Creating a Change of Season Amidst Farewells, and Traveling

Oren and David cracking open the Christmas decoration suitcase this past week.

I think this blog has been slowly moving into an 8 day cycle. I don't know if it is because life here seems less novel after 4 and a half years, or if we are just really busy. I think it is the latter as we seem to constantly be on the run. I am trying to get something posted this week so I have at least 4 posts in November. But also because it was a memorable week for several reasons, good and not so good.

On the good side, we did celebrate a belated Thanksgiving this past Saturday with a group of American friends. It was hosted by Courtney and JJ Ivaska at their house. We saw Isaiah and Samantha theere (missionaries based upcountry in Muramviya, Travis and his girls (Astrid has arrived safely in the Netherlands), Joel and Jeanette Miller and their family, as well as Ben and Kristy Carlson and their kids. Since most are together in the Ecole Belge the kids has a wild time running around the house playing games (boys and girls separately). There was also a turkey-making craft for the little kids. It was a very enjoyable afternoon/evening. It was nice to go to something rather than host it for a change as well.

Rebecca made another excellent faux cranberry sauce using japanese plums that was indistinguishable from the real thing.  She also contributed an apple crisp made with green mangoes that was quite convincing as well.

On Sunday, Oren could not wait at all to start decorating the tree. We did say he had to wait until Thanksgiving, so he did at least that, but then they begged us to set up the tree and get down the Christmas trimmings suitcase. I went out and bought some lights (since they only last about a year here) and put them on the tree. Oren and David decorated all the rest of it with many of their home-made decorations from past years. It looks great! I have started playing Christmas music starting with The Messiah (which I also do not allow myself to play until after Thanksgiving.

Although there is no seasonal change to cold weather, decorating the house does give us the sense of a change of season. It is also great to see how excited the kids are about Christmas this year. David is now 4 and is very aware of what this means. He also takes many of his cues from Oren as far as what to be excited about.

Backing up in the week, I mentioned in my last entry that I was upcountry for several days of the previous week for a stategic planning meeting of our partner Help Channel. Getting home was quite a relief although the meeting was very interesting. I arrived back Wednesday afternoon and enjoyed the normal routines of Thursday and Friday. Friday particularly with all the dance classes continues to be a blessing and a challenge.

This week it was Rebecca's turn to go up country while I stayed with the kids. It is honestly hard to say which is more stressful. This week a large road construction project that routed all traffic on the main artery into the city past the front gate of the school has been very stressful, both because of delays and concerns for getting the kids safely into school. Oren also suffered a series a small injuries involving toes and an ankle that caused him to miss soccer this week. Worse, he was the latest person in our family to fall victim to a short but powerful stomach virus that both David and I had the week prior. Oren vomited several times on Tuesday evening. He does not like vomiting and in facts seems so affronted by it that he refuses to do it anywhere that might be convenient to clean up, prefering to hit the bedsheets, mosquito nets, floor, bookcases and any open books, over the bucket that I am holding out in front of him.

Fortunately he was over it by morning and was able to go to school the next day which was good because it was class and school photo day, a bad one to miss. Rebecca came home on Wednesday as well and it was good to be reunited as a family. It was a bit odd not being the one traveling though. Next week will be the same with her going to Rwanda.

Rebecca and Nina

Rebecca's arrival was just on time for us to go to the airport later that day to say good bye to some friends who are leaving Burundi for good.  Jatta is a Finnish woman working for the European Union who was a frequenter of my ballet and yoga class and really was able to connect ex-pat dancers to the class.  Nina also left with her sons Jonah and Milo.  They are returning to Germany after a 3 year stint here with GIZ.  Her husband Bila had left a couple months earlier.  They were good friends of ours and both of the kids were in David and Oren's classes.  We saw them off at the airport that night and were sad to hear that both Jonah and Milo had the vomiting virus that evening as they were getting on the plane.  I assume they are back in Germany resting by now.

I am going to turn the blog over to her now to report on the things she did on her 3 day trip to Gitega and Burasira...

Rebecca chiming in here: I’ve been struggling lately to keep all the balls in the air, between work, home, kids, Sunday school, and a few special work-related assignments. This week I needed to travel up-country to see some of our volunteers. So my prayer Sunday night with our small group, was that this trip would be both safe and refreshing. I am glad to say that it actually was refreshing to be in the mountains and have some quality time with some team members.

I left on Monday mid-morning, after collecting a number of essential supplies for Teri-Lynn, who lives in a fairly isolated spot and can’t get many things in her market (she needed cooking gas, pasta, oil, rice without stones, carrots, and a couple packages of cookies for moral support). My first stop was in Gitega, where I was delighted to find that I got to share lunch with Saffy, as well as Melody and Yolanda. Their cook does a great job – see the photo with beautifully arranged fresh fruit for dessert. After lunch, Melody and I met with her supervisors at MIPAREC to get a sense of what her first months will look like at work. We toured the current MIPAREC offices and even got to walk through the new office building, still under construction.

I also got to share dinner with Melody and Yolanda in their flat, and we drank many cups of tea while discussing the best ways to become integrated in a partner organization. The best advice: spend lots of time in the beginning getting to know one’s colleagues, greeting people door to door. We also discussed possible research topics Yolanda is considering for her Masters’ work following her MCC term next year. It’s always fascinating to hear about her research and insights – she does a lot more academic reading about the region than anyone I know.

Gitega service workers Yolanda, Melody, Saffy

I spent part of the morning with Yolanda and her supervisor, completing a mid-term performance review. The partner organization, UCPD, has really grown in maturity, having developed a culture of asking questions of themselves. “Why isn’t this working? Who can we ask to find out? What can we do to change things?” I am always impressed with the integrity and honesty with which they do their work, and Yolanda has been a great fit for that assignment.

Melody and I had a quick – and yet again delicious! – Alphonsine-prepared lunch before picking up Beatrice, the education director of UCEDD, Teri-Lynn’s partner organization. I invited Melody to come along on this quick overnight trip to see Teri-Lynn to give her a chance to see a little of rural Burundi and to be able to picture where her nearest colleague is living and working. The dirt road from Gitega wasn’t too bad this time going up, and Beatrice and I had a lot to talk about in terms of the school and about regional politics, given that she’s Congolese and has some opinions about the recent M23 rebel take-over of Goma. When we arrived, Beatrice, Teri-Lynn and I sat down right away to go through her initial work appraisal. She is working very hard and doing a great job of teaching English to both students and teachers. But it is a real challenge to feel integrated into the community, particularly since she lives alone.

When Beatrice left to go back to the school, the three of us took a walk around the seminary property. I especially wanted to pick up some fallen evergreen boughs to decorate for Christmas. It was so lovely to breathe the fresh air and stretch my legs. Back at Teri-Lynn’s place, I was able to help her replace some parts on her gas stove, but failed to get her living room lights to work properly. Hmmm. Low-voltage lighting solutions will be in the next care package…We had a nice dinner together and talked about Teri-Lynn’s plans for some holiday time with her parents at Christmas. And when the time came, I slept like a log!

Teri-Lynn and Melody with teachers at Hope School

We woke up in the morning to find it had been raining softly all night. We went to the Seminary service of morning prayer in French, a discipline I really appreciate when I go up there – in particular the silent time of meditation between the prayers and the Eucharist. I found myself praying hard about the muddy road that lay before me later in the day. Back at Teri-Lynn’s house, there were questions to discuss with her cook and her nightguard—sorting out houseworker issues is hard for Teri-Lynn without a lot of French or Kirundi (I needed Beatrice’s help for the later). And then on up to the school to shake hands with teachers, drop off Teri-Lynn and pick up Beatrice and head out. At first, the road was decent, but then we got stuck in the middle of a long line of empty pickup trucks, heading back to Gitega to pick up more gravel. And suddenly, heading down an incline, I realized our car was sliding just a bit. And going up the next hill, I was pretty horrified to see the three trucks in front of me really fishtailing in the mud. I told Beatrice that now was a good time to start praying if she wanted to (and she obliged me by praying in tongues very quietly). I was trying not to picture the truck in front losing traction and sliding backwards, making a nice MCC sandwich with the truck behind. All my driving skills were called into action during that hour, and it wasn’t very fun. Finally, we made it to the point where we could take a more rural road and leave the trucks behind. I was glad to, even though the road was bumpier and more narrow. In any case, since I’m writing this, you know we made it back to Gitega in one piece.

I dropped off Melody at home and continued on for Bujumbura, but I realized that I was still kind of dizzy from the stressful hours of driving. So I stopped to visit the Foyer de Charité Catholic retreat center in Giheta, a place I had heard of but never seen before. As soon as I pulled off the gravel drive into the compound and stepped out of my car, I was greeted by a sister in an apron with a quiet, radiant face. She asked why I had come, and then she explained the mission of her order – to provide a place of retreat, where all categories of people could meet with the Lord, and be accompanied in their prayers. Clearly she was someone completely available to serve and welcome anyone the Lord would send. She directed me to the chapel and welcomed me to stay as long as I wanted. And when I left the chapel, I was met by another sister, with a similarly glowing presence, who welcomed me into her sitting room. She told me warmly of the healing they had seen, as people had come for five day retreats over the years. This has been the simple, Catholic approach to trauma-healing, I think. Conversation with these women gave me the sensation of honey rolling down the back of my throat—they have a deep joy and peace that I wish was a more present part of my life. But my half hour with them carried me back down the mountain and back home to my family.