2 hours before we were chased to shelter by a huge thunderstorm.  We drove home and sat on the porch and watched a gorgeous sunset over the mountains of Eastern Congo.  It is good to remember we have such a nice view from our porch.  (Which we tend not to use since the birth of puppies last Christmas.)  But now that Noel, the young dog is more mature, we can sit out there without being attacked to friskily.

We also enjoyed several other activities including carving up a jackfruit that I found on the road in our neighborhood (it had fallen off of a neighbor's tree.)  I tried drying it to make some kind of dried fruit for museli, but I have to admit, it does not taste that good.  (Like a smelly overripe banana.)

Oren has learned to play chess and we did play a few games during David's nap.  It is amazing how fast he is growing.  He can even beat mommy (with a bit of help from dad.)  Oren and Rebecca also constructed a T-rex puzzle out of wood.  Since Oren is fully in his dinosaur infatuation phase, he really loved it.  (Thanks Grandparents!)

On Sunday evening we gave both kids buzz cuts and they do look really cute.  (And are alot less itchy.)

Although all the fun was crammed into one afternoon and evening, it did really feel like a weekend.  Next week, more travel.

Retreating Under Volcanoes

Felix, our program assistant, relaxing with a book during our retreat this week.



Today has been a day of rest, more or less.  It is not often that we do not go into work on a Monday.  It is generally a good way to begin the weekly routine, especially when we are finally once again back into routine.

Last week I mentioned that I was writing from Kigali where we began the week before proceeding on Tuesday afternoon to Gisenyi. This town is situated on the North end of Lake Kivu, right at the border where one crosses into Goma in Eastern Congo.  Among the interesting features, besides the Lake in this region, are the numerous volcanoes that rise up majestically above the hilly countryside.  The Goma volcano erupted in the last decade, pretty much destroying that town, and it's still particularly impressive, as one can see the glow of lava from the crater reflecting up on the clouds above at night.

Although the town feels quiet enough, there is something that seems prehistoric about the region, the volcanic soil that produces prolifiic vegetation and the houses and walls constructed out of black porous volcanic rock.  Not far from here is the home of the "Gorillas in the mist" and the dense forest climbing the hills looks like a place where mountain gorillas would hide.

But our visit was neither tourism nor nor science.  We were here as part of a regional MCC spiritual retreat for the Great Lakes region.  So we had our entire Rwanda/Burundi team as well as teams from Uganda and DRC (Congo).

Arriving together was not without its complications.  While most of us did get there on time arriving by both public and prviate transport, the Congo family were delayed several days waiting for exit papers for their adopted daughter.  They were able to join us half way through on Thursday afternoon.

Since Rebecca and I were the primary logistical organizers as well as the ones responsible for the schedule, it was not exactly restful for us, (especially Rebecca) although we were able to have most everyone else share in the responsibility of leading evening devotionals as well as recreational activities.

Generally the format was to have a thematic study and discussions in the morning, with the afternoon off for activities.  The group provided many opportunities, including embroidery, yoga, water color, and origami.  The hotel we stayed at, although modest by western standards, had some interesting perks including a small pool, exercise room, and sauna and steam room.  There were also some nice grounds to sit around and read in.  There was so much to do in the afternoons that we were not even able to do all the acitivities planned on the schedule.

The themes in the morning were focused on parables of the Kingdom, specifically the sower, the parable of the wheat and weeds, and the parable about the woman baker working yeast into the dough.  The challenge in all of them seemed to be to accept the mystery of the growth of the kingdom that does not depend on our efforts, but may require much patient endurance on the part of the workers (especially to allow the wheat and weeds to grow together).

It was generally well received and it was good to have the discussions lead to opportunities to talk about the rewards and frustrations of working within our particular assignments.  I think the SALTers and service workers from the different countries enjoyed getting together to share experiences.  I am struck that overwhelmingly the SALTers are young women.  There just do not seem to be that many young men with the focus to do such a volunteer program out of college.  It is a shame because I think this kind of experience could be very valuable as a part of finding future employment, and even a vocation.

We were also very blessed to have great child care as two young women accompanied us, one was Katherine Deckert who works with MCC in Winnipeg and was out for a visit/vacation.  The other, Mireille, is a teacher at the Ecole Belge in Rwanda and a friend of Ruth and Krystan.  So the kids really had a blast.  (Oren was the oldest of the group with David a close second.)

For me, one of the highlights was Friday when we invited a special guest to share with us on the topic of facing injustice on a personal level.  (What can we do in the face of injustice as individuals?)  The facilitator was a Rwandese pastor named Joseph Nyamutera.  He has a fascinating life history and I am sending a link to his bio here.  (Nyamutera bio)  He led us through a 3 part series of discussions beginning with identity. He asked us what identities we possess and the ways that we might be either victims or oppressors because of them.   He himself is Hutu, and although he was not involved in the genocide directly, he was aware of the killings as they happened. But when the RPF came in he was forced to flee to Congo where he spent several years in a refugee camp and lost many family members.

He has had the experience of being perceived as both oppressor and victim.  He went on to conclude though that as Christians. we profess our primary identity to be in Christ and all others to be secondary, even if they are natural, like gender or race or ethnicity.

The second section was on wounds and trauma healing, and ended with us bringing our pain and wounds to the cross (where we symbolically nailed them) to be released from them.

The 3rd section I found particularly meaningful.  It began with a discussion about repentance which Biblically is both individual, but also corporate.  (Israel repenting as a nation is an example of that.)  Here we looked at ways in which we as Christians might, using Peter's description of us as a royal priesthood, be intercessors, or stand-ins to confess corporate sin of the groups we belong to.  He told us about how he has stood as a Hutu before Tutsis and confessed and asked for forgiveness for the sins of his people.  He has done the same thing as a Rwandan before Congolese.

He has described remarkable transformations in relationships between groups in his experiences of this kind.  Normally we come ready to rationalize or justify rather than to confess. By contrast, to come in with humility and penitence is quite liberating.

I was struck by the possibility that such confession might liberate one from the feeling of acting out of guilt--an emotion that drives much giving and foreign aid, I believe. Perhaps if we begin with confession as development workers and a request for pardon, we might be able to act more in the interest of others rather than out of guilt.

Pastor Joseph also warned about the trap of reparation that is motivated by guilt.  He observed that often reparation is usually not possible.  He gave an illustration of a priest in South Africa who had his hands blown off by a letter bomb during apartheid.  He said that if someone had come and apologized for committing this injury, he would ask him how that person would want to offer reparation? Wash his clothes? Help him dress? and for how long? Today? Until next month? Forever?  His point was that it is not possible to return the loss.  When the perpetrator asks for forgiveness, it is in recognition that reparation may not be possible.  It is up to the victim to decide to forgive.

What a heady idea to imagine confession, by individual Christians, standing in their priestly role as intercessors, to Native Americans, Jews, Palestinians, Illegal Immigrants, Colonized Countries.  I would be interested in seeing a forum for public confession for Christian leaders. (Although in our country our Christian leaders seem more fixated on righteous moral outrage and judgment and not on public confession and repentance.)

Saturday, our last day, we took the morning off to go to a beach on the lake.  It is nice that there are no hippos or crocs in this lake.  But it is a bit unnerving that there is methane gas in the bottom of the very deep lake and once every 10,000 years or so the Lake 'inverts' killing everything within hundreds of miles of it.  (Right now there is a pipe down to the methane and it is being harvested for fuel.)

But the lake is nice, and we played on a 'beach' made of volcanic rock.  The kids swam and even caught a crab.  We had a nice lunch at a hotel on the beach and the day would have been perfect if someone had not stolen a couple hunded dollars in Rwandese Francs from Rebecca's purse in a brief moment when she was not looking.

On Sunday we all headed home.  I took the Burundi crew home in the jeep which left about 7am for the 10 hour drive.  It was rough with the kids who pretty much took turns having melt downs most of the way back.

We arrived back exhausted Sunday evening and took it easy.  On Monday Rebecca woke up feeling sick so I took the kids to school and swam before coming home to do some emails.

There is a feeling of accomplishment to completing this retreat and it was clearly appreciated by all who came.  We will probably do it again in the future as this is the first Great Lakes Regional retreat MCC has had to my knowledge.