A Meeting, A Sermon, and a Final Curtain Call

 “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way."

The above famous quote, misattributed to the German poet Goethe, came to mind as I reflect back on the past 10 days.  It has been a whirlwind of activities and has required us to be about as engaged as we have ever been.  Indeed, even finding time to write anything down, and I am doing this because I don’t want to forget, is quite a challenge as it is late, and on the eve of a departure to South Africa for a 2 week (much needed) vacation.

The backdrop for everything that has happened are regional meetings for MCC that we have been hosting in Bujumbura.  We have two regional meetings per year, one is the larger Central West Africa meeting, but this one is a smaller Great Lakes regional meeting involving the Rwanda, Burundi and DRC program. 

In attendance were quite a few people.  Our area director Mark Sprunger with his wife Angela were there, the DRC Rep. Tim Lind, as well as two DRC service workers, Michael and Patrick.  From Burundi there was Rebecca and I as well as the new Reps. Scott, and Anne Marie.  Melody, one of our service workers in the domain of Peace was there as well.  Julia, our Kigali SALTer was also down for the weekend as she needed a bit of a break from the Kigali routine.

The meetings covered a broad range of topics, but there was particular focus on the work of our Peace service workers on the first day.  We had a fruitful conversation with them.

The second day of the meetings were more concentrated on issues we are dealing with as Reps, particularly our transition out of here.  It is yet another milestone as this is our last regional meeting before the end of our assignment.  Tim Lind and his wife Suzanne will be finishing their assignment in DRC as well.

We are not exactly sliding into the end as there are several visits by MCC VIPs to the region, so we will have our hands full right to the end.

The time was not all work and no play though.  We went out as a group on Saturday afternoon to Bora Bora, one of the beach resorts along the lake.  Then went out for Indian food that evening.  We also had another team dinner together.  Jennifer, Matt (our SALTer) and Felix with his wife Alice joined the rest of us for this as well.  It really felt like we were a pretty significant presence in the region with all of us together in one place.

Sunday was particularly challenging for Rebecca as she was doing a fabulous job of hosting everyone, but also had been asked to preach at our church  several weeks prior.  To pull all of this together during the midst of a busy weekend was a huge challenge to her.   We are in a series on the Beatitudes and she was given the topic:  “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God”.

There was a large contingent of MCCers in the congregation that day so she was under pressure to do this well as we are considered to be ‘experts’ on peacebuilding.

Rebecca, in fact, began by observing the challenge we face.  We do many trainings in peacebuilding and helped organizations and churches set up peace committees and other mechanisms for conflict resolutions.  BUT we have also found that some of the ugliest, most challenging conflicts have come right out of the heart of these organizations and churches themselves.  (Case in point, in the past, the Legal Rep. of the pacifist Friends Church here had to travel around with armed guards to protect himself from competitors for his job.)

Her point was that peacemaking is a matter of character not training, and no amount of expertise in peacebuilding makes us into peacemakers.

Most of her sermon concentrated on the only other passage in the Bible where ‘peacemaking’ is mentioned, that is James 3

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

She compared the two kinds of wisdom above.  Worldy wisdom that is driven by ‘selfish ambition’ and ‘bitter envy’ and Heavenly wisdom that is pure, peaceloving, consideratie, submissive, full of mercy, impartial and sincere. 

I was struck by the truth that most conflict that I have seen is rooted in the two characteristics of worldy wisdom.  Bitter envy, selfish ambition, are truly the drivers on conflct on an individual character level and can destroy families, organizations, even churches.  But the qualities of the second kind of wisdom, far harder to cultivate are the true characteristics of a peacemaker. 

Her sermon was very well received and I think the MCCers felt very proud of her.  We had a quiet afternoon and went to small group a new member’s house, a Chinese woman, Cici, who has married a Burundian and lives about a block away from us. 

In terms of chronology the two days of meetings happened on the Monday and Tuesday after Rebecca’s sermon.  Since most of the people gathered for the meetings were living at our house, we were fairly crowded, although some of the younger service workers were staying with Jennifer Price.

One of the big stressers for me during the meetings had nothing to do with their content or hosting the group that was gathered.  Rather, I was aware of a very important (for me) upcoming event that had been planned several months in advance.  It was the final presentation of the kids I have been teaching ballet to this entire year at the Ecole Belge.

This year is my last of 5 years of doing this.  I felt particularly ambitious for some reason, and for the first time had taken all of the dances we learned from both my classes and made them into a single ‘suite’ using the music of Swan Lake.  There were 8 pieces in all, so it was quite an ambitious project. 

To further complicate the matter, I was inspired to order all of the kids tutus and white tights for their show this year.  About 4 years ago, as I tried to improve the classes, I discovered that I could order ballet shoes from China for a reasonable price in bulk.  I started doing this at the beginning of the year every year to be sure every child had ballet slippers.  There is nothing resembling a ballet supply store in Burundi or anywhere in Central Africa, I believe.  So this was the most cost effective thing to do.

In the past I had also bought mirrors and had barres welded together for the studio.  But adding tutus was really a leap of faith.  The outfits from China cost about $ 10 each and there were about 30 girls participating.  I guessed at the girls sizes and ordered 30 plus shipping by DHL.  I cut it tight ordering less than a month in advance.

When they arrived, they were very cute, but I found that 4 did not fit.  I was willing to leave well enough alone, but once you introduce such an element the mothers and the girls who did not have tutus were about to throw a fit. 

I frantically began emailing my China supplier to have them rush me 5 more tutues with little hope that they would make it.  As the time went by in the meetings, I had this in the back of my mind.  I got DHL confirmation of their departure from Hong Kong Sunday and they were in Nairobi by Monday afternoon.  On Tuesday afternoon they had arrived in Bujumbura, but finding who had accepted delivery was difficult. 

Miraculously I did get them all by Tuesday evening.  One day before the show!  That was one small stress reducer, but there are many many other things that can go wrong before such an event, or during.  Having this hanging over my head and hosting the large group of people for the regional meeting was definitely about as much as I could take.

The day of the show, I brought all the costumes and all 30 kids showed up early as instructed,  They had all done their hair as per my request and miraculously, every single kid had a tutu, tights, and shoes that fit well enough by the time I distributed the last 4.  I had a back up speaker and ipod that ran on batteries if the power failed, so was as ready as I could be.  I knew the kids would invite many friends and family, but was surprised to see over 100 people, including the two directors of the primary and secondary school, as well as my Area Director and his wife. 

I did feel that the kids were ready, we had had a rehearsal and the show began at 5pm.  I have to say, with the costumes, music, and audience, the event was truly magical and exceeded even my highest expectations.

We did many dances and I explained the story of Swan Lake to those gathered.  The music was familiar and each of the groups (beginner and intermediate) had two dances with everyone in it.  I had set the little swans variation that everyone knows (modified for begnners).  I also put in an adagio using Camille Saint Saen’s Dying Swan music for some of the oldest girls.  Oren and another boy who had been participating did a duet for the Princes complete with swords and battle axes.  (Unfortunately one boy could not make it so I had to sub. In for the performance, but Oren was awesome.) The finale was a crisscross of chassees and grand jetes for all of the kids together.

It was greatly appreciated by the spectators and at the end I was very much surprised to be presented with flowers.  I announced with sadness that this was my last class of my last year doing this. 

I was struck by a parallel to the last time I received flowers for a performance.  It was six years ago after my final presentation of the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre as their Artistic Director.  I stood at the Bardavon theater in Poughkeepsie New York before more than 1000 people and received flowers on stage, surrounded by the dance company.  I felt very appreciated after 8 years of hard work with that company and received thunderous extended applause.

And yet here, surrounded by 30 little girls, in Burundi, in a concrete floored gym, I felt an equal sense of pride and accomplishment.  The last job I had was paid, carried a certain amount of prestige and I loved it.  This time it has been more of a part-time hobby, but I have loved it just as much, if not more!

Is it worth it?  The stress? The challenges of no electricity, inadequate facilities, no support, and really no idea in anyone’s heads of what ballet is?

Here is where I reflect on the quote from the beginning on commitment.  Truthfully, if I did this, or anything else in my life based purely on my moment by moment feelings--particularly those feelings driven by worldy motives like envy and selfish ambition.  I would have done nothing.  Nothing is worth it if it is done purely for those reasons. 

But commitment takes on a life of its own and offers rewards that are intangible but profound, I have found after many years in the field of dance as well as in my work with MCC.  Putting on a production of Swan Lake for no financial remuneration, no fame, no reason at all, other than the desire to realize it, is the best motivation of all, and I have never regretted giving myself greatly in bringing something to fruition for its own sake.  What, I think makes it rewarding is to see how being committed is infectious.  If I take it seriously, others do too, and the event begins to take on a life and meaning all its own that far exceeds anything one ever imagined would happen in ones own power.  I would even add that I feel God's blessing and favor on things that we do with such pure motives--not personal gain, but simply a labor of love, for its own sake.  I will treasure these memories in my heart for the rest of my life.

We are more than ready for our vacation which begins this afternoon when we board a plane to Johanesburg.  After that, we really enter the end game of our term here. 

Bonus video.  This is one of the dances the older girls did in the production.