And as they were riding to another town, Paul turned to his
faithful colleague Felix and speaking in parables said: “the Kingdom of Hell is
like unto a sower who goeth out in the field to till. On turning over the soil he findeth a golden
nugget therein. After that he ceaseth to
sow and toileth endlessly in his field digging for gold. At the end of the season he hath neither gold
nor a harvest and is worse off than he was before he started. He who has ears let him hear!”
The parable was one that came to mind as I drove back from
Rwanda with Felix. We had been there
this past week, leaving on Monday and returning Thursday. I do like to go to Rwanda as much as I make
these monthly trips sound like a bit of a hardship in the blog. Our programming there is very interesting and
our three service workers, Matt, Teresa, and Julia are very competent.
What is especially gratifying to see in the last year is the
way our Rwanda partners have begun collaborating together and even formed a
partners network to execute larger projects together as a collective.
One such project is our Conservation Agriculture
project. This is a project whose
objective is to encourage adoption of a low tillage, high mulching system of
cultivation. It promises to increase
yields with less inputs and help improve soil structure and reduce erosion over
time. We are nearing the end of the
first growing season and are already seeing positive results in most groups.
 |
| CA on right, traditional cultivation on left. |
The challenge has been one aspect of the project, the
provision of some credit, to help farmers buy inputs without taking too much of
a risk if the method fails. (In which
case they would not have to reimburse.)
The groups we are working with already have a history of farming
together on small collective fields and were happy to try the method on their
collective fields so all could learn the technique.
But the credit has created some conflict and
‘misunderstandings'. In fact as soon as
the word credit was mentioned the immediate next question was what was the
maximum amount. Many groups wanted to
leverage themselves out for $1000 immediately eventhough their .5 hectare
fields would never return that much.
Others claimed that without the credit they would not be able to buy
seeds or sow at all eventhough the year before they had been doing this
collectively without any inputs from outside donors at all.
What we found is that the access to credit became such a
preoccupation to many, once they heard that it would be available, that all
other aspect of the project became nearly irrelevant. Suddenly the project was seen as a way to
access money rather than a way to improve farming.
It was an interesting lesson for us and when we saw the
number of requests we lowered the maximum amount to between $50 and $100
depending on the size of the field and what was cultivated. People were disappointed but then got down to
the business of cultivation again.
We learned the perpetual lesson that we learn in the
development world. Foreign aid of any
kind is seen as a kind of natural resource around here and people try to mine
it whenever they come across a small vein in hopes of getting more.
I am happy to say that despite this we are really happy with
the results we are seeing and have even seen a number of individuals trying the
method in their private fields as a result of working in the fields in the
first season.
Matt Gates, our service worker is becoming in very high
demand for his technical expertise and has been invited to conferences in
Zambia and Burkina Faso after hosting a gathering in Kigali in a week. We are also pretty jazzed about the fact that
MCC is about the only NGO doing an extensive CA project in Rwanda at this time.
Despite all of the good news, we are still struggling with
our registration, a project that has been occupying our local program assistant
in Rwanda for the last 8 months.
Other news in Rwanda, our service workers are doing well, we
went out for Indian food on Tuesday night.
I am pleased to report that one of our SALTers (one year volunteers)
will be renewing for another year to work with one of our partners at the
Friends Church.
Felix and I had two travel days and spent two full days in Kigali and it felt at times like one long continuous meeting. Since we only go up once per month, it tends
to be packed if I am to see everyone, do banking, shopping, worker care,
etc. I usually try to finish by Thursday
morning so I can get back to Buja that day.
Friday is the day I teach ballet and I like to be home on time for that
and to be with the family for the weekend.
It is a routine that I have come to accept as a not altogether
unpleasant variation on the ‘normal’ week.
Although I miss the two days of swimming. This time I drove directly to a pool in
Bujumbura on the way home and took a dip in the afternoon to sooth the muscles
after the 5 hour drive.
We also did stop in and do a field visit to a rural trade
school we are supporting in Southern Rwanda near the Burundi border. It was interesting to watch two students
demonstrate what they have learned by measuring, then cutting out a shirt for
us. Marie-Antoinette, and Jean de Dieu
were the two students who showed us how to measure and sew. Another student was ironing clothes using a real
charcoal iron. It is a good reminder of
the things we take for granted when I see such technology—like electricity.
It was good to be home on the weekend. Friday I taught ballet as usual and I am
starting to teach the little girls some modified variations from Swan Lake that
they will perform for their parents at the end of March.
The weekend was relaxing with the kids. We went to a pool party at a friend’s house
who works with the embassy. It was fun
despite a bit of rain. We watched movies together as a family on Friday and
Saturday. (We also got a copy of season
4 of Downton Abbey and Rebecca and I started watching that this week.)
Rebecca has a few notes to add about her time with the kids
while I was in Rwanda. Here are her
reflections:
Paul left on Monday at
midday, but the kids and I still had a busy day ahead of us. We went to tennis
as usual with our little group of friends, and then on to English club. It has
been an wonderful and encouraging experience to be working on Oren’s English,
especially. We have a long way to go, for him to be ready for fourth grade English
reading and writing, but at least we’re working towards it. And one mom plans
extraordinary activities for David’s age group, to help them express themselves
in English. It’s a good community effort, and I’m really thankful for the
family who hosts us each week.
When we got home, I
needed to do some cooking because Marceline was sick. I was a little worried
that the kids would be tempted by screen time, but when I walked in the living
room to check on them, I heard their two little voices in the corner of the
living room, by the metal door where we have attached all our magnet letters.
There I found Oren eagerly teaching David how to spell words with the “—at”
sound… c-at, b-at, r-at, th-at…What a joy that they 1) weren’t fighting! And 2)
were doing something really constructive!
On Tuesday afternoon,
we went to visit Courtney and her kids. It was a spectacular afternoon – one of
those which makes you feel like Burundi is the most blessed place on earth.
Clear, cool, mighty clouds building over the mountains behind us, but a clear
view over the lake to Congo. The older kids cooperated well, and I enjoyed
catching up with my friend, while we chased her 2 year old around the yard. We
left just as the heavens opened and drove home in one of those gully-washers
that are the classic experience of the Burundian rainy season. I was drenched
just opening the gate. The kids decided it was time for a rain dance. They love
it when our backyard floods and they can’t even see the rain canals that
theoretically carry the water away from our yard. This time, they discovered
that our former garbage hole made a really great kiddie swimming pool. (Note:
in Burundi, everyone has a garbage hole, either for being emptied by the
garbage guys who walk into your yard with big baskets and pitchforks and carry
it out to their truck; or you just burn what’s in the hole. We’d filled this
old hole up 2 years ago and planted grass over it because it was causing
drainage problems. But it seems to have, well, subsided just a little.)
Finally, on Wednesday,
we had sandwiches because Marceline was just getting back on track. Oren has
watched a few Scooby-Doo episodes and has now developed this idealized picture
of the most awesome sandwich imaginable. It took him about 20 minutes to assemble
this sandwich so that it stayed up-right. I took a photo to convince him that
now it was on record and he could eat the thing, and if stuff fell out if it,
well, that was OK. Along with salami and cheese, it also includes cucumber,
lettuce, tomato, and curly pasta.
Paul again: I will
just add few final notes for the record. First, we did have a short visit from some old friends, one was Jean Claude who just finished his masters at Eastern Mennonite, and the other was former MCC Rep. Doug Hiebert. They came over for dinner to our house one night last week. Doug's family are planning to move back to Burundi with another couple shortly before we leave. It is interesting to see this odd symmetry between our arrival and departure.
And lastly I want to mention that, Rebecca and I were asked by our church to lead a
marriage retreat the weekend before my departure. It was once again a good lesson in Burundian
planning. (Which tends to be fairly
last-minute). I was told the week before
that it was to be an 8 hour retreat, for instance and people were only really
invited about 3 days before. Despite
that, we had about 50! It was an
interesting day. We had a plenary
session in the morning then broke into men’s and women’s groups just before
lunch. In the afternoon we had couples
sit across from each other and share based on what they learned and pray for
each other. That session lasted an hour
which is more than most of us spend in intentional conversation with our
spouses in a month.
It all went fairly well but I did learn that African women
have had it up to here with any teachings on submission. Indeed it is a challenge to talk on this
sensitive topic in a context where women are pretty much treate I did remind
men that there is absolutely no Biblical precedent for wife beating or ‘disciplining’
a wife in any way. Despite this, the
feedback from the women really ran home the point home that teachings about
women taking a submissive role fits too comfortably with a cultural precedent
that puts them down, and harms them. I
think we men left feeling pretty contrite about the way women are treated in
this context.
As a whole though, the retreat was a real opportunity to
have couples sit down and talk honestly to each other. Rebecca and I personally felt blessed to have
the time to do that and affirm each other as partners. Who knows, maybe we will write a book.
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