Berlin Wall set at the Fete de l'Ecole (20th century theme).
Oren woke up early last Saturday and nearly jumped out of
bed. “Today is the day of the “Fete de
L’ecole!” He said. Admittedly I was surprised at his enthusiasm
for the event. This is the annual school
spring festival which features games, a bouncy castle, the sale of many baked
goods, beer (this is a Belgian school) and the ever popular ‘frites’ (better
known to us as French fries.)
There is also a presentation of songs and dances by each
class of the primary school. Oren has
participated in it every one of the past six years and David in the last
3. What I do not remember in the past
was this amount of anticipation and enthusiasm about performing.
The theme of the festival was the 20th
century. I knew Oren’s group was going
to do an antiwar song, but little else.
He had been working at trying to memorize it all week and learn the hand
gestures.
On Friday he told me he could not wait until Saturday to do
the ‘spectacle’. The kids had been sent
home with instructions about time and place for gathering as well as costume
requirements. Unfortunately Rebecca had
to lead a retreat for a peace group (GLI) on Friday evening which extended into
Saturday so I had to get them ready and over to school on Saturday afternoon.
We were there in plenty of time and I dropped David off with
his teacher to get ready. Oren wandered
around while I found a seat. Other
parents arrived and I sat and reflected on the familiarity of this. Looking over the blog in the past six years,
I am struck by how similar they look in photos.
Each year feels so completely different, but there is, in fact, a rhythm
to life here, daily and yearly that is really easy to observe over time. There are two major school ‘fetes’ the one at
Christmas and the one in the spring. The
ex pat. Community is small and we see many of the familiar faces in different
settings: the beach, certain restaurants, at church, and of course at the
school fetes. Sometimes it really
strikes me what a small town life we live here in that way.
But I do find comfort in the rhythm and the fete signals the
end of the school year. In the next
month the kids in the primary school start their final exams. In the Belgian system the final exams count
above all else in evaluating a student.
No continuous evaluation here, this is make it or break it and Oren has
to study like a med. Student in grade 3 if he is going to pass.
One thing I am struck by at the fete is how many of the
girls have passed through my ballet class over the past 5 years. I know many of the students and have seen
them grow up. I also know the teachers
and have certain expectations about what they will present. The 3rd grade teacher Madame
Krystelle is always the most creative.
M. Christophe is the funniest, and there are others that have a certain
reputation for being a bit riské for primary school.
The fete does not disappoint. The stage has been set with a reconstruction
of the Berlin Wall. The first group (2nd
graders) do a dance to Pink Floyd’s The
Wall and end with a triumphal tearing it down. I would say that the 20th century perspective presented was decidedly European with the exception of several dances with a Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse theme.
David was an Aristocat from a Disney review in his class.
Oren’s class did an impressively well rehearsed anti-war song that the kids
sing loudly with much enthusiasm. He
looked thrilled to be doing it.
Oren loved everything about the fete. Particulary because you can buy tickets that
can be exchanged for food. He waited in
line for half an hour for the Belgian ‘frites’ and had other desserts as well. He is familiar with the whole routine as he has been to many in his life here.
Rebecca arrived shortly after the kids performed and hung
out there until dark. Usually we leave
earlier but Oren really wanted to stay for the raffle. (I think he mistakenly thought that since he
bought a ticket he would win something.)
What I find really interesting though is how much he likes to just be at
the school. He feels independent and
enjoyed doing the games other things on his own.
We headed home after dark and watched a movie together,
exhausted.
Sunday was fairly routine.
We went to church and had our small group in the afternoon. Prayer requests are always interesting and in
earnest there. We pray often for
bureaucratic processes to move. We have
a Burundian friend with a Canadian wife who has been waiting more than a year
for his visa process to be completed. His wife and very young son really need
him. At this point the passport is just
sitting in the Canadian Consulate in Nairobi with no information why it is
being delayed. This kind of prayer is so
typical here. The experience of no
justice for those without means is now something I feel deeply acquainted
with. I had no idea just how unfair life
is until I started praying with others here.
Rebecca and I had prayer requests of our own as we were
looking with trepidation at the week ahead.
We had two days to prepare for our partners retreat that started on
Wednesday. We were very unprepared and
had been distracted by numerous crises.
Our cook’s baby needed some attention since the past week, although was
improving. We got a call out of the blue
Sunday from our service worker Jennifer to tell us her passport had been stolen
when she went to the airport in Nairobi.
We spent some time communicating with MCC Kenya to get that sorted. So trying to prepare was hard.
After many false starts though we settled on the theme of
retrospective and transition and decided it would be good to look at the past
and then talk about the future, the transition and beyond. We wanted people to talk openly about the
opportunities and threats they perceived with the transition. We were happy that the Stoner-Ebys were with
us and could hear this as well. This
retreat for the partners, another annual event, was going to be the opportunity
to introduce Scott and Anne Marie formally to the partners.
I spent much of Tuesday on a slide show of our past six
years, primarily field visits with partners to give them a chance to remember
with us. I also had photos of all the
other service workers that have served during out term. Rebecca prepared several devotionals on the
theme of departure and change. One using
the text 1 Corinthians 3:1-15 was particularly relevant as it talks about how
we sow we did not plant and plant what we will not sow.
We left after school on Wednesday. (The kids were off for
Ascencion day Thursday and Friday- a nice perk of living in a Catholic country.) We has 3 cars coming from Buja, one from
Gitega and 2 from Kigali. We were going
to meet near the town of Butare in Rwanda at a Catholic Benedictine Monastery
called Gihindamuyaga. A very pleasant
place where we have stayed for such retreats twice before.
 |
| Teresa translating a presentation by Jennifer |
All the partners were represented there as well as the
Stoner-Ebys, so we had 2 families. (That
gave the kids friends to play with.) We
brought a childcare person as well.
The retreat went well.
We gathered and introduced ourselves Wednesday evening. We had several sessions and workshops on
Thursday as well as devotionals and hymn singing.
One of the most memorable moments for me was watching a
movie together. It is a French film
(English subtitles) called Gods and Men.
(Les Dieux et les Hommes). It is
about a group of Franciscan monks who worked in Algeria during the civil war
there. At the time of crisis they were
forced to make a decision to leave or stay.
Because they felt called by Christ to be there to care for the people
there, many of them were martyred. It
was a very powerful film, slow moving, almost like a meditation. It was unapolegetically ‘religious’ looking
deeply into the theology that motivated these men to make the decision to
stay. One of the best films I have ever
seen.
 |
| visit with refugees |
Saturday we went on a field visit. We intended to go to talk to the refugees at
the refugee camp for an hour. I asked,
one of our partners if we could see a field where they were doing Conservation
Agriculture on the way. I explained we
could stop for about 15 minutes to see one.
He assured me there was one almost right next to the main
road we were going on. After 6 years of
being here I knew it was a mistake to add something to a program that is not
pre-tested, but I took the chance. As we
were leaving, another partner mentioned that the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese
would like to greet us at his church next to the refugee camp. I was not happy about this addition as well,
but we set off.
Sure enough, the ‘short detour’ off the main road to see the
field took us nearly 45 minutes down one of the most treacherous stretches of
roads I have ever driven. I barely made it in the jeep. The Stoner-Ebys had a smaller car and had a
real Baptism by fire into the world of ‘field visits’.
By the time we returned from the field we were nearly 2
hours behind schedule. We went on to the
church where we had kept the Bishop waiting (second faux pas) . A ‘greeting’ in this context means a
reception with fantas, food, sitting down, and several speeches back and forth
between him and some of us. It added
another hour to our short visit to the refugees.
We finally saw the refugees at dusk. We had a very good exchange with them. Many of the partners had questions for them
and were interested in the project. When
we finally left it was dark and we got home for dinner about 8pm.
 |
| BICC church and theological school |
I can look back at it and laugh now. I think I will even miss these kinds of
fiascos. Sometimes miscommunication is
intentional here, I have come to see how it is used to get some advantage
somehow. The visit to the refugees was
still worth it, but I was reminded that it is hard to get and communicate
accurate (truthful) information through direct conversation here. I am almost always told what I want to here,
even after this much time.
We left the retreat on Saturday morning and got home mid
afternoon.
 |
| Basket race |
For our family the day was not over as there was a big
church picnic and gathering to say good bye to people leaving for the
summer. We were expected to be there
because we were leaving soon and were getting honorable mention. Another couple leaving at the same time as us
from the church was Peter and Linda Taylor (who I have blogged about
before).
There were games, a bouncy castle, and briochettes for a
snack. We had a nice moment of recognition.
The kids were even pretty good despite having to delay their arrival
back at their house. We did announce
our actual leaving date and had a chance to say goodbye to some who will be
gone over the summer.
This week is busy with orientation of the Stoner Ebys and I
am heading up to Gitega with them. I
have no doubt the month of June will fly by.
We are tiring but relieved to have completed the partners retreat, one
of our last big events that needed to be planned and executed well. I think the open discussion about transition,
particularly the relocation of the Rwanda Burundi program office to Kigali
(have I mentioned that here?) was able to be explained clearly. Generally I sense more anticipation than fear
about the future from our partners, and that is good.
Bonus Photo of the whole group of parnters and service workers this year at our retreat. An awesome team!
No comments:
Post a Comment