Revising History on Safari

I think the cheetah was the height of the game park experience but I have tons of great photos of other animals as well.

History repeats itself.  True enough, but only the really clever folks try to anticipate and improve upon it when it comes around a second or third time.  Actually I find that things come around in epicycles of varying lengths.   Our whole vacation is a repeat of the one we took 4 years ago, with some similarities and a few improvements.  (past post about these places) But there is a much bigger cycle of synchronicity that has occurred in the past week that mirrors oddly earlier events in Rebecca’s life.  With that let us begin in the moment and let this story spiral its way out. 

Four years ago, we spent our first summer in Africa after taking our MCC assignment.  We had decided not to go home that year and made a plan to have a vacation in Africa that would let us get away a bit from Burundi and our work.  Rebecca’s parents had planned a visit and with them we booked, on the recommendation of others a double vacation in Kenya—the first several days were spent in a game park lodge near Mt. Kenya called Sweet-waters, and the second half off the coast in a town near Malindi at a resort called Turtle Bay Beach Club. 

I guess I needn’t say that we enjoyed it the first time since we have repeated the same adventure with a few changes.  First, we have come a month earlier, in July instead of August, which does make a difference as it is not quite high season so both places have less guests.  The other big difference was the company.  The last time Rebeca’s parents accompanied us, and this time her brother and sister-in-law’s family came along.  They have been planning to visit us in Africa during our assignment here and joined us in Burundi for a week before we went together to Kenya. 

We arrived in Nairobi on Friday.  The flight from Burundi is short although we had to be ready to go fairly early in the morning.  I admit that we left the house in a bit of a state after the many parties, ending in Oren’s Birthday that we hosted in the past several weeks. 

We had booked rooms at the Mennonite Guest House in Nairobi which feels like a retreat in itself for those of us at MCC.  The climate in Nairobi is so pleasant the grounds of the guesthouse are beautiful with many things to do for the kids, especially swinging on a high tree swing and climbing trees.

We got settled in and played on the grounds in the afternoon before going as a group to a nearby Indian restaurant.  We went to bed fairly early as we had another early start the next day to go to Sweetwaters, in the Ol Pejeta Game park. 

The timing of the drive to Sweetwaters brings us to the second larger cycle of synchonicity that I made reference to.  The date was June 29^th, which happened to be the actual date of Oren’s 8^th Birthday.  Because we knew we would be traveling that day we had decided to celebrate earlier in Bujumbura with a party with his Burundi friends.

But the purpose of the party in Burundi was more profound as Rebecca had had a similar experience.  It was on her 8^th Birthday that her parents had decided to take a trip to Kenya (from the US) to go on safari.  They were taking advantage of the fact that they knew a family residing there, (the Mosleys!)  My dad and Rebecca’s dad have been professional colleagues since our childhood and our families have been friends for years.  (I do remember their family staying with us in Nairobi then for a couple days.)

While going on safari for one’s 8^th Birthday might seem like the best gift ever, in fact, for an 8 year old girl, the experience of bouncing along in a landrover rather than having a cake and presents with one’s friends at home, was disappointing to say the least.  Rebecca’s memory of the trip was somewhat scarred by her 8 year old diminished expectations of her Birthday, and she remembers being sullen and petulant during the whole trip to this day.

It was for this reason that she was insistent on having a real Birthday party for Oren prior to going, so he would not feel slighted. 

kids at the watering hole

So with the opportunity to improve on history we started on our venture to Sweetwaters.  We arrived in the early afternoon and got checked in.

The ‘hotel’ at Sweetwaters is actually a tented camp in front of a watering hole in the middle of the game park.  It is run by the Serena hotel so when I say tent, I am talking about a 5 star tent with a working toilet, running water, and many other luxury appointments.  It is really awesome and the food in the restaurant is fantastic!

We sat in the restaurant in front of the watering hole the first day and watched animals come and go.  26 giraffes showed up within the first hour of our arrival.

luxury tent

In the afternoon we went on a game drive and saw about a dozen different animals including, impala, waterbuck, eland, hartebeest, several types of gazelle, giraffes, zebra, water buffalo, baboons, rhinos, elephants, and 4 lionesses who were sitting about 5 meters from the car!

We came home to dinner, exhilarated by our good luck.  The last time we had come 4 years ago we had not seen any big cats and here we had seen 4 up close on the first drive.  All of us were exhilarated but Oren that is, who was very sullen and petulant about not having a cake and some presents on his actual Birthday.

Fortunately Rebecca was wise and sympathetic enough to anticipate this and had brought a candle and at dessert stuck it in a piece of cake and he got a present of a wooden water buffalo that he loved.  We sung him Happy Birthday and he was finally happy.  That night he wanted to write a letter to talk about all the things he was thankful for that day and dictated two full pages to Rebecca.

I think he was very fortunate to have a mother as sympathetic to his 8 year old sensibilities as Rebecca who remembered less than fondly her own, oddly identical 8 year old Birthday experience. 

best roller pic I have taken

One thing that is surprising about the Ol Pajeta game park is that it is extremely cold at night even though it sits directly on the equator.  It is about 6000 feet in altitude and gets down into the low 50s at night.  Fortunately the beds have comforters and the staff puts a hot water bottle into them about an hour before bedtime.

The next morning we went on another game drive and saw everything I had mentioned before.  The elephants were so close we could practically reach out the roof of the mini-van and touch them. 

Baraka the blind rhino

We did get to pet a blind rhino named Baraka that was kept in captivity because of his condition.  David was thrilled to be able to feed him hay.  We also learned a lot about animal conservation and how the park is being shared with cattle herders to improve soil fertility for grasses on the savannah. 

Again we saw predators including more lions who practically climbed over our cars, their paws still bloody from the kill they had just eaten.  We also saw jackals and vultures eating the remains of some prey.

We spent the afternoon at the water hole again and went out for our last evening drive hoping to see a leopard or a cheetah.  Toward the end of our drive we were not disappointed.  Another group had spotted a cheetah and we went over and saw it from a distance.  Fortunately we could see the direction it was moving and drove down a road that would eventually intercept it.  Sure enough, after about 20 minutes the cheetah emerged and crossed directly behind our vehicle as it stalked some nearby gazelle.  It was really fantastic to see one so close.

It was a fantastic game park experience, and we all left feeling extremely fortunate to have seen so many amazing animals.  I think for Miriam and Gabriel, the cousins from the US, seeing the animals in the wild was a truly exhilarating and unforgettable experience.

We had to leave early the next morning to take the 4 hour drive back to Nairobi and went directly to the airport to catch a short flight down to the coast to Malindi.  From there we took a 30 minute cab ride to the town of Watamu where the Turtle Bay Beach Resort is located. 

kids on the beach at turtle bay

This place is really unique in a very different way.  It is in a beautiful location next to a coral reef sanctuary, along a white sand beach.  It has gorgeous gardens, 3 swimming pools, and many, many activities.  But the most impressive feature is the very labor intensive hospitality.  The food is great and included in the package, as well as many beverage extras, there are staff who run a kids club with activities throughout the day.  In the evening the kids have their own dinner and a movie leaving the parents a chance to have an adult dinner on their own. 

We have really enjoyed that, and spent time talking with Paul and Gwendolyn and playing some card games with them (a new one called San Juan). 

During the days we swim, relax, walk on the beach (where you can see moray eels in rock pools at low tide), go kayaking, and snorkeling.  Paul and I went snorkeling once at the coral reef preserve and we are taking the whole group today.

We have one more full day here before heading back to Nairobi where our families will split and go our separate ways.  Actually it is a bit more complicated as they will take our kids with them back to the US and we will follow them 10 days later after wrapping up some work in Rwanda and Burundi.  We do have some separation anxiety about sending the kids without us, but we know they will be in excellent hands on the trip and going into the awaiting arms of loving grand parents.

A Narnian 8th Birthday and a Visit to Gihosha

Feeding the Grey Parrots at Club du Lac Tanganyika with Paul and Gwendolyn's family.

As I look at the hour I realize the urgency of getting at least something down for this week as we start a new adventure at 7 am tomorrow morning.  Yes, the first of two vacations begins in the morning when our family and the family of Rebecca’s brother Paul jet off together to Kenya for a week of safari and beach.

If you read the last entry you will know that I ended with their arrival, so for the last 8 days or so we have been hosting them here.  Despite the fact that life is a bit hectic at the end of the academic year--especially this year with so many of our friends leaving, we are actually really delighted to have them with us. 

Miriam joining Oren's soccer team for a game.

Although their kids are each slightly older than their counterparts, they play together very well, and have enjoyed participating in the activities that our kids have been doing.

Paul and Gwendolyn last Wednesday in the afternoon.  This is a trip that has been in the planning since we got here, practically.  It was decided that they would come close to our final year when their kids were old enough to enjoy it, and it seems hard to believe we have reached that time. 

We began last week by taking them sight seeing around Bujumbua a bit.  We started with some lake front restaurant like Cercle Nautique and Bora Bora.  They enjoyed tasting some of the local fare, especially the bottles of pop we get here—coke, Fanta (orange and lemon), with the taste of real cane sugar!!

The kids liked the pool and the beaches, but enjoyed our house as well where they have been incessantly jumping on the trampoline. 

Friday, Rebecca took everyone to the zoo.  I thought the cousins would be a bit squeamish but was surprised to hear that they had bought not one but two guinea pigs--one to feed to the leopard and the other a crocodile.  It is really amazing to an American that this is a petting zoo since you are welcome to pet absolutely anything.  The chimpanzee (Kita) enjoyed being fed peeled peanuts right into her mouth.  A French herpetologist was visiting and took out the Gaboon viper and let everyone touch it.  All in all it was quite an experience for the Americans, but they seemed to be into it.

The weekend was busy with social events including our last yoga class for the year.  (I actually videoed it and was going to offer it as a free work-out class to anyone interested.)   It was a bit sad because we are saying good-bye to a very good couple from the UN who we will miss very much.  They have hosted us regularly at their house which has a beautifully picturesque porch and garden.

Teri_Lynn as well as our other Salter Janelle were both there.  (Teri-Lynn from upcountry) as well as Jennifer Price and Melody.  That was 4 MCCers besides Rebecca and I.

Melody was down from upcountry because her sister was arriving in town, and Teri-Lynn had just finished teaching classes for the year.  All the guests has meant our house is quite full and Jennifer had to absorb the surplus at her place where Janelle has been living since her visa refusal in Rwanda.

yoga crew

After yoga, Rebecca and I went with our family to our Danish friends the Spanner’s house for another brunch.  This was a final good-bye party for them.  We brought the kids and Paul and Gwendolyn along as well.

The food was exquisite at their party with many European offerings.  It was a big gathering with many friends.  It was probably a bit awkward for Rebecca’s brother’s family but they were gracious and the kids seemed to be able to join in games pretty well with the other children.

In the late afternoon-evening we went to the beach and then to Ubuntu restaurant for dinner.  It was a very full day.

Naja's brunch

Sunday we went to church where the sermon was quite prophetic, in challenging the church not to follow, but lead on issues of justice in the country.  The pastor has some poignant examples of where the church has failed to do so, and it was hard medicine to swallow as a listener.  I did feel challenged to do better in as much as I can.

We spent the entire afternoon at home preparing for Oren’s Birthday Party, which was to take place on Monday.  Preparations were done by all and involved getting costumes made (It was a Narnia themed party), building a piniata, making a cake, plan games, writing out a treasure hunt, etc.

In the evening we had our last small group for the summer.  It was great to have everyone here who is still around.  We had a very good discussion about the message and a meaningful prayer time as many of us will not see each other for several months.  Others are still uncertain about what the future holds for the next half of the year.

Monday, the kids started their last week of school.  While they were there, we continued to get ready for the party planned for that afternoon.  There was also a fair amount of office work that needed to be done as our vacation has been rapidly approaching. 

We picked up the kids after school and by 3pm Oren’s friends started to arrive for his 8^th Birthday party.  (This is actually about a week early because we will not be here on the actual day.) 

The preparations paid off!  We started off with a costume parade and I was impressed by what the kids wore.  David and Oren who had had the most time for preparation were probably the most elaborately dressed with David as Tumnus the Faun, (complete with little leather pants and a goat hair goatee!)

Oren was a minotaur and he finally got to wear his helmet and wield his sword and battle axe.  He also had a goat skin covering on his chest and back to make him look more bovine. 

He really enjoyed leading the parade.  There were several Princess Lucies and Susans and little Grace Guillbaud was a fetching White Witch.  There were also an Edmond and Peter, two Aslands  (Isabel Van Aarde was one of them.).  We were missing Reepicheep (We needed you Samuel Miller!) 

After the parade we played 2 rounds of musical thrones to find the true High Kings and Queens of Narnia.  There were so many kids (22), we did an older and younger group. 

After that we played a kind of bowling game where the kids had to knock down enemy Telmarine soldiers.  It was a good math game as they had to multiply their scores after 2 turns.

The treasure hunt was next and there were two paths for two teams, one francophone one Anglophone to find the missing Birthday presents and party favors which had been captured by a Telmarine raiding party.  Both groups really got into following the clues.

When they were found Oren opened the presents and was thrilled to find several lego sets and even a small microscope.  This was followed by Bithday cake.  Rebecca had cleverly designed a cake in the shape of a hill with Asland on top standing beside the broken stone tablet.  (made of white chocolate.)  Here is a picture of what it looked like. 

We all enjoyed cake and other snacks.  It was great to see all the kids again, especially because some will not be here next year with us. 

The party ended with a piniata.  I also made this in the shape of the stone tablet and put a seam in it to split down the middle when hit from the top.  It did prove to be quite tough though and every kid got a shot at smashing it before it finally broke open.

We felt good about the party when it was over and Oren really seemed happy with it.  He really has a lot of friends, mzungus and Burundians, boys and girls.  We actually could not possibly have invited them all.

piniata

As we looked over the wrecked house shortly afterwards, we did have the feeling that we had had one social event too many, but this is one you cannot pass by.  Birthday parties mean so much to Oren and he loves the preparation as much as the party itself. 

Fortunately we had a lot of help cleaning up as Teri-Lynn was still here as well as Paul and Gwendolyn.  We had a quiet evening that night after clean up.

Tuesday we planned to head upcountry to take Paul and Gwendolyn on a sight-seeing tour of some tourist attraction as well as some of our work projects.  We were actually nine in the car when we started out since Teri-Lynn hitched a ride up with us to Burasira. 

We stopped outside Gitega at the town Gihosha.  It is the place where drums are made for traditional Burundian drumming.  We had a tour and heard the story about how the King of Burundi had sought refuge there.

After hearing the story, we were treated to a show by one of the finest traditional drum corps in Burundi.  It was an awesome show, about half an hour long.  I got some of the best photos of drummers I have ever had.

We left in the late afternoon and continued on to Burasira where we were staying the night at the Grand Seminaire near the Hope School.

I was stunned to see that they have actually paved the road all the way there (coming from the Ngozi side.)  The changes in infrastructure in the area make it all seem far less remote.

Teri-Lynn showed us here house and joined us for supper at the Seminary where we stayed the night.

We woke up to find it quite cool in the morning.  We had a nice breakfast (homemade bread and guava jam and avocados) then headed up the school.

Classes are currently not in session but we took Paul and Gwendolyn’s family up through the Batwa quarter and to the school where we met Beatrice the coordinator of education.

There were some kids hanging around kicking around a soccer ball made of old plastic bags.  Miriam and Gabriel joined in the game while Rebecca did an interview of a couple of the kids for an MCC report.

It is always amazing, in talking to the kids, just to find out how poor they are.  Really buying something like a bar of soap is often completely out of reach for some of their families.

Teri-Lynn with one of her kindergartners

This year the 10^th grade has one Batwa girl in it, a major feat in itself considering that girls are not encouraged to go beyond 6^th grade.  They had taken their national tests but the results were not in.  I know success is unlikely but I am praying that she might be able to continue with her studies.

We left letters from pen-pals and picked up some others and headed back down to Bujumbura after lunch.  We were one person lighter as Teri-Lynn stayed up in Burasira.  It is quite interesting to see her more at ease after teaching for a year here.  Kids at the school love her, especially the little ones.  She even finished an English language curriculum for every level from M1 through 7^th grade.  Quite a feat for one year.

We arrived back in Bujumbura in the early evening on Wednesday.  Oren and David had their last day of school on Thursday.  They were content to go and say good bye.  Rebecca and I also said some final good byes to friends (The Spanners and Hoffmans) during the day.  We have known both of these families most of the past 5 years.

Now we are completing our monthly financial report and packing into the wee hours.  I will write again in about 9 days, after our Kenya vacation.

Sustaining Hope

Mama Gogol, one of the beneficiary farmers of our food security projects.

Sometimes I am compelled to invite those who follow this blog regularly behind the scenes into the work we do here.  While some readers are all too familiar with the world of development, there are definitely some of you that might have a hard time picturing what we really do with ourselves much of time.  Looking back over the past several months, we certainly seem busy, and also appear to have had a heavy social calendar, but it does not give a really good picture of how we spend our work hours.

For many who knew us when we left our home and jobs in the US 5 years ago to take an assignment with MCC as ‘missionaries’ with a  Christian humanitarian aid organization, I can imagine a certain image of what we would be doing that we probably projected ourselves.  That is, a kind of compassion-driven flinging-of-oneself-off-the-cliff-of-reality into the abyss of abject poverty.  A place peopled with orphans, widows, and vacant-eyed, forgotten, Africans clamoring to be touched by the bright torch of our loving faith.  Our salaries would largely be paid in smiles from those who received our hugs, and who's tears we wiped away, as we meet their small needs for the basics: shoes, soap, small change, and candies pressed into the eagerly outstretched hands of hungry children.  

Probably overstated, but the point is I do not think there is a sense of much of what I would call a left brained rationality to the work we do.  Ultimately it  is a heart thing. 

While I do want to affirm the importance of being resolved in one’s heart about the step to work overseas in this field, I would want to change the image of this work to bring hope as entirely an activity of the heart--hugging, affirming, impulsively giving stuff away, or even Evangelization. 

The first thing one realizes after spending more than a few months in a place, is that, in fact, there are very few ‘forgotten’ people.  The very rich and very poor live here in highly complex social relations, and it is often these very relations that are keeping them in their difficult situations, but taking them out, would often be worse.  One realizes quickly the struggle against poverty is more about justice than compassion.  It is not atypical to go through a phase of anger as one butts up against what I call the obduracy of poverty.   Even those most negatively impacted by it seem completely ensconced by their own rational choices.

 I think it is important to work in such a context long enough to move beyond naïve pity, anger, despair, and into a mindset that prepares one for the long hard slog into the world of ‘development’.  I feel that getting to this place is not an abandonment of faith but rather a deeper affirmation of it.  This is the real road to Calvary.  It is far different than being willing to throw oneself off the cliff and burn-out after a few months.

PMEL.  That is an acronym too familiar to those of us who work in development projects.  It stands for Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning.  It is the backbone of all the work that Rebecca and I do here, be it in providing humanitarian aid, peacebuilding, education, or development. It is definitely more of a head thing than a heart thing!

The idea is that if we want to have an impact we have to think small, not big.  We are no longer here to save the world, we are here to help say: 22 rural savings groups to learn an improved agricultural techniques in order to improve their crop yields by 20% per year over a 3 year period. 

This may sound a bit pedantic, but following-up, understanding the reasons for success and failure, helps us plan better the next time, or be able to replicate good results in a future project.  Changes are not measured in lives transformed but in how many meals per day a family is eating as a result of the work, or how much shorter the ‘hunger-gap’ is between harvest seasons. 

We plan, we implement, then we watch, we record, we adapt, and we plan again.  Little by little we hope to see some measurable progress.  Many of the project ‘seeds we sow’ we will not be around long enough to reap.  Change can happen over a decade, and may not be a steady path upward, but rather truncated over time.

Cassien showing a contour line to Mike.

I am writing this because I spent much of last week on a field visit evaluating the project of one our partners.  The partner is one of our high capacity ones and implements a large food security project based on the input of ‘food for work’.  The premise is that in the communities where they are intervening there are many people who are so poor that they eat a meal or less per day.  To improve their situation, our partner has created a program where they are invited to work---a day of work provides a kilo of rice and a kilo of beans, and is enough to feed a family of 6 for one day.  This is offered every day for the duration of the project (3 years).  The project provides enough food to feed several hundred workers per day from a pool of about 800.

The payment in food provides some short-term food security, but the goal of longer term food security is related to the projects upon which they work.  Most of it is watershed management.  Burundi is built on hills and low soil fertility because of run-off is a huge problem leading to very low yields.  The food-for-work crews planted trees on high lands, built 40 kilometers of contour lines this year to trap water and soil, and slow erosion, and rehabilitated roads leading to markets.

Our group visiting beneficiaries in Mabanda
recent returnees from Tanzania.

The work is impressive, particularly the contour lines.  For those who have not seen them, they are like a terrace only not as extreme.  They are a series of low trenches that follow the contours of the hill.  Above them grasses and trees are planted.  They trap the topsoil that runs off In the rain and it is put back on the field above.  They usually do about 15 lines of 250 meters coming down the hills.

The improvement of watershed management allows for better yields and contributes to longer term food security.  So this project uses a short term food relief input to improve longer term food security.

It is not exactly Jesus feeding the 5000, but it is a more sustainable way to address the problem of people not being able to grow enough to eat on a regular basis.

Mike and Matt puzzling over the cause of very poor
maize yield from a recent harvest.

A group of about 12 of us went out for3 days last week to see several of these Help Channel projects.  The main VIPs were two people from Winnipeg: Mike Salomans who works for the Canadian Food Grains Bank (CFGB), and Vurayayi Pugeni from MCC.  Our Help Channel project is funded through CFGB and MCC Canada to the tune of 1.5 million dollars.  So there is definite interest in checking up on the success of this project.

Along with Mike, Pugeni, and I were Matt Gates, our agronomist from Rwanda, Jennifer Price our service worker with Help Channel, Michael Sharp, from Bukavu, one of our advisors named Pacifique, as well as the heads of Help Channel and some support staff.

Matt and Michael tagged along because they wanted to have an idea of what Help Channel was doing, but also because they have their own CFGB funded projects and wanted a chance for some on- on-one time with the visitors.

a contour line planted with grasses and
agroforestry trees.

The trip was fascinating.  We spent days in the fields, evaluating improvement in the soil, the depth and proper maintenance of contour lines, harvest yields, as well as talking to some of the beneficiaries of the project about their sense of improvement in life.

Overwhelmingly we were impressed by what we saw and received much acclaim from those who have been benefitting from the work.

In the evenings we stayed in different guest houses each night, but generally sat and met late into the evening brainstorming, hammering out new proposals, and playing Carcisonne (which Michael really liked to play.)  We returned via the lake coming up from the Southern tip of Burundi back to Bujumbura on Thursday.  Friday was a full day of meetings before our guests left on Saturday.

If I could sum up a field visit in a single adjective, it would have to be 'gritty'.  Long hours in Land Cruisers on dusty roads, then standing in fields in hot sun, sweating, only to come back to a guest house room with no running or cold water gives a pretty accurate picture of the experience.  (Actually on the first night the place we stayed did have hot running water, but I have never seen that before upcountry.)

Rebecca and Felix waiting
outside the bride's house.

I felt the visit went very well but was quite exhausted after the ordeal.  It was nice to have a somewhat quiet weekend as everyone had left by Saturday, but we were truly Burundian in the number of social events we had planned on Saturday.

Rebecca went as our representative to a dowry party for Felix, our program assistant, in the early afternoon.  She has some pictures of her waiting with the grooms family to enter the bride’s house.   She was not even able to stay the whole time as we also had a good-bye party to attend in the evening for our German friends the Hoffman’s.  It was a nice party and Rebecca and I were asked to provide some folk dances for people to do together as a sign of our communal bonds. 

a skit at the party at Hoffman's

The kids went with us and it was a late night, but we did enjoy ourselves there.
Sunday was mercifully normal but we spent most of the afternoon helping Oren study for his comprehensive finals which were to continue up to Wednesday.

Monday was another travel day for me as I headed up to Kigali again.  I am currently in the process of registering MCC officially with the Rwandese government and I had to do quite a few meetings with govt. officials and hire someone temporarily to help us move the process along. 

I stayed with Matt Gates and we did some work on a CFGB proposal as well.  I took the bus up and without a car, did most of my traveling by taxi-moto.  I did fly back on Wednesday though in order to be home on time for a very special event…

THE ARRIVAL OF REBECCA’S BROTHER’S FAMILY!!!  Yes Paul, Gwendolyn, Miriam, and Gabriel arrived in the afternoon, just ahead of me.  Here is a picture of our families at Cercle Nautique today.  More on them later as we will be vacationing with them in Kenya in the near future.