Homecoming

David, Oren, and I at the Kenya National Museum.

I apologize for any haste in writing this entry and delay in getting it on line, but it is late now and I am dead tired. We had a line of visitors today, some making social calls to welcome us back after a long vacation, and others to help pull together last minute plans for our SALTers who are arriving tomorrow (Monday)!

As we are coming to terms with the reality that 3 new workers doubles the size of our team, and consequently our responsibility as well. At this point all of our host families are in place but we still have 3 sets of orientation guides to print and copy, as well as some shopping for food.

Jodi was with us this weekend and suggested that they do a 4 day Kirundi intensive and cultural dive-in at Burasira, so we may be there early next week. A trip to Kigali in the near future is on the docket as well.


Right now, though, it is good to have about a week without any travel. We returned from our vacation and got into Buj late Friday night. We were supposed to land around midday but we had some trouble at the Kenya airport. I will come back to that after I catch you up on the early part of the week.

We returned to Nairobi from the coast on Monday and checked into the Mennonite Guest House there. The guesthouse is simple, but very nice and the large back yard has some great swings for kids as well as opportunity for some excellent bird watching.

We had dinner with some friends of Dave and Jean (from their Bangladesh days) then said our goodbyes as they (Dave and Jean) were going to catch a plane about 5 the next morning.

On Tuesday we had visits to the pediatrician for Oren and David. It was nice to find such modern doctor’s offices that had all the vaccines they needed, and the pediatrician was excellent. We were also a bit taken aback by the price of the visit which was about the same as what we would pay in the US, and not the $5 to $10 doctor visits that we had become accustomed to in Burundi.

Wednesday was dentist day and all of us went to the dentist. This was probably the most modern, high-tech, dental office I have seen anywhere in the world, and was located in a very upscale mall. Again, we were quite shocked by the very high cost of a check up and cleaning for Rebecca, Oren and I, but were glad to see that there are places here where one can get very good dental and even orthodontic care.

We spent the rest of the day shopping for supplies in the Westgate Mall. This mall lacked nothing that could be bought in the US, and it was honestly a bit surreal to remember that we were in Kenya. Just to illustrate my point: we treated ourselves to lunch at a very nice Japanese sushi restaurant, and later had Greek food for dinner at the food court.

On Thursday we took in some sights, namely the Kenya National Museum, which has a ‘snake park’ attached to it. We chose to do the snake park only and had the chance to see many of the venomous snakes that live in East Africa up close. There are some very scary snakes here including, puff adders, Gabon vipers, cobras, and the dreaded green mambas, and black mambas. They also had crocodiles and turtles. (Although unlike Burundi, you can’t jump in the cages with crocodiles and pull their tails or feed them guinea pigs.)

We visited the Kenya MCC office for lunch on Thursday and later had dinner with a young MCC couple, Jonathan and Marti, who have two kids about the age of our own. He is an artisan and works to build the capacity of local artisans in Kenya, especially to help them develop design ideas, and quality control to be competitive in a world market. It was great to meet them, (they were good friends of Zachee, Bridget and Tim, as well as our predecessors Doug and Deanna Hiebert.) We had dinner with them and shared an Ethiopian meal at a restaurant reputed to have the best Ethiopian food in Kenya. I would have to say it is probably true. The food was awesome.

Jonathan also confirmed to us what we had been told by others, that Nairobi was becoming a very dangerous place to live due to banditry. Many expats have been mugged, car jacked or had their houses broken into. The former MCC country rep was even shot in a robbery. This is very sad as, to me, it is indicative of the rapidly growing and expanding upper class, and worsening maldistribution of prosperity in the country. This is a trend that is reflected elsewhere in Africa and much of the rest of the world.

In Nairobi it is quite astonishing to see people desperate in slums and shanty towns in such close proximity to the luxury malls I described above. I just don’t think this type of development is sustainable, even though many would argue that Kenya is a model of the African free-market model. If wealth is not redistributed in some way, I think there will be a continued and worsening trend of violence and rebellion. The first hints of this emerged in the elections a year ago.

I would add, however, that having come from Burundi, I was struck by the pride of the Kenyan people. There is something about them that is evident on a psychological level that I do not see among Burundians. There is a confidence, a spirit of entrepreneurship, hope for the future, and a sense of self worth that I think the years of trauma and civil war has bred out of many in Burundi. I think Kenyans see themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the world. This is reflected in their producing of champion marathoners, their country which is arguably one of the most beautiful and exciting tourist attractions in the world, and even the personal pride they seem to take in Obama’s presidency.

When we talked to Kenyan, be they doctors, or taxi drivers, I really noticed that they were very friendly and polite, but not self effacing. We were not stared at because we were Mzungus, or really seen as anything particularly special in Nairobi. In Burundi, I feel I am treated somewhat differently. There is far more undeserved deference and a sense of awe that I seem to experience in my interactions with many Burundians. I have no doubt that this is due to the different histories of these two countries. Kenya has been a bulwark of stability and peace in the region and Burundi has been mired in violence due to ethnic division.

I am generalizing here as there are certainly exceptions to this rule on both sides, but it was interesting to notice this, having spent time with people in these different countries.

We prepared to leave Nairobi on Friday morning. It was sad to have our vacation end, but we were ready to get back to our home in Bujumbura at this point. We got to the airport with our many bags (including an extra one that Papa Dave and brought with him of supplies for us.) and got through the ticketing process with minimal difficulty, although we were a bit late and only had about 30minutes before the plane took off.

I had a slight pang of suspicion that something was not right when the agent sent us to the gate area but told us they had not announced a gate yet. He did tell me that the plane was not listed as delayed though. We got to the gate area and waited for an announcement or listing for out gate, but as the time for departure came and went, it never appeared.

Not only that, but the departure board subornly did not acknowledge that it was delayed or cancelled. I did notice, however, (it was noon now) that every single flight on Kenya airways since 7 am had been delayed or cancelled. In essence nothing from Kenya airways had taken off at all the entire morning. I looked outside to see if there was a storm or other weather problem--nothing, I speculated that maybe there was a bomb scare, but surmised that there was probably a strike that began that morning that was trying to be kept quiet by the airport authorities.

This was confirmed when Rebecca went up to ask and got a sneak peak a memo to that effect on the info desk. Interestingly enough, no official at the airport ever said a word about it, and seemed to be trying the strategy of keeping everyone in the dark about it as long as possible.

With our flight in limbo it was hard to know how to proceed. It was not delayed or cancelled, but it was not on time either. We waited for several more hours and were trying to see if they could rebook, but they did announce our flight for a later time that day. We had no confidence that it would leave but no choice but to wait and see.

To make a long story short, after many more hours of stall tactics and shunting us around to different places, we did get on our flight that evening and got home about 9pm, 12 hours after we had arrived at the airport in Kenya.

It is sad to have such a great vacation come to an end. One thing I value about a vacation is the opportunity to reset. Even more than the great sites, was the chance to put back into practice, good habits of self care and spiritual discipline. Rebecca and I were able to swim most every morning, read the Bible, and eat healthily. I am coming back renewed and refreshed, and committed to trying to be more wholistic in balancing work, family and self care. This first week back we are already having to break some of those resolutions as we frantically get ready for our new team members arriving.

That said, we are glad to be back, everything here is coated in a thick layer of dust. I am looking forward to the rainy season here!

A week in Paradise: Coral Reefs, Coastal Forests, and Worship under the Cashew Trees

Papa Dave, Rebecca, Oren and David at the Nairobi airport waiting for our flight to the coast for our last week of vacation.




If you are following this blog regularly, you know that Rebecca and I are currently on vacation with Rebecca’s parents, Dave and Jean, and we have just left three days of safari in Northern Kenya to spend a week along the coast north of Mombasa near a town called Malindi. (The Indian Ocean borders the whole east coast of Kenya for those who are geographically challenged.)

The place we are staying is called Turtle Bay Beach Club, and it is far and away one of the nicest places I have ever stayed (as far as vacation accommodations) in my life. The place came highly recommended to us as very beautiful AND family-friendly with lots of activities for the kids. We have not been disappointed!

I am putting a picture in here, but to capture the beauty of this place would take a photo album. There are so many amazing features, but much of the daily activity is focused around an enormous swimming pool (one of three) which sits about 100 yards off the beach. By day, there is opportunity to swim, eat sumptuous food, play darts, table tennis or water polo, or simply join the other sun worshippers reading books and dozing around the pool. Or, one could walk behind the wall onto the powder white sand beach and enjoy sitting under or climbing the expansive mangrove trees, wind surfing, sailing, canoeing, exploring ponds filled with eels, watching sea turtles, going deep sea fishing, or snorkeling through one of the most fish-filled coral reefs in the world.

Rebecca and I opted for snorkeling on Thursday and took an excursion (for birding) into the Arabuko-Sokoke forest on Saturday. I will give a brief account of each of these excursions, although I do not have pictures because I do not have a camera that goes underwater or a telephoto lens powerful enough to shoot wildlife unless it is very large or very nearby (or both).

I should begin by mentioning one trip earlier in the week that we were able to take as a whole group (grandparents and kids included). We visited the Gede ruins, an old Swahili trading town from the 15th Century that was apparently abandoned at some point in the 17th century due to a lack of water and political competition. The ruins are interesting and Oren enjoyed running around the broken and partial walls of the remaining structures. Much to our chagrin, he quickly made his favorite activity peering into the ancient wells that are quite dry and about one hundred feet deep. He made a thorough search of all the grounds to be able to look into as many wells as possible. This required us to hold him thrashing by the hand for much of the excursion.

Next door was a much less threatening nature center which housed 100s of species of indigenous butterflies in a giant aviary. Butterflies from Kenya are exported all over the world to collectors and zoos (while they are cocoons). I had no idea there was so much opportunity for income generation through the butterfly trade, but many local community members benefit as they are involved in capturing them in the forest and raising larvae in their homesteads. We found that this area has numerous projects aimed at finding ways for the community to generate income sustainably so that they can value and protect the neighboring forests and marine park. In the midst of poverty, with such pressure for fuel and food, it’s refreshing to see people working hard to save the natural habitats for the long-term (utterly impossible to imagine in Burundi so far).

On the way home from this trip we visited a fair-trade wood carving facility and bought some really beautifully carved animals. Oren enjoyed watching the carvers make and paint the animals. He is quite a shopper and was asking everyone he met how much their wares cost and was prepared to strike a bargain for most everything. (This delighted the merchants but was a bit of a challenge for the parents who had to diplomatically say ‘No’. Over and over and over.)

Wednesday was spent enjoying the pool and working vigorously on teaching Oren how to hold his breath under water. This has been a point of concern for us because he has no instinct for this, and in fact usually inhales suddenly when his face hits the water. He has been somewhat stubborn about learning to hold his breath, but the good news is that we finally made a breakthrough this week and he can put his head underwater without drowning. The next step is swimming although that will have to wait until we are back in Burundi.

On Thursday the Grandparents agreed to watch the kids so Rebecca and I could go snorkeling. There is a weekly expedition from the hotel guided by a zoologist who is quite good. We learned a lot about the reef before we even left the hotel. The reef is like the barrier reef in Australia in that one has to take a boat quite far out off the coast (in low tide) to get to it. Once there you can go in the water and snorkel along quite long walls of coral, filled with tropical fish that are able to grow unusually large because of the peculiar conditions of temperature and current here. (The groupers can get up to 12 feet long.)

We saw many beautiful angel fish, butterfly fish, surgeon fish, parrot fish and a moray eel. This was Rebecca’s first snorkeling experience and she found it magical to just float above such an incredible array of sizes and shapes and colors. It was much like bird watching – except easier! We also learned that white sand beaches are all created by parrotfish, which chew up and digest coral. They apparently expel about a kilogram a day each. Since there are approximately 50,000 around the reef near us, they produce about 50 tons of sand per day. Consequently they have added many miles of land to the coast over the past several thousand years. Our guide also pointed out, indelicately, that everything we were sitting or walking on from the coast to several miles inland, had passed through the intestines of a parrotfish.

On Friday, Rebecca and her Mom took a bird walking trip around the neighboring village down to the mangrove swamps. Their guide recommended we do a trip into the one-of-a-kind Arabuko-Sokoke forest. This place is unique in that it is one of the few remaining protected dry coastal forests in the world. It is home to many unique indigenous species of flora and fauna, particularly birds and butterflies (over 250 species of each!). The forest is also home to about 80 elephants and their diminutive cousins, the secretive elephant shrews.

Rebecca and I once again took up the grandparents’ generous offer to baby-sit the kids so we could go on a 4 hour guided trek into the forest. The trip started out extremely well as we immediately caught sight of an extremely rare spotted ground thrush right when we got out of the car. This was followed shortly by our happening upon a small group of elephant shrews who scurried around on the path in front of us for about 15 minutes. FYI, the elephant shrew has a long snout, black body, yellowish-brown backside, and looks to be the size of a small dachshund.

We also saw several other species of birds including a Narina trogon and several varieties of hornbills. The forest itself is unusual, filled with beautiful indigenous trees with fancifully twisting limbs reaching out into a broad, light canopy. It was a really great outing and we had the sense that we had been blessed by this rare opportunity to see such a rare natural wonder of the world. Sadly we were told that efforts to protect this forest are ongoing as there are many who would like to convert it into farmland and other profitable real-estate.

On Sunday we decided to visit a local church that Rebecca and Jean had seen in a nearby village (outside the resort) on their bird walk. The sign they had read said the English service began at 9:15 and ended at 10:15. Despite our best efforts, we were not able to get out of the hotel until about 9:15 and started the twenty minute walk to the church. About half an hour in, we guessed we had taken a wrong turn and got directions back to the path we were supposed to be on. It was close to 10 when we arrived, but, thanks to African sense of time, instead of being 45 minutes late, we were 5 minutes early! The congregation actually met outdoors underneath 2 cashew trees. The singing, all a cappella, was beautiful (all in Swahili). There was an opening sermon followed by more singing and then an extended period of prayer.

I am used to hearing this kind of group prayer where everyone says their own prayers out loud, but I have not often seen it build to a place where much of the congregation (30 people) were weeping openly. I pictured this scene multiplied all over Africa and much of the rest of the world. People crying out to God, praising, worshipping, and calling out to Him, and I believe it gives Him pleasure to hear this praise and adoration.

I did think about the fact that I have rarely prayed myself to the point of weeping, but then, I thought about the fact that my life has been so privileged, and mercifully free of tragedy and hardship, that I have not ever come before him on my knees and surrendered in quite such an abandoned way. I do feel like something is missing for me because of that, although, having seen the appalling hardship and tragedy that so many in this part of the world endure, I don’t know if I would be able to pay the price for that kind of expression. I did feel blessed by being able to share in worship with this community, and they were delighted to welcome us. (We did duck out before the beginning of the second sermon as the kids were getting quite antsy and it looked to be going on for several more hours.)

We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing on the beach and swimming in the pool. Rebecca and I have also been enjoying daily early morning swims. I really feel like I have recovered a lot of my health and physical, as well as spiritual, well-being from this trip.

Monday we head back to Nairobi where Dave and Jean will depart for the US. We will spend several more days visiting doctors, dentists and possibly other MCCers, then head back to Bujumbura on Friday.

Here is a photo of some Masaai performing at the hotel. They can jump really high repeatedly, like kangaroos! Very impressive!

Sweetwaters, Swimming, and A Room of One’s Own?

David is the great animal lover of the family. Here he is saying goodbye to Bella before we departed for vacation.




As paradoxical as this might sound, I am starting this blog entry from a luxury TENT. And if you find the concept of a luxury tent hard to grasp, you might find it even more oxymoronic that I am freezing my A…err fingers off despite the fact that I am sitting exactly on the equator in July!

Actually I am with Rebecca, her parents (Papa Dave and Grandma Jean), Oren and David at Sweet Waters, a resort Safari lodge located in Northern Kenya. The rooms are tents, but extremely well appointed tents, underneath thatch roofs. They form a semi-circle around a watering hole on a game reserve with Mount Kenya as a backdrop. It is called Sweet Waters, and at the risk of sounding like an advertisement from the Kenya Office of Tourism, I would have to say it is quite amazing.

We have taken several safari drives in the park over the past two days and have seen many gazelle including Impala, Grant’s and Thompson’s Gazelle, Oryx, Hartebeast, and Waterbuck. We also aw several Black and White Rhinos, Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, numerous birds, baboons, etc, many of these right outside our tent at the watering hole.

For ‘Burundians’ like Rebecca and I, the experience of arriving in Nairobi is like culture shock. Kenya is so developed compared to Burundi! There is evidently enough of a wealthy urban class to support many large luxurious malls with absolutely anything you could want (bowling alley, movie theatre, kids’ activities, food court and shops), all designed so beautifully and tastefully, that they could compete with malls anywhere..

There are also many things for kids to do, things that I associate with being in the US, like large indoor playgrounds in malls, air houses for bouncing, and waterslide parks. Also, because Kenya was an English colony, the official languages are Swahili and English, and everyone speaks English here.


So how did we get here? Rebecca and I finished off all our last business on Monday. We basically had one day to tie up all the loose ends for two weeks off. Needless to say, many minor crises came up and we were not able to even start packing before Tuesday morning to be ready for our noon flight.

Among the problems we were still in the process of solving was finding housing for our arriving MCC ‘SALT’ workers. Last week I had mentioned the challenge of finding housing for 3 westerners to live with host families in Bujumbura. We had looked extensively, and over the weekend several places we thought would work out fell through. On Monday evening we went to visit the last family we hoped would be able to invite one of the SALTers to stay. We had not met the family before, a mother with three adult children (college age), but we were delighted with the house and the charm of all of them. We talked extensively about the concept MCC has for placement with host families—that we do not want to ‘rent a room’ but rather place a person in a situation as a ‘family member.’

The family seemed amenable to this, and talked about their experience hosting another young woman from Sweden the year before. The daughter of the family seemed particularly interested in the young woman we were bringing in and asked many pertinent questions. Rebecca and I were delighted to have found such a wonderful placement, and right next door to one of our other workers’ host families.

Usually in Burundi one saves the difficult business for the end of a conversation, and I have had many meetings with partners where a quip as we were walking out the door was really the entire reason we had been asked over for a conversation. So I am used to that. Sure enough there was one small catch to this living situation that they let us know about after a full hour of conversation and discussions of logistics, etc.

The mother said to me, as we were leaving (Rebecca was actually outside the door taking a cell phone call) --that she wanted to be sure that the girl we invited would be comfortable staying in her daughter’s room with her daughter and sharing a full size bed with her.

I wish I could have captured on video my effort to stifle any display of shock or disbelief. Perhaps you have had to stifle a sneeze in a public place, and tried to disguise the fact that you even were sneezing…that is kinda how I imagine I looked.

I know it is a cultural thing, but most Americans I know are used to having at least some completely personal space. I am also aware that for most of the rest of this world, that is a huge luxury. Rebecca and I went home, prayed about it, then talked with Jodi about the whole meeting (she had actually gone with us). We decided it would probably be best to lay it all out for the SALTer who we had in mind for the placement and let her decide. We really did think this was a very good situation in all other respects.

Long story short, the day we left, our SALTer wrote back and said she would be willing to give it a try. We will need to be checking in frequently on this situation, but I am optimistic that God will bless this placement especially because of the sacrifice being made by both the family and our worker for the coming year.

With that settled we were free to pack and leave for vacation on Tuesday. Jodi drove Rebecca, Grandma Jean, David, Oren and I to the airport and we got on the plane and took the short flight to Nairobi from Bujumbura without incident. We arrived about an hour ahead of Papa Dave, who was coming to join us for our sojourn in Kenya.

After much planning by email, we had settled on spending the first two days in Nairobi, then 2 days up north in Sweetwaters for a safari, then a week at the beach near Mombasa at a place called Turtle Bay Beach Club. For the most part, this trip was made possible by the grandparents’ frequent flyer miles, and their great generosity prompted by this special rendezvous with their rarely-seen missionary-kid grandchildren. (This is not a trip that could be done on an MCC vacation allowance, but we are very grateful!)

Our first two days in Nairobi were spent at the Methodist guest house. (The Mennonite guest house was full.) I would say ‘guest house’ is a pretty broad term as this was a four story building with about 100 rooms, a restaurant and gift shop. It also had, much to the delight of Rebecca and I, a full size swimming pool for lap swimming! We both love to swim, but it is so hard to get away with two kids to do so. We took full advantage of having the grandparents with us to swim as much as possible in the afternoons we were there.

I could do an aside here on the ‘blessedness’ of swimming. I have to say, there is really nothing quite like the feeling one has right after a long hard swim in a pool. It is interesting, I already have an association with Methodists and swimming, as the swim coach in Poughkeepsie, NY (Ron Terwilliger) is a member of the United Methodist Church where Rebecca and I served. (I swam 'religiously' every Tuesday and Thursday morning the last 2 years I was in Poughkeepsie at the pool he managed.) Anyway, those swims at the Methodist Guest House were every bit as satisfying as a day on safari or at a resort on the beach for me. I should add though that while the equator runs right through Kenya, Nairobi is at an altitude of about 6000 feet, so the water was freezing even in this season!!

Besides swimming, we also went to a mall where Oren could do some kid friendly things that are not possible to do in Burundi. I mentioned the indoor playground and airhouse. He also got to drive an electric car and eat several bowls and cones of ice cream while he was there.

As I complete the blog, we are currently at our next destination, Turtle Bay Beach Club, which I will describe in more detail next week.

One thing I will add as a postscript is the awareness I have on this trip of the disparity between rich and poor in Kenya. We drove out of the highly-developed consumer-friendly areas of Nairobi, crossed the Ring Road, as if we were leaving town, and then were shocked to see low-income housing and slums stretching out for miles. Deep poverty is evident in the countryside as we drove up north, and as we’ve driven along the coast. As we drove to this resort, virtually all the houses we saw were poorly constructed of sticks, mud and thatch. It’s a little hard to relax in luxury with this awareness. There’s a lot of development here, but development for whom? This has led to a phenomenally high crime rate, with frequent muggings and robberies especially in Nairobi, which means we need to be careful about where we go.

This is becoming more and more the story in other countries as well. In Burundi, the day before we left we received a notification from the US embassy that crimes by armed bandits against expatriates are rapidly on the rise. This is due, to some extent, to the fact that a great many former rebels (now demobilized with the signing of the Arusha Peace Accords) find themselves going from a 14-year career as fighters, to being unemployed and unskilled on the street in Bujumbura. Banditry is sadly the peace dividend we are gleaning, at least in the short run.

Vacation Countdown and Parched in the Dry Season

Grandma Jean teaching Oren how to make banana bread. He loves to cook, almost as much as he loves eating!



If I did a poll to determine how many people, in preparing for a two week vacation, ended up being stressed to the point of thinking a vacation isn’t really worth the bother at all, I wonder what I would find? We are in the last two days of preparation for our trip to Kenya, and the ‘to do’ list before leaving is quite daunting. Among the most difficult things is trying to find host families for our three “SALTers”

(SALT is an acronym—sharing and learning together, for an MCC program that invites young singles out of college, to work for a year in a country with MCC.) One of the interesting perks is living with a local host family which allows for a very in depth cultural experience.

It is a great program in theory, but here in Burundi, where everyone, due to the years of war and trauma, all have houses full of orphans and poor relatives, it is hard to find someone with a room and means to host someone for 11 months. The good news is that we have finally been able to identify 3 very interested prospective families, but we now only have one day to work out all the logistics with them. When we get back from vacations, the SALTers will be upon us.

The challenge of a vacation though, is to know when to say, with integrity: “I have done all I possibly can, I will need to trust God with the rest.” I am beginning to think that the most important function of a vacation is to remind us that we are not as irreplaceable as our pride might lead us to believe.

That said: It was a pretty busy week of work and travel. But we did have a chance to do some special things that we enjoy as well.


I have mentioned in an earlier blog that we are in the dry season now, and that means about 3 months without any rain. I would say the worst of it is the amount of dirt and dust on everyone and everything, but I have found something more difficult: water shortages. We have found that the water is cut off everyday for 4-6 hours, beginning about 8am. This has made it very difficult for our staff to clean, wash dishes, or do laundry. We do try to fill buckets in the afternoon and evening and get our showers done before 8 am, but it is rough. Add to that the fact that we do not have power from midnight to 7 am, and now no water in the day, and you can get a sense that life is ‘inconvenienced’ to put it mildly.

We do not have any immediate plans to change the situation in the near future, but if it gets any worse, we are thinking about proposing to the landlord that we use a month of rent to build a water tower.

Grandma Jean has been here this week as well, and in the future, I might advise people to visit us during the rainy seasons. It is not the best side of Burundi that is presented in this season.

We spent the first half of the week in Bujumbura doing work while Oren was at summer school and Jean looked after David. Much of the work was trying to find host families, but we also took care of several bureaucratic matters like paying phone bills and getting car documents so we could travel. I am happy to say that Rebecca has successfully been able to negotiate the bureaucracy in both of these milieus. Her secret? She straps David onto her chest in the front pack and walks into the office. It is really hard for even the most jaded civil service bureaucrat to ignore a mzungu woman with a cooing (or screaming) baby.

We did as much as we could through Wednesday, then on Thursday morning we headed up to Rwanda to check up on our service workers Ruth and Krystan, and our partners. Ruth and Krystan had just come back from orientation in the US and were glad to be back to work again. We enjoyed seeing them and had dinner with them on the first night of our arrival.

I was happy to find that even with Jean in tow, we had no trouble at the border with visas, and passed through without incident. Part of the reason for that is that we go through so often that we actually do know all the border guards on both sides by name. Several of them even have pictures of David on their cell phones!

We stayed at the Africa New Life Guest House, much to Oren’s delight. He loves “Miss Cindy and Jerry-monster” the proprietors and anyone who happens to be there is expected to be a playmate. On this trip, there were about a dozen youth from a church in Arizona that had come for 10 days of work with a local church. They were happy to play with Oren, and, as you can see, Oren engaged one young man extensively in playing his version of cribbage. (Which involves drawing cards then leap-frogging pegs over each other down the board.)

Although I have a nice picture of me with the kids at the hammock in the guest-house, it gives more an impression of relaxation than I actually experienced there. We had a lot of work to do I a short amount of time.

We did, as I said, have the opportunity for several meals out, and this group picture is from our visit to the Rwandan Khanna Kazanna. I am happy to say that both the Kigali and the Bujumbura branches have pucca Indian food! It was a great meal, and we were joined by an old friend of Jean’s who happened to be currently working in Kigali named Shirley Randall. (They were in Bangladesh together for many years, and sang in the same choir.)

We spent Friday and Saturday working and shopping, then headed back to Bujumbura after a 7am church service on Sunday. (It was led by our partner Pastor David Bucura.) We were on the road by 8:30 am and got home in the early afternoon.

At this point, though we are fretting about how to get everything we need to get done and back for 2 weeks in one short day. Please pray that the preparation for vacation does not cause us a nervous breakdown.

I am planning to write blog entries from Kenya in the next 2 weeks, but we will be in some rustic places and a game reserve where I might not have internet, so don’t be surprised if I miss a week or two.

Three Blessings: Malaria, Prison Time, Grandma Jean

I could not resist putting in another picture of David being carried around like a Burundian baby, this time by Marcelline. He really loves to be toted around this way!


I left off last week (our ‘uneventful one’) with a report that Jodi had called that evening from up country to say that she was getting progressively worse and suspected malaria. Innocent, the director of our partner organization that runs the Hope School for the Batwa said he would bring her to Bujumbura the next day. Despite the fact that she did not have a diagnosis, I advised her to start malaria treatment immediately. Generally testing for malaria is notoriously unreliable and one often does not show a positive result when s/he has very obvious and debilitating malarial symptoms, for several weeks.

Jodi got down to us on Monday afternoon complaining of a nearly unbearable headache, and intermittent fever. I was glad to hear she had, on my advice, started the treatment. We had a room made up for her in our house where she could stay as long as necessary. On Tuesday she went for tests, still feeling very bad, and did not get a positive result.

We had our small group Bible study Tuesday evening, and it was really good. After a good discussion of 1 Thessalonians 4, we had a very intense session of intercessory prayer and we prayed for a miraculous healing of Jodi. On Wednesday morning, she woke up and she said she felt weak but well. The headache which she had had for weeks was completely gone. I don’t know if it was the Coartim, or the prayer, or a combination of both, but she was really a different person that day. She stayed with us the rest of the week and went home this morning, but I will come back to that.

The main event this week was the arrival of Grandma Jean (Rebecca’s mom) on Wednesday morning. This was a very exciting event, and one Oren was anticipating greatly. We did take him to school in the morning and went and picked her up and brought her home to unpack several suitcases of goodies (including a replacement camera for the one that broke!). Then we went over to the school to pick him up. He was thrilled to see her and show her his school.

I am glad we have two extra guest rooms as we went from a relatively quiet, guest free week, to a houseful once again. Oren who is quite a socialite, was quite happy to have both ‘Miss Jodi’ and Grandma Jean staying with us. This visit from Jean is in anticipation of our rapidly approaching 3 week vacation in Kenya with Rebecca’s parents.

Wednesday was also another day that I was told by Zenon, that I might be able to obtain permission to go into the central prison in Bujumbura. (I was not optimistic as I had been told this about 6 times before, only to be disappointed.) By noon, though, he was able to confirm that I would be able to go at 3 pm. I asked if I should prepare to say anything, and he said yes, prepare a sermon, I would be the main speaker.

I do thank God for the wonderful refining of the Kairos prison ministry I participated in for several years in New York. It really gave me the faith to trust God in these circumstances to provide the words when there is not adequate time for preparation. Although, I have preached in French at the partners retreat, I was glad that Zenon said he would translate my talk from English directly into Kirundi.

I had about 20 minutes to prepare between getting Oren from school and having lunch, but I was given a message in that time. I felt led to share two stories from the Bible which contrast two encounters with Jesus: The story of Nikodemus in John 3 and the story of Zaccheus in Luke 19. Using these two stories I planned to consider the question: For whom did the Gospel truly sound like good news--- Why, for the righteous and well positioned members of society, it is a hard teaching, but for the marginalized and despised, it is truly a blessing. My conclusion was that it is only when we confront the reality that we have ‘nothing left to lose’ (our true spiritual condition) that we are able to surrender to Him. At the end of the Zaccheus story Jesus says that he “Did not come to call the righteous, but to save the lost.” And at the end of the Nicodemus story he says that he ‘Did not come to condemn the world but to save it.” For the ‘righteous’ Nicodemus being ‘born again’ represented a significant loss of both his social status, education, and identity. For the ‘loathsome’ Zaccheus, the opportunity to be reconciled to God and his community was a joyous prospect

I picked up Zenon and several other people: a pastor named Claver, Ali Blair (whom I have written about before at this link.), and Mary, another long-term missionary and friend of Ally. We took quite a few supplies with us, including a TV to show a video about the life of the prophet Daniel, a generator for electricity to show the film, and several bags of charcoal to share with women in the prison who had to take care of their children there.

We got to the main gate and were in after about 10 minutes. It was interesting to contrast it to the max security facility that I used to go to in Coxsackie, New York. The crimes are no less serious here, but the security here is far more lax. There was no elaborate ID process or metal detection, I was even able to enter without surrendering my cell phone! The main gate enters right into the yard so there is a large crowd loitering about in front of it. There were hundreds of inmates (male and female) milling around the yard as well. We passed through the crowds into an open chapel which had several hundred people who had already begun their worship service.

I do have to take an aside here to say that the singing and dancing in the praise and worship at this prison, was far beyond anything I ever saw in a US prison. (or even in church on the outside.) Except for that detail, little else about it compared positively to the US. This is the central prison for Bujumbura, and it is home to political prisoners, rebel leaders, sex offenders, murderers, pickpockets, and I don’t know what else. They are all in it together and what was somewhat appalling was how much the chapel service looked like the population of a regular church. There were men, women, babies, and many, many children and youth who looked to be between 10 and 13, but were obviously prisoners (and not children of prisoners.)

All of the introductions were in Kirundi as was the singing and announcements. I did my best to introduce myself in Kirundi but spoke English for the sermon. While I felt completely unprepared and a bit overwhelmed by what I saw, I really felt I had a word from God for them. I shared the message I had prepared. I was hoping it would have an impact here and give a new understanding of the Gospel. I have said before that the church here is pretty legalistic and Christians are considered to be the ‘upstanding good people’ notable for the fact they do not smoke or drink, or do anything wrong (publicly). There is not much of a theology of ‘saving the lost’ in Burundian churches. Christian’s do their best here to distance themselves from sinners and make them feel unwelcome in church.

My message seemed to strike a chord and I was inspired to share the testimony of a man whom I knew behind bars in the US who had changed his life in prison. ( I will leave him anonymous here) but his testimony to me was that before coming to Christ in prison, he was a really mean, violent man, and gang member. When he surrendered his life to the Lord he felt he was transformed completely from his former self. Others were more skeptical and once a member of a rival gang came up and punched him in the face without provocation. When he did this my friend, looked him in the eye, then turned his other cheek and said, ‘Hit me here.’ This was a stunning response especially among his friends who offered to avenge him later. He insisted that they do not, and said he had forgiven the man for what he did. Given the culture of cyclical violence and revenge that are such a part of Burundian culture I was hoping this would resonate with many individuals in this prison.

The message and story apparently moved many in that place, because after I finished, Pastor Claver closed the service with prayer and an altar call and 30 people came up on their knees to made a commitment to Christ. Ally, Mary, Zenon, Claver, and I prayed for them and laid hands on them. I have to say, I was quite surprised at the response. I had not really thought of the sermon as one that was expressly evangelical, but I did feel the presence of the Holy Spirit at work in ways I have felt it in Coxsackie during some of our Kairos retreats. Please pray for these individuals because discipleship will be a real challenge in that place.

After spending about 2 and a half hours there, we left and waited quite a while outside the gate for Ali Blair. She is one of those amazing people who I believe really sees Christ in everyone she meets. She is a living saint and took time to hug many friends, hold babies, and lovingly encourage many strangers. Where I had trouble seeing beyond the throng of need and despair, she could really look into the eyes of the individuals there and minister to them personally, even in such a large group. I admire her greatly for that and hope I can receive that gift as well someday. I will give myself a little grace as Ally has been doing this for years, and her Kirundi is really good as well.

I am hoping I will have regular opportunities to visit this place. Admittedly it is grim, and apparently, what is unseen, in the back rooms is appallingly inhuman. Huge numbers of people packed so tightly into cells that almost no one can move. From what I did see, the thing that disturbed me the most was the number of incarcerated children, and what encouraged me most was the power and sincerity of the worship in their chapel. I am also even more inspired than ever to get good at Kirundi so I can communicate with them better.

Ally Blair asked me for a ride home and when she heard Jodi was at our house she asked if she could come by our house for a visit. I said yes, but that she would not be able to refuse a dinner invitation if she came by. We had a delightful evening together with her, Jodi, and Grandma Jean.

I should also mention that it was on Wednesday as well that I noticed David’s jowls were taking on the appearance of ‘Boss Hog’. That is to say, he was definitely getting the mumps. He was feverish and acted a bit sickly, but honestly, at this point Rebecca and I are desensitized to the point where we did not even bother with going to a doctor. (At this writing, Sunday he is completely fine.)

Friday was another social day as we had a goodbye party for our service worker and friend Brandon Tiessen, who is leaving the country, having completed his 3 year term with us this Wednesday. It was a nice event and we invited the directors of the partner organization he works with (Help Channel) to join us with their families. Cassien and Norman came with wives and children and Brandon brought his girlfriend Grace so that we had a group of about 18, all said and done. The occasion was also REBECCA’S BIRTHDAY, and I had ordered a nice cake for her. It was a very pleasant evening, which meant that between the Bible study on Tuesday, Ally’s visit on Wednesday, and this on Friday, we had three really great life-giving (rather than draining) relational experiences here in one week!

Cassien and Norman’s family brought traditional Burundian gifts in baskets. The Burundian tradition is to receive the gift graciously, remove the contents of the basket in the kitchen, then fill it with something for them when they leave. (The basket is made to be carried on the head.) So here is a picture of Cassien trying to carry it. His wife Beatrice is really quite expert at it though. Normand’s young children really enjoyed playing with Oren on the trampoline, which was quite an exotic experience for them.

Saturday we took a real day off and went to the beach with Jodi and Jeanne and enjoyed the sand as well as the pool. On Saturday evening, Jean and Jodi gave Rebecca and I the great gift of a parent’s ‘date night’. Rebecca and I have had no time to go out alone since David was born, I think. We went to a very nice French restaurant up the hill with a great view of the city called The Belvedere. It was a much needed evening of reconnecting for us and we were truly grateful for the opportunity.

Sunday was another day of rest and relaxation. After church Jodi headed back up country and we are getting ready for our last busy week and a half before vacation. We need to get a lot done in Bujumbura by Wednesday as we will need to make a trip up to Kigali Rwanda for several days before we leave.


Group photo from Brandon's goodbye party. He is on my left.

A Mercifully Uneventful Week?

Oren and Daddy like to make things with Legos together during Mommy's French lesson. Here is a trainstation like the one we used to visit in Poughkeepsie, NY


For some reason it is hard to start this blog this evening. I have resigned myself to the fact that Sunday night after the kids have gone to bed is the time to write this, but tonight I actually feel particularly uninspired. Perhaps it is because this was not a very eventful week. That is to say, there were no trips upcountry, no retreats, deadlines, or doctor visits. (And by no doctor visits I mean there was only one, to get some eyedrops for pink-eye that David and Rebecca both had at the beginning of the week.)

But the week was also uneventful in somewhat disappointing ways. We had several things planned that fell through. Among the casualties was our Tuesday evening Bible study. For some reason we have had a terrible time keeping a quorum. It seems that all the participants are either (like us) out of town frequently, or extremely busy. This past Tuesday we had 3, and there have been weeks when no one has come at all. This is somewhat discouraging as Rebecca and I have been yearning for a small group of people with whom we could share and pray regularly. Despite our sincere efforts, we have not been able to find a cohesive group of people who can commit to this regularly. Maybe we are going about this the wrong way, but prayers on this matter would be appreciated.

The other big disappointment for me was another postponement of my opportunity to join a prison ministry that works here. It is a Burundian group which works with Zenon. He has been trying to get me permission to go in but has had considerable difficulty. I have been told a date and time to go at least four times, only to be told on the day, that he was not able to get permission. The latest disappointment was today, and I have been put off until Wednesday (I hope.). Because of my work with the Kairos prison ministry, I do feel a desire to explore prison ministry here. I am aware that prison here is a far more destitute place then even the maximum security prison I used to visit in New York. Zenon was talking to me recently about a need for food and hygienic supplies for children who are behind bars with their mothers! I asked him why the children were locked up, and he said it was because there was no one on the outside to take care of them. So they are incarcerated with their mothers. (I do not know what crimes the mothers are guilty of.)

Because of all the news from the past weeks, I think I will catch you up on some everyday things that are happening here. One thing I have not mentioned is that Oren’s school ended two weeks ago, but we have signed him up for summer school. Summer school is a lot like his regular school (4 hours per day, 5 days per week), only there is more play time. Also, most of the kids who stay around for the summer are the Burundians. He seems to like it, and I am happy that it is really pushing him to speak French as there are virtually no English speakers there.

Last week he actually went to school all 5 days! (Because of illness and our frequent trips, he never had a 5 day week during the regular semester.) I was so pleased he had an illness-free week and was only mildly upset to find, when I picked him up Friday, that he had fallen, right at the end of the school day, on his previously broken arm and had a fairly bad abrasion on his elbow.

While Oren has been at school, it has been good to have a week of work with regular office hours. One thing I will say about coming back to the office after going away for a week: there is a non-stop parade of ‘fund-raisers’ who come by to ask for a monthly donation. I usually give them something small, but I do find the continual demand for money to be wearing. I know the need here is great, but I start to feel like all I am really good for is a handout.

David is getting harder and harder to take to work. I mentioned that he began crawling last week, but now he pulls himself up to standing on chairs and other objects. His mobility is a real challenge as we take him to the office in the morning and he tries to climb out of anything we put him into, and grabs at everything that comes in reach. I would say his locomotive development is quite accelerated, and I could wish he were a bit slower. 

One nice thing though, is that he is eating solid food now and sits with us at the table in a high chair. Here is a picture of the wooden chair that we have here. (Left by former MCC reps. Doug and Deanna). It is a bit treacherous by US standards, but we have found a way to keep him fairly secure using rubber bungee cords from our roof rack.

Work has been fairly routine. We are at the point in the year where we need to put in quarterly progress reports for all our projects. This involves sending several reminders to partners, then several days of translating from French to English by us, before we enter them in the database. The good news is, Rebecca can now do translating as well as I, because her French is really getting good. We are also waiting to download an updated database program that is taking a while.

On Friday, we had planned a Visite Sur Terrain, aka field visit, in Nyanza Lac (Southern tip of Burundi), only to have the trip cancelled due to a miscommunication. We had been looking forward to visiting the projects there and to see this part of Burundi which we have never visited, near the Tanzania border.

This Saturday we actually had time to go to the beach. We have not done that as a family for a while. It was nice, but again we could not help but note how many of the friends we had made over the past year are either gone or out of town for the summer. We spent the time as a family alone. I might add that being alone as a family has meant that Rebecca and I need to spend a lot of time jumping on the trampoline with Oren since he does not like to jump alone. David loves to watch Oren, and when there isn’t too much jumping, it makes a great place for him to practice crawling. It’s nice and soft when he tips over. We also play a lot of Candy land, and watch his 3 Dora the Explorer DVDs incessantly. (Dora is his new favorite DVD, thanks to our 3 visiting College students who brought him several.) I am glad, at least, he is not subject to all the commercials one has to endure when watching Nickelodeon in the US.

He also continues to enjoy coloring immensely, and has become very interested in learning how to write the alphabet and string letters into words. Today at church, he was begging Rebecca to tell him how to write “STEAM ENGINE” and “PAPA DAVE.”

Sunday was another fairly restful day as well, not entirely by choice. We tried unsuccessfully to invite 3 different families over for dinner, only to be unable to reach them or found them unavailable. It was also Rebecca and my 6th anniversary. We are waiting to celebrate officially later this week when GRANDMA JEAN COMES! Rebecca’ mom is arriving Wednesday. We are all very excited at the prospect of having someone from home come to visit us, as well as having some additional help with child care.

I think I will end here. I just got a call from Jodi to let us know she will be coming to Bujumbura tomorrow to stay with us. She has been quite ill this past week, and at this point, it sounds like she almost certainly has malaria. She will come down here for treatment and to convalesce. She said on the phone that she will certainly start a campaign to get mosquito nets for her students because she can’t believe how debilitating the headaches and fever associated with it are.

She will need your prayers this week as well.

A Gideon Maneuver, Amnesty, and the Art of Representation

Here is a photo of David at the partners retreat being carried Burundian style by Francine.

Two things happened in the last two weeks that reminded me of the passage of time. First, the seasons changed. I had noticed several weeks ago that we had not had any rain for a while, but now the land and air is taking on the characteristic of the dry season. The mountains of Congo across Lake Tanganyika have disappeared and the city and countryside are blanketed by a brownish haze. The lush beauty of the rainy season is hidden, and everything is dusty--especially the house. All of our rooms have a layer of thick red dust on every surface that is not mopped weekly.

What is significant about this is that we first arrived in Buj, in the dry season, a year ago this month. I remember thinking that this was quite an unpleasant, dirty place then. I now know better.

The other thing is that David has started to crawl. Both of these events happened suddenly, with almost no transition. David was immobile a week ago, and now he gets around quite ably. One day it stopped raining, and now it is dry and dusty.


But I won’t stall any longer. Last weeks blog was a spiritual cry for ‘all hands on deck’. We were completely overwhelmed and heading into a very difficult week unprepared and concerned about our children’s health. I am happy to report that the prayer requests were taken seriously, as many of you told us you were praying for us, AND God did do exceeding abundantly beyond anything we could hope or imagine! I will paste in a summary of the retreat written by Rebecca that captures the gist of the event:

I took both kids to the doctor on Monday morning, while Paul rushed to the office to print and copy what we could. Doctor confirmed that David had roseola. He wasn’t feverish any longer, so it was OK. Oren was another matter. I don’t think the doctor really could tell what was going on with him and why he was so weak and feverish. But he said there was inflammation in the throat and ears. He prescribed bactrim and some ear drops. He said, don’t worry, go upcountry to your meetings. He gave me an emergency number and told me not to be so afraid of malaria. I elected to give Oren the bactrim and not the ear drops. He was drowsy and his skin was blotchy and pale the whole next day and a half. But we all went up to Burasira. We were honestly quite worried about Oren on Tuesday. He just kept getting feverish and had zero energy. He was not the child we have known. But he made it pretty easy for Francine, the Burundian young woman we took along to watch the kids. He just wanted to color, watch movies and sleep. I opted out of the evening session to be with the kids. That was the first time that I got a few smiles out of Oren. And finally he had enough appetite to eat a cookie. By Wednesday morning, he woke up saying that he was feeling better. He actually had energy and by the end of the day was running around with other kids. So in the end the doctor was right, it was OK to take them along. Meanwhile, I am really glad that we all just went ahead and didn’t cancel the retreat.

It was really a very, very good three days for the partners and even for us. It was absolutely an opportunity for us to trust God, because we were totally out of gas, as Oren likes to say. We had organized a theme: transformational development. Paul began the time with a meditation on Ezekiel 37, the dry bones, giving somewhat the same sermon he gave at North Baltimore (that the causes of poverty are spiritual at root). One of our partners is a pastor who is involved in a long-term community development approach in Rwanda . They don’t give money, just meet with the community for Bible study and discussion over the course of 5 years and help the community identify their own resources and solve their own problems. He described this approach on the two mornings, and led us through a couple of the Bible studies that they do in the communities.

Another partner, Onesphore preached on Romans 12 (be transformed by the renewing of your mind). We had reports from our partners, small group discussions on pertinent regional issues, a practical workshop on writing progress reports and doing good grant planning. And we also had many times of worship (I’ve been collecting songs in French, Kirundi and Kiswahili from our church worship handouts) and prayer. We had a walk and tour of the seminary turbine on one day, to look at the self-sufficiency of the seminary grounds (they produce their own electricity from a river near by, as well as virtually all their food).

Another afternoon we took a walk up the hill to the school for the Batwa where Jodi teaches and then back down through the quartier Batwa (the neighborhood of Batwa). It was wonderful to be out and about and greeting people from the community, who were enchanted by David. We regrouped for an evening celebration of Independence day for Burundi , Rwanda and Canada at Jodi’s house – we sang all three national anthems and shared independence stories. It was truly a bonding and inspiring retreat for all of us.

Paul again—

I am also grateful for the way God had prepared me for this type of experience of leading a retreat in the face of a great deal of spiritual opposition. The crucible was in my work with the KAIROS prison ministry. At one time, I led a three day retreat at Coxsackie correctional facility where I faced tremendous difficulty. This included resistance from the prison authorities, serious health problems among our team, and then the loss of our child through miscarriage during the preparation time. Despite all of this, God worked mightily in the retreat and used all of the missteps, defeats, and tragedies to his glory during the retreat.

At the end of this past week’s retreat, I confessed to our partners that we almost cancelled the event because of all the challenges, but instead, we stopped acting in our power and submitted to His will. I was wont to blame it all on Satan, but if Satan was involved it was only so that God could ‘sift’ us. (As he did to Peter.) I compared the experience to that of Gideon, whose army was cut and cut until he only had 600 men to face an army of over 100,000. God said to him that if he had any more than that, Gideon would believe that it was his own victory and not the Lord’s.

I do not believe the retreat could have possibly been any better with any more preparation, than it was, and it was truly due to the power of the Holy Spirit, we can really take no credit. Thank you to all for your prayers.


I wish we could say that when we got home on Thursday evening that we took a long weekend off, but that would not be the truth. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all very full.

I should also add an amusing note about Thursday evening. I had received an invitation from the US ambassador to attend a July 4th celebration (held 2 days early). It sounded like fun so after getting home, Rebecca and I packed up the kids to take them. (We were dressed fairly casually, figuring it would be a kind of All American get together barbecue on their lawn.) When we pulled up to the gate though we knew we were in trouble. There were about a hundred cars parked along the road, and many official Burundians and other dignitaries entering. No one was with a family, among the many men in their best suits. As we considered whether to park and go in anyway, the motorcade of Umukuru Rw’Igihugu (Kirundi for big-man-of-the-country or President) pulled up. Rebecca and I looked more carefully at the invite and realized it was supposed to be only for me and that this was not a barbecue but a formal diplomatic dinner where I was to represent our NGO. We stealthily turned the car around and headed back home. Perhaps if we had been less tired we might have tried to get our family in, just for the sake of introducing a little humor and weirdness into the event. But we were just as happy to go home and watch a DVD movie after our long week.

On Friday, we did our best to catch up on work and emails. We are really far behind and have needed to catch up on progress reports and accounting. We were very relieved that our own personal monthly financial reports came out very well. (We had had many months of thefts in the past where we were always coming out several hundred dollars off.)

On Friday afternoon, I was asked to make an appearance as MCC rep. at a conference held by one of our partners (Zenon) for members of government, (legislature and judiciary branches) church leaders, etc. It was on the theme of reconciliation at the national level and the role that Christian leaders can play in national policy. As unenthusiastic as I was about going, I am glad I did. It was quite fascinating, even though I was told it would be two hours but actually went on for four and a half hours. (I am used to that and do the adjusted calculation in my head automatically. The formula is to double whatever someone tells you then add 30minutes.)

One speaker did a fairly extensive discussion of problems with the current policy of ‘amnesty’ for past crimes committed in the course of the past 14 years of war. He explained the limitations of amnesty and how it differs critically from the more radical idea of pardoning, or grace. I must admit that until I heard this, I thought of amnesty as a type of grace, but he explained how legally they are quite different.

The difference is that pardon involves both an admission of guilt by one party with remorse and the active expression of forgiveness by the other. Forgiveness in this circumstance is not seen as a weak act, but an immensely powerful and sacrificial one that restores harmony to a community. It is a meritorious act of reconciliation.

Amnesty is a kind of legal amnesia, where a past crime is not pardoned but simply treated as forgotten. This can have some limited application where a society has changed in such a way that a past crime is no longer seen as wrong. (For instance, after prohibition, those who had been charged with crimes related to producing or consuming alcohol were no longer seen as law breakers.)

But in situations where crimes are serious and not easily forgotten, amnesty is not an appropriate option. What was most striking to me is that the speaker made a strong argument, not based on the fact that those who receive amnesty are escaping justly due punishment, but instead that PEOPLE WHO GET AMENSTY ARE PUT IN A SITUATION OF BEING UNPARDONABLE! That is to say, if one receives amnesty, he is not able to legally be tried, or to be pardoned. Since his crime no longer exists legally, his and his victims are in a strange sort of limbo where true reconciliation becomes impossible, because confession or pardon, in a formal legal sense are taken off the table.

Burundi has been pursuing a course of amnesty for past crimes of war because, honestly, untangling the truth of the past is a daunting task. One speaker pointed out that one of the hardest things to establish in many of the discussions that happened at a peace meeting called the Arusha accords, was who was the victim and who was the perpetrator. Both parties claim to be the victim. In a system where violence has been cyclical for so long, it seems that everyone has blood on their hands to some extent.

I do agree, that though this be the case, the simply solution of amnesty for everyone is not a satisfactory solution that will bring true reconciliation and an end to the cycle of violence. But I do see that getting to the ‘truth’ is next to impossible, especially because everyone is very ready to point a finger at someone else but not acknowledge any personal responsibility at all for any of the violence.

Saturday was occupied primarily with Oren's fourth birthday party. It was a great opportunity to open our house to friends of ours and Oren's. I must say, the trampoline was a big hit, as was Mommy's very excellent racing car cake. (Nathan baked the cake, but she decorated it.)


On Sunday, we were once again called to ‘represent’ (hip-hop terminology). It was the 75th anniversary of the Evangelical Friends Church and we were asked to attend an elaborate ceremony in Kabimba. (Upcountry about 1 hour 30 min away.) Despite our best judgment, we went as a whole family. I say that because these events are notoriously long and usually involve sitting still and keeping the kids quiet. This one was no exception. We left Bujumbura at 8:30 am and got home about 5:00pm. (We even snuck out before the meal.) We spent most of the day sitting and listening to speeches in Kirundi. We did see Jodi and many friends there from Rwanda as well as partners. The kids were well behaved as well as they have been getting schooled in sitting still through these types of events in the past year.


I am really beginning to understand what the title ‘representative’ really means and I am becoming sympathetic to heads of state and diplomats who play this role. I am starting to feel like the Queen of England these days. The hardest thing about it, is that I cannot do anything anonymously. When I go to just about any event, I (and our whole family) are always escorted to the very front of the room and given seats with other VIPS. This provides a perfect forum for our kids to act out in very disruptive and embarrassing ways, AND makes leaving early an impossibility. Although I try to do more of this type of thing alone, we have become quite adept at packing a backpack full of things like coloring books and stories that the kids can play with quietly while we sit together under the watchful gaze of hundreds of people for 4-6 hours at a time.

We are now in a two week countdown to our much needed vacation in Kenya.


By the way, if the pictures look low quality it is because my decent digital camera broke so I am using my old one.