Childless in Bujumbura

Oren in snorkel gear diving near a coral reef in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Kenya.

Midnight last Sunday---Rebecca, me, Oren and David were jetting through the night sky over the inky black rift valley.  The only unusual thing was that we were on separate planes.  Rebecca and I were on our way back from Nairobi to Bujumbura, while the kids were with their Aunt, Uncle and cousins headed toward Addis Ababa, Rome and eventually to Washington DC where they were to be met by their grandparents. 

David, hang in' out at the guesthouse.

The last day in Nairobi set the mood perfectly for the way I was feeling on the ride home.  Melancholic---cloudy, even cold, in a clammy kind of way.  We shivered throught the morning at the Mennonite Guest House before heading off to the airport in the early afternoon.  We went together even though Rebecca and my flight was leaving four hours after Oren and David’s.  We all went through customs and immigration and hung out to the last possible minute. 

When the boarding call for their plane was made they headed bravely to the gate, David holding his cousin Miriam’s hand.  It was interesting to see our kids doing this.  It was evident that they were not happy about leaving us, but they seemed to have a clear idea about where they were going and were excited about the prospect.  There were no meltdowns.  They went quietly into the waiting area at the gate as we waved goodbye.

When our flight finally left it was very late and although I was feeling quite sad and even a bit out-of-sorts not having to mind 2 children at every moment, I dozed peacefully until our arrival in Bujumbura at 2:30 am.  Luckily we know a cabbie who is willing to work at that hour.  We got back to our house around 3.

Before moving forward any further, though, I want to reflect back on the last two days of our vacation.  We had left the safari in Northern Kenya and headed to the coast near Malindi and were enjoying ourselves at the Turtle Bay Beach Resort.

Maasai dance exhibition at Turtle Bay.

There were several high-lights, one was the ‘kids club’, which kept the children occupied most of the morning and in the evening giving the parents some chance to be alone. 

The other highlight was the snorkeling trip.  The beach is near a very impressive coral preserve with exceptionally large marine fish.  (Things would find in a marine fish tank, only super-sized)  Paul Sack and I tried it out a couple days ahead of the group and we had a great time, except that I came in contact with a jelly fish and was stung on the back.  It was quite painful and even caused some numbness to radiate down my arm.  By the next morning I was fine though.

On Friday, we took everyone out to snorkel.  I should mention that the snorkeling trip to the reef is a 20 minute boat ride to a place in open ocean about a half kilometer from shore.  It does take a bit or resolve to jump in.  The water is shallow but still about 15 feet deep (in low tide). 

I was amazed to see both Oren and David jump in with enthusiasm.  Oren had practiced snorkeling the pool the day before and had no problem swimming around with the snorkel on.  David enjoyed jumping in with his life jacket and some bread in his hands (that the boat driver gave him).  He was swarmed by beautiful fish who came to take the bread and he loved it.

golden palm weaver

All of the adults took turns going out while others stayed with the kids near the boat.  Rebecca described it like bird watching underwater.  We all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly except Paul Sack, who, like me before, ran into a jellyfish and was stung multiple times on the shoulders.  He spent the last bit of the time sitting in the boat feeling very sick.   (Note to other snorkeling readers, we did not see the jellyfish and never did after we were stung.  They are small.  Good advice is to wear a swim shirt rather than going bare on the upper body.)  Paul recovered later that day, but both of us had had some mild systemic reaction to the venom for several hours afterwards. 

Despite this, the snorkeling experience was well worth it and watching the kids enjoying swimming and snorkeling in the ocean was a lot of fun.

We left on Saturday and took the short flight back to Nairobi where we spent the rest of the day at the Mennonite Guest House enjoying the grounds, trees, and swings.  As I mentioned the day of our departure (Sunday) was unseasonably cold.  We did enjoy a Mennonite hymn sing in the guest house canteen on Sunday morning and did see several MCCers there.  (Ratzlaff’s and Zimmerman-Herrs)

Back in Bujumbura:

We arrived at our destination ahead of the children and we were anxious to receive word of their arrival and pick-up at Dulles in Washington DC.  Paul Sack sent us an email from his iphone in the late afternoon saying they had arrived safely and things had gone well on the 17 hour flight.  He had a picture attached with our kids and both sets of grandparents at the airport. 

Being in our house without the children, from our arrival at 3am to waking up midmorning was completely surreal.   Rebecca and I have never been in Burundi without at least one child.  It was strange to not have to be considering how to care for them while we worked, shopped, went out, etc.

Trade school we support in Rwanda.

Fortunately we did not spend much time wondering what to do with ourselves.  We had come back to do a ton of work before we went on our own vacation to the US in 10 days.  We spent Monday working , catching up on emails, and doing administrative work in the office.  We have several service workers leaving in a week and there were a lot of things to do to prepare for their departure.

We had one day in Bujumbura before heading off to Kigali on Tuesday morning for 3 work packed days before leaving them for another month.  We did get a morning swim before our departure, and arrived in Kigali in the early evening.  Our first meeting was later that very evening to talk about our large conservation agriculture/food security project.  We had recently received word that our project was approved by the Canadian Food Grains Bank and there was a ton of logistical work to discuss with Matt Gates, our agronomist service worker, and partners about how subventions would be distributed and administered.

We went to bed late on Tuesday then started early on Wednesday.  We had to split up to cover all of our meetings.  MCC is in the process of registering as an independent NGO in Rwanda and I had meetings related to this process while Rebecca met with partners. 

Teri Lynn with her house staff.

We did try to relax a bit for dinner and did go out to dinner at Meze Fresh, the burrito place on Wednesday night.  Thursday night was our anniversary!  10^th!!  We took the opportunity to really enjoy a date night without kids.  We went to a very excellent Asian restaurant in Kigali called Zen.  We had dim sum, although we had trouble choosing between that, thai, and sushi.  I highly recommend this place if you are living in Kigali.  

Teri Lynn, Rebecca, Beatrice

We left early Friday morning to return to Burundi, pretty fried from meetings but feeling very good about the state we were leaving our program in, in Rwanda. 

We stopped in Burasira, where Teri-Lynn lives to pick her up and pack her up.  This is the end of her assignment at the Hope School.  (Her blog about that here).  It was a bit sad, but also pretty logistically busy as we had to pack her things up in the car, and close up the house.  (We are holding on to it for a few more months in hopes of finding someone new.)  We also had to dismiss some of her staff, and meet with the coordinators of the partnership, Innocent and Beatrice at the Hope School to do some final goodbyes and reporting. 

We did check on the progress of the new library at the school and the solar power installation that will light it.  Things continue to be on schedule.

We headed on to Bujumbura in the afternoon and got back by evening on Friday.  We came back to a full house.  Melody was down and Matt Gates came later.  Every service worker was arriving in town that day for a very special event on Saturday.

We all had planned to have a final team gathering to say good-bye to Yolanda and the two SALTers (Janelle and Teri_Lynn) AND to attend en masse, the marriage of our program assistant Felix Kanyamuneza to his fiancé Alice Munezero. 

 

The wedding was quite spectacular with 600 or more in attendance, and the MCC team’s presence was not easily missed as all 6 of the women on the team dressed in the traditional Burundian ‘imvutanos’ – a sari like dress – matching!  Matt and I wore suits as that is traditional formal wear for Burundian men. 

We went to the service which was at our church, then to the reception which featured drummers dancers, fantas, and speeches.  I was able to execute my duties as MCC chief with a speech that was mainly in Kirundi and started with all the proper formalities necessary.  It was very well received and I think our presence really did honor them, especially in our efforts to be culturally appropriate. 

Rwanda delegation presents gifts

We got back Saturday evening and the team went out without us to celebrate the Birthdays of Teri-Lynn and Janelle.  Rebecca and I enjoyed a quiet evening at home.  We marveled that evening at how uncomplicated everything was without having to worry about what we would do with the kids--during a 5 hour ceremony for instance.  But despite that, we both feel a deep empty space in our hearts without them.  We have skyped most evenings.  They seem to be having an awesome time, Oren at Rebecca’s parents’ house and David at mine.  They are getting very special attention from grandparents and loving it.  I am now really looking forward to joining them there this week.

The women of MCC:
Teri-Lynn, Melody, Yolanda, Jennifer, Janelle, Rebecca