Retreating in Jos

David hangin’ out at the boarding lounge in Addis Ababa waiting for the flight to Abouja, Nigeria.

It might not occur to just anyone to choose an area of violent conflict and recent massacres to have a team building retreat, but MCC reps are not just anyone.  I am writing late this evening from a retreat center on the outskirts of Jos Nigeria where Rebecca and I (and Oren and David) are participating in MCC regional meetings known as CWARM (Central West Africa Regional Meetings).  Countries in this region for MCC include Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Nigeria.  It was Nigeria’s turn to host.

Planning to meet as a group of representatives from these diverse countries is no mean feat.  It is notoriously difficult to fly between Central and West African countries as they are really not linked by any air roots.  For us to get to Nigeria, for instance, (which is to our North west by about 5 hours by plane) we had to fly first south and east to Nairobi, then north to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) spend the night, then fly west to Abuja Nigeria, then drive 4 hours by cab to Jos. 

The rep from Congo went South to Johanesburg! To get a flight to Lagos, then another to Jos. 

(I was talking to the rep who serves both Burkina Faso and Chad, which are adjacent, but to get between them one has to take a flight to Paris and then back!)

In short, it is a challenge to get together.  The purpose of these meetings is for us to talk to our area director and advocate for our programs, as well as support each other through difficult times.

We had our first day of meetings today and shared reports of highs and lows of our program for the past 12 months.  All I can say is that if you think you are having a hard time, take a moment to listen to someone who is having a worse time and you find a lot to be thankful for.

My heart really went out to the reps in Nigeria who are based in Jos.  The conflict here has been flaring up violently since January and they are faced with very tough choices about how much risk they are willing  to face personally.  There have been reports of suicide bombers in areas near their work, and even a bomb threat at their children’s school.  Constant curfews are making any kind of work and schooling, not to mention shopping for basic necessities more and more difficult.  While the reps do not feel like they are directly targeted, it is still a hard choice to decide when the risk is too great, or even if it is possible to do anything in the current instability.  Their big question is the worst over?  Is it getting better?  Will it stay like this indefinitely?  Or deteriorate into all out war?  There is really no way to predict the answers to these questions.

The conflict seems to be a war of identity between 2 ethnic groups one called Christian the other Muslim.  And there have been alternating raids and massacres by one group against another with increasing regularity.  It is interesting, coming from Burundi where I see two groups in conflict (tutsi and hutu) to which I feel no sense of belonging.  In this context I profess a family connection to the group called Christian.  And I am aware that the tension between Christians and Muslims internationally has been on the increase.  And yet, I cannot feel that this conflict reflects anything more than a kind of cultural  team sport.  I do not feel that Christians murdering Muslims have God or truth on their side any more than I feel the reverse is true.  I believe this conflict is cultural and generational but not a battle between good and evil.  Or I should say that I do not believe that the good are on one side and the evil on the other.  It is a tragic story of revenge and retribution which is a cycle that is extremely difficult to break.

As a Christian working in a small NGO that specializes in peace making and conflict transformation, it is hard to know where to begin to address this kind of conflict in the midst of a raging crisis.  I do believe that God revealed himself fully to us in the person of Jesus, but I do not believe that this ‘truth’ will be emanated through violent conflict.  The power of the Gospel is in showing His redemptive love for all people, it is not through victory in a savage turf war for land and resources.  I fear though that Christians more and more believe that precisely this hostility between Islam and Christianity is a struggle for faith around the world and the victory of the Gospel will be a military one. 

OK. Enough preaching.  It is just hard to be on a border town on this conflict and not feel angry about people being incited to kill each other by cynical politicians in the name of God on both sides.

So what is it like here?  It was good to arrive at midday in Abuja to catch a cab to Jos because it gave us a chance to see the terrain.  Abuja is hot, dry and flat.  It is a big city with a modern airport.  We drove in a minivan which met us there to Jos, in what is called Plateau State.  The drive was long and we passed through numerous military and police check points.  The roads are all 4 to 6 lane highways and the drivers drove insanely fast and dangerously.  We passed through some of the areas where the recent massacres took place.  Jos is at a higher altitude than Abuja and it reminded me a lot of New Mexico or even Mexico.  There are many jutting hills and mountains, many look like they are composed of stacked boulders.  It is dry and hot in the day but gets quite cold at night.

The retreat center is actually a school with some guest houses.  It also  has some conference rooms, a playground, and lots of boulders to climb on which Oren loves.  It is hard to keep him safe though, because he has great confidence in his ability to climb just about anything.

It is good to see our colleagues and Oren even has some playmates among the 2 other families here with kids who are just a bit older than him so that is fun for him.  There are also 2 child care workers to help out, while we are in meetings, with David.

Security concern is ever present as the school is surrounded by a 10 foot chain link fence with razor wire on the top.   The front gate is heavily guarded, and apparently there are guard dogs that are let loose on the property after 10pm at night.  Nonetheless, the center is relaxing and the kids are really enjoying themselves.

We are glad to be here on time.  I did not mention that the 2 day trip gave us some concern for a timely arrival.  On our first leg, we flew to Addis Ababa with a stopover in Nairobi.  When we got to Addis we the plane stayed in a holding pattern for a long time because of bad weather.  The pilot assured us that if it did not clear we could go to an alternative airstrip in Djibouti.  That did not give Rebecca and I much assurance since we knew that would mean we would miss our connection.

Fortunately we did land shortly after.  In Addis, Ethiopian Air put us up for the night in transit at a hotel.  That is something I was very grateful for, traveling with kids.  The kids liked the hotel, especially the taxidermed lion and leapord that sat at its front entrance.

Addis is a really huge modern city and is a place I hope we can come back to sometime to see.  I hear so much about Ethiopian culture and I am interested in seeing it more.  But this was not the trip.  We left town the next morning about 6am and, as I said, got to Abuja about  6 hours later.

We will be here a total of 6 days before our 2 days of travel to return.  We get back home midmorning on Easter Sunday.  That was not good timing for us, but we had little choice given the limited flight schedule.

So that is the short, hopefully interesting story of our trip here.  We are definitely schooling our children in good travel behavior and they were actually quite patient with waiting in line at customs,  immigration, security and in the boarding lounge.  We are also improving in the art of toting 2 kids and 5 carry ons around without having to make 2 trips between points or without the aid of an airport cart.  Hopefully the trip home won’t offer any unexpected delays.

A Really Good Day

I am beginning this blog well after midnight tonight and the power is already off.  I have noticed that our battery life is getting shorter, so I will probably make this brief.  I am tempted to collapse this whole entry into a discussion of today.  It was by all measures a really good day.  But there are some other interesting things that happened this week, so I will do my best to mention all of them as well.

The main deviation from the norm this week was my ascent up country to Gitega on Thursday where I spent the night and returned Friday.  We do have 3 partners up there and it is time to sign MOUs (memorandums of understanding) for the grants that begin this fiscal year.  It honestly does not make for a very exciting trip, but it is necessary. 

I did not go with Rebecca and the kids because we wanted to keep Oren in school all week.  He will have to miss an entire week of school soon because of an upcoming trip to Nigeria, but I will come back to this.

I did go up with Yolanda and Jean Claude. Yolanda is our SALTer seconded to Moisson Pour Christ, where Jean Claude also works.  They were going up to do a peace training with University students and asked for a lift.  I also wanted Yolanda to see some of the work of one of our other partners so we mada a plan to meet Friday morning for a visit to the commune of Bukira Sazi to see the work of one of our partners up there.

The trip was, as I said relatively uneventful but relationally exhausting as I spent many hours in  a short space of time catching up with the work of our three Gitega partners, seeing some of their projects, working through the particulars of the memorandums of understanding, all in French of course.  I stayed at the conference center of one of our partners and slept somewhat fitfully on an uncomfortable bed.  I was glad to head home Friday afternoon and got home before the kids ate dinner. 

Oren and David were apparently on their best behavior with Mommy over the days I was gone.  Oren really does his best when he is in a very regular structured routine.  So school days are very comforting to him in a way.  The big change that is happening between them is that they are really beginning to play together.  David is very keen on doing whatever Oren is doing, but now can actually ‘do’ some of the things Oren does.  Most impressive is his ability to jump on the trampoline.  I am surprised that as a 15 month old he is beginning to do this.

Last week I put a step up next to the trampoline he can get up on himself.  He loves to climb on it and we have to pay close attention to him.  (There is a net around the tramp so he cannot jump off of course.)  But now he and Oren can jump together on the trampoline which is something he loves to do.  They get each other really worked up laughing and falling over. 

When  David is not on the trampoline he is often in Oren’s room looking at his books.  He really loves pictures in books and will often go in alone to look at them.

Saturday was spent at home as a family.  I did the morning yoga stretch class then played with the kids.  Rebecca and I were both asked to preach this week, her in the morning and I in the afternoon so we also switched off trying to find time to finish our sermons.  In the evening we invited our friends over, the Thomas’ (Danish friends) and the Tanja and Stephan the German family as well.  We had a lot of children as they all came with their kids and we had Timmy also.  We had a very nice enchillada dinner together and the kids played on the trampoline and watched videos.
Oh, almost forgot, Jodi was also here.  She arrived on Saturday for a short visit to Bujumbura for examine week at her school.  She is picking up some supplies then heading back up country. 

We all had a good visit, then Rebecca and I worked late into the night Saturday to be ready for Sunday.


Sunday was one of those rare, nearly perfect days.  We went to church in the morning where Rebecca preached a very moving sermon on what it means to pray.  She talked about how real personal prayer is a kind of abiding with God.  Not coming as a petitioner, but as a close friend to whom God wants to make his will known.  She counseled the congregation to practice ‘listening prayer’ a prayer that is primarily spent in silence, perhaps meditating on a passage of scripture, and just listening for God to speak.  She reminded them that we are not beggars seeking crumbs from the Divine table but we are friends invited to sit with our Lord at his table.

It was very well received and is quite a radical conception of prayer compared to what one often hears here.  But I think the point was to invite people here into an intimacy in prayer that might make God less of a ‘big man’ and more of a friend.  (She did have to acknowledge the cultural differences we attach to the word friend as well.  In our culture a ‘friend’ is someone with whom we share interests, and an emotional connection, while here a ‘friend’ is always someone upon whom one can rely for financial assistance when the need arises.  In fact the idea that this might ‘taint’ a friendship is a very western idea.  To Burundians it seems that a friendship that does not involve mutual financial support is little more than a shallow acquaintance.)

After we left the service we decided to go swimming at Club du Lac T between services.  Oren has been wanting to go in the big pool and does go in and hang on the edge or swim between 2 corners.  Sunday was a major breakthrough though as he finally TOOK A BREATH WHILE SWIMMING WITHOUT TOUCHING THE BOTTOM!  He has been able to kick between two point for a while, but he has not been able to get his head up while swimming.  This was a great thrill for us as we have been hoping to see him accomplish this.  He received a small cup of ice cream from the restaurant for his reward.

We went to the afternoon service after a brief pass by home to change.  The afternoon service was surprisingly well attended and after some good worship music I preached a message on a Christian approach to conflict transformation.  Despite the fact that I did not think I was that well prepared I really felt the Holy Spirit overtake me as I began and I swear I preached the Gospel of liberation like Martin Luther King!  It went far better than last week’s discussion on stumbling blocks.  I was happy about that since I felt a bit disappointed about it last week.

What probably made the sermon effective were the many testimonies I have picked up of profound transformation made possible through forgiveness and reconciliation in the Burundian and Rwandan context.  I had many stories of murderers asking survivors for forgiveness and receiving it--And the reconciliation bringing healing to a whole community.

My premise was that conflict is a normal part of human interaction, and that rather than seeking to avoid, the Christian challenge is how to use it to bring about a transformational restoration of relationship, a deeper intimacy than what the individuals or community had before.  There are many examples of this in the Bible from Joseph being restored to his brothers in Egypt to our model in Jesus who won our salvation through the violent act of crucifixion, which of course, I believe, brought about a reconciliation of us to God that could not have been accomplished any other way.

So that was the gist of it.  Rebecca kept David amused on the slide while I preached.  (He can climb the ladder himself now.)  It was a really good day.

On a final note, I mentioned that we are trying to get visas to Nigeria.  For better or for worse, they finally came through.  (There was some hope that we would be denied and not have to go to this conference which is in Jos, Nigeria a place where there has been serious interreligious conflict—Christian and Muslim.  Last week 500 Christian villagers were killed near Jos.  This was retribution for similar massacres of Muslims by Christians.)

But God has made a way, we have our tickets, passports and will be leaving on Friday.  We will be gone for 8 days, so the next time I write I will be in Jos.  (If you don’t hear from me it could be because I do not have an internet connection.)  Please pray for us as we do have some concern  about the safety of travel.  We do have confidence in our colleagues who are there and are telling us that we should not have any trouble.

Thoughts on Educating Girls and a Trip to Kigali

David and Oren in Kigali.  Not many great pix this week, but they do like to get away from Bujumbura and explore new venues now and then.   Weather here continues to be hot, high 80s to 90 during the day.


As I sit here at 11pm starting this entry, I am amazed at how far we have come from the days earlier this year when I would rush to finish by 10pm before the power went off then would spend at least an hour on a dial-up connection to get the few pictures and text to upload onto the server.  Not that we are so far away from those days, something can always go wrong.  We do continue to have nightly black outs, but with a solar battery and a faster internet connection, it almost feels like I am in another country.

I do have to say, there is something to having a slower internet connection. (Our 'high-speed' here is still only about a megabyte every minute and a half).  There is a lot less temptation to web-surf or spend hours on the computer reading the latest spin on the political scene.  The little I get honestly makes me glad I am missing much of the blow by blow political debate in the US these days.

I did run across an excellent podcast recently of Bill Moyers interviewing Greg Mortenson.  He is the author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools.  He is the guy who is building schools one at a time in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan (for those who don't know.)  I was interested to hear that his childhood was spent in Tanzania where his dad was a Christian medical missionary.  Here is a link to the broadcast: http://video.pbs.org/video/1387129274/ 

What he says about educating girls is one of the most thought-provoking things I have heard in recent days, and I believe his experiences would be born out in our context in Burundi as well.  To paraphrase: "When you educate a boy, you educate an individual, but when you educate a girl you educate a comunity, because she will educate her children when she is a mother, and will even teach her own mother as she is learning in school."  He has found this to be true even in very conservative Islamic communities where women have few rights.  It is good to hear a really inspiring story and such a contrast to the partisan political hype that seems to be such an obsession in the news these days.

Generally life here is good in that way.  Despite the underlying concern about the political climate here and the threat of insecurity, we don't spend a lot of time listening to the news daily.  I do have some email services send us updates on the situation in the Africa Great Lakes region on a weekly basis, but do not keep up with the news daily.  It gives life here a slower pacing in some sort of way.  When I check in from time to time though, I am always surprised that actually things don't change a lot from month to month despite the steriod driven pace of the media.  Maybe I am just slowing down because of age, but I do like the slower pace of information here now that I have been weaned off the high speed internet 'crack' I used to crave when I lived in the US.  For those of you still there, maybe a 'fast' from media would be a good spiritual discipline to try for what remains of lent.

Actually this week was fairly uneventful despite the fact that we made a trip to Rwanda.  We left after school on Wednesday (actually after some more dental work I had) which meant we left Bujumbura around 3.  It is later than we have ever gone, but we figured it would not be much of a problem.  Little did we know that the border we liked to cross closed at 6pm.  We arrived at 6:15 and were told they were closed.  We begged them to let us through which fortunately they did, since I am not sure what option we would have had besides staying the night in the car.  Driving back to Bujumbura after dark was out of the question, and there is really nothing by the way of guest houses near where we were in Kirundo.

We got into Kigali around 8pm where the Africa New Life Guesthouse had dinner waiting for us.  Oren of coure was thrilled to be back there and even David seems to recognize it and ran around to do the things he remembered from the last time he was there.  We settled in for the night and made arrangements to meet with partners the next day.  It is the beginning of our new fiscal year so among other activities we have to sign new contracts for the grants we are giving them this year.

We went to Friends Peace House the next morning where we saw Ruth and Krystan and had some meetings with our partners.  Among the topics of discussion was the security situation in Rwanda and what contingency plans need to be in place to protect Ruth and Krystan if things get worse.  It was good to hear, from some of our partners, that they did not think that the recent grenade attacks were indicative of a larger breakdown of stability in the country.  They seemed to accept that in these countries some violent episodes around elections aimed at creating fear and intimidation were not abnormal, but that generally things in the country seemed quite normal and stable.

I was happy to know that this was how our partners were feeling.  On the other hand, I did find out from our Guest House staff that pretty much all of the short term mission trips they had anticipated from the US this year were precipitously cancelled on hearing news of the recent problems.  So I do think, that if instilling fear is the objective, the attacks are hitting their mark to some extent. 

Ruth and Krystan seemed to feel fine about thier situation at this time.

Besides meeting with partners, I was drafted into participating in the graduation ceremony of the Mwana Nshuti program.  This is a trade school that we support for street children.  It does a very good job of getting street kids placed in foster situations and given training in numerous skills including sewing, welding, farming, english language, hair cutting, as well as some peace and reconcilliation education.  They graduate a class every year.

I was expected, of course, to represent in an official capacity and sat with the other VIPS at the front of the room where the ceremony was.  It was not too long, and we chose to have Rebecca stay outside with the kids, so it went pretty well.  The kids who were graduating danced, sang,  some VIPs gave speeches, then I was asked to read the names of the graduates as they came up to shake my hand as well as the hands of several others on receiving a certificate for completing their program.  (I noticed with interest that 24 of the 25 graduates this year were girls.)

Afterwards we all drank a fanta (coke) which is an important part of any ceremony here, be it a funeral, wedding, graduation, etc.

We left Rwanda on Saturday morning and took a long way home so we could visit several potential sites for a partners retreat this May of June.  The trip back to about 8 hours so we arrived tired to our home in the evening.  (We were pleasantly surprised that Robyn and Yolanda had bought some bananas and avocadoes for us to make smoothies when we came home.)  The kids were shot though and we struggled with them in the hours before bedtime.

Sunday was better as far as the kids, but was a busy for Rebecca and I.  We both had responsibilities at the English fellowship in the afternoon.  I was preaching and Rebecca was leading Sunday school.  We enlisted Robyn to help us with David during the service.  She was happy to oblige.  I shared some thoughts on 'stumbling blocks to Christian character.'  It was a topic assigned to me, but I found it quite interesting in my preparation.  I felt like I had some good insight into this from my experience in the Kairos prison ministry.  Somehow though, I feel like it did not make much of an impression here.  I am not sure if it was just poorly delivered, but the looks on the faces of people there seemed to suggest they were a bit perplexed or perhaps bored by it all.  Well, I will get another chance next week as I will be sharing again, this time on Christian responses to conflict.  This is probably more up my alley as an MCCer.

This coming week will be more of the same as far as work.  We need to get MOUs signed and I will probably go up to Gitega this week to do that with our partners upcountry. 

I should add a quick footnote after writing about reading the signs of the times on last week's entry.  It is good to get a range of perspectives on this.  We did learn, that the official UN perspective is far more optimistic than we would have thought.  Apparently the conditions now are far more stable than even the 2005 elections at this point in the campaign promise.  Nonetheless, there is still some anxiety among the official expat. community and it even seems that most of the mzungus in Oren's school will probably leave the country from May to September.  There is even rumor that the school may close early.  We don't know what will happen, but we are not planning to take Oren out of school early.  Despite what I wrote last week, we are alert, but not giving in to unjustified fear.  We are committed to being here and supporting the mission of our organization, which has a ministry of 'walking with' the marginalized, poor, and vulnerable, and to bring in word and deed the gospel of peace.

Reading the Signs of the Times

"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened"     --Mark 13:28-30

This week my daily devotional readings have been focused on the time of judgement, and reading the 'sign of the times.'  Jesus often tells his disciples to not have their 'head in the sand' about the unfolding history around them, and not to caught off-guard by a time of tribulation when it is coming.  The timing of these passages seems divinely coincidental as we have had more than a few conversations about reading the signs of the times here in Burundi and Rwanda.

Many of you may know from previous entries that we are in an election year here; in fact both Burundi and Rwanda are going to be having elections this year.  There is, even at this early point, a real feeling of anxiety starting to express itself amidst the population here (Presidential elections are in June).  I have personally talked to many friends here in Burundi about the election and its outcome.  (This is the first fully democratic election since the 1993 crisis and 14 year civil war that ensued.)  Opposition groups (including former rebel armies cum political parties) are currently held together in a tenuous peace, but there is a lot of question about whether an election will fragment the country again.

This was a major topic of conversation this evening as we went out for pizza with Zachee and Bridget.  We were at Ubuntu again, thanks to their half-off pizza from 5 to 7 pm, where Oren and Timmy could run around on the grounds, David could follow the beautiful crowned cranes that stroll freely around, and we could enjoy some catch up time with our dear friends.  This evening we were also able to enjoy a particularly spectacular sunset over the lake.  Perhaps this will become a tradition on Sundays after the afternoon service at the Rainbow Center.  (The photos on the site are all from the evening at Ubuntu.  The mountains are in Congo across Lake Tanganyika)

The setting was beautiful but the conversation was tense as we are seeing unmistakable signs of destablilization that threaten to pull our region into violence during the election.  The latest concern are a series of grenade attacks in downtown Kigali (including the places where we shop when we are there.)  Bridget was advising us to be sure we have an emergency contingency plan in place for Ruth and Krystan if things deteriorate further.  This is difficult for us because they are our service workers but we are not even in the same country with them.

This is also difficult because while we have many concerns about Burundi, our sense was that Rwanda was relatively stable, so these grenade attacks have caught us a bit off guard.  We are going to go up to Kigali this Wednesday to talk to our partners at Friends Peace House and work on an emergency plan for Ruth and Krystan.

Among the topics of conversation was who on earth stands to gain by trying to destabilize the countries in this region.  Sadly the answer is, as is often the case, that diaspora elements (radicalized nationals living outside the country) have access to money, and feel they have much to gain and relatively little to lose by funding and arming groups to create chaos in these countries.  This is true in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.  Even more sadly, it is hard to get the international community to pursue these threats vigorously.

Paul had to crash, so Rebecca is writing a bit from this point on:

One of the major problems of democracy in Africa is related to the problem of scarcity. Whoever wins the election gets access to the pie. If you win office, you get to "eat." In fact, in many cases, if you win, you get the whole pie. It's a very different situation in North America. As flawed as our political proces is, it would be unimaginable to have one political party refuse to step down because it lost an election, no matter how contentious.

Public office in the US is generally understood as 'stewardship' over such things as the national treasury, federal preserves, etc.  In most African countries winning the election is seen as receiving 'ownership' of the nation's wealth.  The treasury belongs to the winner and his constituents.  (It is their turn to 'eat' is actually the expression used here to describe a transfer of power.) This is why in most African states transfer of power is accompanied by a great deal of violence and instability.

So, if you win, you get all or most of the pie. And there really is only one pie here. (Ther is no really lucrative private sector to seek ones fortune in here.)  So there's little incentive to let someone else take your pie. And if you don't happen to own the pie, you have a lot of reason to fight for it. Yes, when you use violence, you knock the edges off of the crust, maybe you lose a bit of the filling, but some pie is better than no pie, right? At least that's the logic that seems to underlie the motivations of certain groups we have heard of that are armed and ready to respond to unfavorable election results with violence.

This metaphor of fighting over a small piece of pie is evident even in more mundane circumstances of everyday life. In most situations (at the bank, paying utility bills, at the visa office, at the grocery store) you need to be willing to use your elbows or you'll wait forever for service. People do know about standing in line. But there is a sense of urgency about everything that somehow causes people to fight to get ahead. People crowd around and butt in front of each other. People will literally stand behind you and shove their bill and their money over your shoulder and into the cashier's window to pay ahead of you. For us North Americans this is bizarre and irritating. But we have faith that the pie is big enough for everyone. We believe that if we wait in line, we have a right to get service. Here, people's behavior, as annoying as it is, is really the most rational response to the real situation. Here, the pie is NOT big enough. If you're in line when the bank closes and you haven't done your business, tough, come back tomorrow. If you're waiting for food handouts, the quantity is limited. You have to get what you can get while you can get it. There isn't enough for everyone. I think this mindset is very deeply ingrained here in a context of deep scarcity and it governs people's behavior in realms from paying bills to driving downtown to pursuing political power.

So the real question is, could there be a sense of the greater public good that would restrain political parties from practicing fraud or violence in the pursuit of power? We have often felt that Rwanda is making very good progress. It is a secure country, with a stern police force, priding itself on becoming a stable environment for business investment. Government policies are often surprisingly progressive, even more forward-thinking than those in the west (the famous example is that plastic bags are outlawed for environmental protection). Economic progress is marked. And yet, for the second time in a month, grenades were thrown in the street in downtown Kigali.

How do we read those signs? Who stands to gain from this? How serious could it get? What are the repercussions for the region if things become unstable in Rwanda? Or in Burundi? And what can we be doing about it? Are there ways that our local partners could continue to urge their constiuencies to keep cool heads and make good decisions? People all over the region continue to carry the trauma of past violence with them. There is an understandable instinct to trust no one and fight for survival. Could those trauma instincts somehow be overcome so that the people seeking power cannot manipulate the population into participating in the destruction of the whatever little pie we have here in Rwanda and Burundi?

Maybe Paul will have more to add, but I would really ask for prayer for our region of Africa. It is incredibly unfortunate that Burundi, Rwanda and Congo are all due for elections in this next year. Instability in one country inevitably sets the others off-balance. Power is up for grabs all over the place here. Please pray for Christians here to remember their first calling. Pray for us as leaders of our organization to support our local partners well. And pray for us to have wisdom in reading the signs of the times for the well-being of our team of volunteers here.

So, time for a little contrast! On Tuesday morning, I prayed together as usual with a group of mothers from Oren's school. We pray for our kids and their teachers and for the school in general. I asked for prayer for me and Oren because we had been fighting a lot recently -- he has been going through a phase of disobediance and defiance. In the afternoon, I took the kids with me to get David's yellow fever shot finally. Oren agreed to go help cheer David up. But I failed to find the place, sadly, on that afternoon.

On a side note, I did eventually find it on Friday and got my vaccine from a dirty little fridge in a dirty little room in a back building of an unmarked nurse's training facility. I watched carefully and only let them give me the vaccine when I saw the nurse open a brand new, self-contained vaccination pack with a fresh needle. This is the only place to get this vaccine in Burundi. The good side was that it only cost $2.50, better than $150 stateside. David is destined for the needle tomorrow...

In any case, to console Oren for the loss of getting to see David cry from a shot, we went to the Cercle Hippique -- the horse place. And the kids and I had a wonderful afternoon! We played a bit on some tires. We went in and greeted the horses, and quickly, Oren decided that his favorite one was an old mare named Laura, but whom he named Gaga Chocolate Starhead. She was incredibly gentle in her stall, letting the kids touch her and stroke her and just delight in her as she poked her head over the gate. Most of the rest of the horses were let out of their stalls to run around the grounds but she was kept in because she's been retired from riding. One of the grooms gave Oren some grass to feed her and he was really excited about that. He took another ride on a different horse, and was able to take three or four circuits of a big paddock. Then we climbed around on different steps, played with Gaga some more. David squealed at every horse he saw. He found an old black cat and got right down on his belly to look at it in the eyes. I think he wanted to know what it was like for the cat. He is really an animal lover! After a while, we got some sodas and sat on the spectator steps, watching three Belgian girls have their riding lesson. It was exciting to watch them canter around the paddock. Finally, we headed home around 6 pm, with Oren talking about how he might take Gaga home with him sometime. And we hadn't had a single fight the entire afternoon!! As our final reward, we saw a hippo in the water as we drove past the lake.

Paul is back to finish off the entry:

Just to finish off, the rest of the week was busy.  One of our big projects this past week has been trying to secure a Nigerian visa so we can go to an MCC conference at the end of March.  We have encountered a bit of an impasse, to wit: "You can't get there from here" at least according to the Nigerian embassy.  Certainly that is true in terms of flights in that we have to fly in the opposite direction to Ethiopia to get a flight to Nigeria, but also in terms of visas.  But now, the Nigerian embassy here has told us that they cannot issue visas to ex-patriates living in Burundi.  They only give visas to Burundian nationals here.  We asked if they would make an exception and they said we could bring a letter from our embassy.

When Rebecca went to the US embassy to get a letter requesting a visa.  The US consular officer was shocked and offended that the Nigerian embassy here at that policy for US citizens.  They said they would raise this matter with the embassy on a diplomatic level but would not give us a letter personally as that would set a precedent that they do not wish to follow.  Long story short: We are out of luck.  We really do not have time to send our passports away, and we need them here anyway to travel to Rwanda this week.

We are now trying to pursue other connections with the Nigerian embassy, such as friends who attend our church, etc.  Please pray for a miracle in this matter as we have already spent several thousand dollars on plane tickets.

I am going to close by telling readers that in the weeks and months ahead I feel a need to exercise restraint in putting political content into this blog.  I am careful not to name names or divulge particular information we are privy to on the ground here.  This will be necessary in the weeks and months leading up to the election.  This blog is meant to be a description of life as a missionary family and I need to try to keep it on that level.  If you want to know more about the unfolding electoral drama here, I will add links in the future to other news sources that are watching this region.

Also, please keep us and our team in prayer.  I am realizing that in a crisis, I am not in a position where I can just flee with my family.  We have a team here of 3 families as well as several individuals whose well-being we are responsible for.  This may lead to some hard decisions in the future and divine courage.  Specific prayers for our Kigali trip this week would be welcome as well.  We will go as a family, but will probably not take our kids on shopping trips in the downtown mall after hearing about these recent rashes of grenade attacks.

Bonus photo,  Here I am teaching the yoga/stretch class on our porch in Saturday morning.  Oren decided to join in and help me teach.  (Yolanda was the only one there this week.) He did the whole class, and then continued to teach me a bunch of his own exercises afterwards that he made up on the spot.  I was surprised how creative he was!  For those of you who read this from the dance world, it was like trying to learn a movement sequence from Merce Cunningham or Dan Wagoner.  He effortlessly connected a really clever series of non-sequetorial movement together and gave me detailed instruction of how to go from one thing to the next.

Root Canals, Poisonous Beetles, and Other Inconveniences

David loves to play with Oren, but Oren usually makes the rules.  This game involved Oren hosing David down while he tried to run away.


Some weeks have a very distinct nadir and zenith, others seem to flow pretty evenly.  This was one of the former.  the low point for me was Tuesday morning.  I mentioned that I had been complaining of a toothache and it was particularly bad when I woke up.  I had an appointment to go to the dentist for a root canal (I thought) and was not looking forward to it, except for hope of some relief from the pain. 

What I was not expecting to find as well was a distinct burning sensation on my left arm near the bicep when I woke up, as well.  I was alarmed to find that I had what looked almost like a bad burn, blistering flesh, and in fact where my arm had been closed, I noticed another smaller burn on the other side of my elbow--like something had started on the upper arm and spread to the other side of the elbow when it was bent in my sleep.  Honestly my first thought was of those horrible flesh eating staph infections I used to hear about on TV in the US. 

I was on an antibiotic for my tooth so I was not sure what else to do.  When the kids and Rebecca woke up we took Oren to school then headed for the clinic to see a doctor.  He gave me a prescription for an antibacterial wash, and told me I should be fine soon.  There was no explanation of what it was. 

I called some of my public health family in the US for ideas.  There were speculations of everything from spiderbites to an allergic reaction to the antibiotic I was on--but no conclusions.

I covered the sore as best I could the rest of the week and went about my business, hoping it would not get worse.  (I did quit the antibiotic just in case.)

Tuesday was the same day I had two dental appointments, the first was at the central hospital to have an X-ray done of the tooth where I would have the root canal.  The second appointment was to fill a small cavity he had found the week before. 

I found, with some difficulty, the stomotologie dept. at the hospital for the x-ray.  After a short wait I was taken in where the dentist took a quick x-ray.  No lead apron here, in fact, the dentist held the film in my mouth with his index finger while he took the x-ray.  Later that day I went and saw him at the office for my filling.  He did use novacaine which deadened my tongue and lips but left the tooth nerve intact.  It was very painful when he drilled and I was glad when it was over.  This gave me considerably more reason for concern about the root canal scheduled for Thursday.  I even began to reconsider the wisdom of deciding to do it here rather than go to Kenya or Rwanda.

Nonetheless, I pushed through the day, taught ballet in the afternoon, and Rebecca and I were both up late working on the database of our program. 

Wednesday was no worse as far as my arm was concerned, but it was also no better.  To add to our misfortune though, our great internet connection went out and we had to call a technician to come.  Needless to say, he did not get there that day.

Thursday was, surprisingly, the turnaround day.  It was a day that I really prepared spirtually for an ordeal.  I had a nice morning quiet time with prayer and Bible reading.  (Among my prayers was that the procedure would be painless, or that I would be able to bear the pain if it was not.)  I took a long swim after dropping Oren at school.  I went to the dentist at lunchtime.  He showed me the x-ray of my tooth and said it was necrotic and a root canal was essential.  He told me to open my mouth and before I could say a word he began drilling furiously into the tooth.  I sat still and stunned and could not believe he had not asked me about novacaine.  I was prepared to let out an awful scream when he came close to the nerve, but then, I felt a click, and he said:  "I am now in the nerve chamber of the tooth." 

I could not believe it!  Where was the pain?  I asked him how it was possible that he could have drilled into the nerve without me feeling it.  He said:  "The tooth is dead, trust me, I know what I am doing."  He took about 20 minutes to clean out the nerve chamber and pack it with some kind of disinfectant medicine.  I have to go to finish next week. 

I really felt that prayer was answered quite dramatically.  There was actually no pain in this procedure, and it did not seem particularly complicated at all.  I asked him how much this was all going to cost and he told me about 160,000fbu ($120).  That is not bad for a root canal!  Another reason you might consider coming to Burundi for a vacation.  You can get some really cheap denal work done here.

Another high point of the day was dinner with Robyn and Brandon, our SALTers who we invited over because we had quite a bit of leftover guacamole which we knew would go rotten if we did not eat it that night.    (Our cook had taken all the avocadoes I bought for smoothies and made them into guacamole.)  Because we fast from after dinner on Thursday to Saturday night we knew that the guacomole would not make it.  Robyn and Brandon were happy to oblige us anc came over for an ecclectic meal of homemade tortilla chips and guac. followed by thai peanut noodles.

Friday morning was the final surprise of the week.  I was swimming at the pool and one of the attendants there, a woman, saw my arm.  She asked me what happened.  I told her I thought I had been burned somehow.  She looked at it, got very animated and said 'Non' and explained that it looked like something caused by a small animal called colloquially 'Beatrice' she did not have great french so could not tell me what this animal was exactly.  She showed me a scar on both sides of her elbow like the one I had.   When I got to the office, I asked Zachee what 'Beatrice' was.  He said it was a small beetle that lived in all of our houses.  (Here is a link to information about it: http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/wn-qn/adv-avi/Paederus-eng.asp)

So apparently some of the animals that run all over our walls have an irritant in them that they can emit through their skin when they are threatened.  I guess one got in the bed and on my arm at night, not an entirely pleasant thought, but it is good to know it is not a deadly flesh-eating bacteria. 

We were also happy to get our internet connection working again on Friday, AND to finish all of our database program plan entries for the coming year.  Friday felt like a kind of night of celebration as we began the process of replicating to our homeoffice.  We also had some good Skype conversations with families.

Saturday was really a fabulous day  (The zenith of the week).  It began with morning yoga which is now attracting a growing group of ex-pats, --our friend Duncan, his fiance Kristy, and another friend joining our SALTers for the morning ritual at 8am.  This is now usually followed by coffee/tea and muffins and conversation.  (Some even tote along their computers to enjoy our pretty good internet connection.) It is a very nice way to spend the community service time on Saturday morning.

Rebecca worked on a sermon Saturday afternoon that she preached on Sunday afternoon.  We went to the pool with the kids later that day and had a very nice swim then ended the evening with dinner at a new Indian restaurant with our South African friends Tim and Jeanette.  It was a great day.

Sunday has also been good.  Our normal routine is church, followed by extended play time with the kids, we did family trampoline jumping then built a lego multistory tunnel and train track.  David was thrilled to be able to play with Oren,  and they did pretty well together.  (Oren can be pretty easily annoyed at David who tends to be a bit destructive when playing with the things Oren has built.)

We went to the English service in the afternoon where Rebecca preached on 'worship', and I watched the kids in Sunday school.  This was followed by pizza at Ubunu, a restaurant by the lake. 

The kids were tired when by the time we got home and went to bed shortly after their baths.  (Despite Oren's claims that he was going to stay up all night.)  Rebecca was invited for a 'girls night out' with some friends and has just arrived home as I finish this entry.

(Extra note:  Despite the fact that I have been out of my job at Vassar directing the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre for 2 years now, I could not help but feel a pang of nostalgia for the Bardavon Opera House Gala that happened this weekend.  Any Vassar folks that are reading this, my heart goes out to you all!  I trust that it went fabulously!) 

Phases of 50 Part 1: Mutama

Antiqued: Rebecca and I went out Thursday for a date night for my birthday dinner.



There are two compliments that still take some getting used to here in Burundi.  The first is the loud acclamation you may receive (especially if you are female) of how FAT you are.  Fatness is seen here as a sign of robust good health and well being.  The other expression which is most often reserved for men is MUTAMA.   It literally means 'old man'.  It is a sign of respect and ever since I have arrived here I have often been introduced as MUTAMA because I am the representative of my organization.  Again, being an old man is considered to be an honorable thing here, but I have not, until recently been able to hear it as a compliment.

But now I have decided to live comfortably in that expression, because I crossed a landmark birthday.  I am now 50 years old.  It does not seem possible, I don't feel physically different than I have for the past 20 years, (except for diminishing near vision) but here I am--a certified MUTAMA now.  I am not sure if I feel any wiser, but I am aware of having collected quite an eclectic array of experiences beginning with a childhood in South Asia (5th grade in Iraq notwithstanding), college and an early dance career in St. Louis (my 20s) and 30s in New York City, a brief stint in Seattle, then Poughkeepsie NY in my 40s, and now a career change to begin life as a missionary in Africa in my 50s.  What has it all taught me?  I think the proverb says it best that says:  "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  But I think it took me about 4 decades and the birth of a child to understand that fully.

My Birthday was on Thursday, but we decided to actually celebrate it on Saturday.  Rebecca had sent out many invitations over the week, to our many Burundian and expat friends as well as team members.  We decided we would have an open-house, pot-luck, contra-dance, event between 3 and 7pm, as most of us had children.

I have written before about these parties we have had occasionally involving dancing.  Thanks to our predecessors the Carrs, we have found that we can put all of the living room furniture onto the porch for seating, then turn our entire living room area into a ballroom.  We had many friends stop by for a short visit or a longer stay and taught several dances.  The Virginia Reel remains the favorite though.  I think everyone had a good time, especially the many kids who played on the trampoline, watched movies, danced, and ran around the Yard.

Oren especially of loves Birthdays--anyone's--and he was very excited about helping mommy decorate a cake, wrap presents, put up balloons and streamers, and other projects involving cutting, pasting, painting, hanging, cooking, etc.  Here is a picture of him with the cake, he did the decorating with M&Ms and sprinkles himself.

That was definitely the highlight of the week.  The 'lowlight' has been a steadily worsening toothache that at this point feels like a migraine headache every time I eat.  (Actually fasting this week was a cinch because of it.)  While I have been reticent to consider dental work in Bujumbura, I had heard that a new 'modern' Egyptian dentist had started a practice in town.  Our SALTer Yolanda went to him last week and gave a good report.  I decided to go on Thursday.

The dental office looked like something I would see in the US and the dentist seemed to know what he was doing.  He even spoke some English.  He found a cavity around the point where there was pain and filled it quite quickly (without anesthesia) but really no pain as it was superficial.  He did say that he doubted this was the problem given the severity of the pain, and asked me to come back the next day if there was no improvement.

There was no improvement but I could tell more clearly that the pain seemed to be coming from deep inside a back molar.  He immediately diagnosed the need for a root canal. ...  Root canal are two words one does not really want to hear in third-world country.  I began to wonder what I should do.  He said he could do it and that it would take 2 visits.  I considered my options: drive or take the bus to Kigali several times in the next 2 weeks, or go to Kenya and spend a week or more there alone leaving Rebecca with the kids.

As unpleasant as it sounded, I am opting to stay here for the procedure.  (At this point the pain is so intense that if he had offered to yank it out with a pliers right then and there I would have taken him up on it.)

So that is where I am now.  I will have the first procedure Tuesday before the ballet class I teach in the afternoon at Oren's school.  (I am hoping I will not be too sore.)  I don't know how easily it is to get strong pain killers here, but I am hoping they are available.  Please pray that this procedure goes well and that I will not suffer any complications from it.


In other news, Oren was off from school all week so we took the opportunity to go upcountry on Tuesday and Wednesday to visit our partner in Gitega and Jodi in Burasira.  The weather has been wet recently and we were a bit worried about how bad the road between Gitega and Burasira would be.  (Burasira is about a 1 and a half hour drive off the main road between Bujumbura and Gitega.)

We got to Gitega midmorning and spent most of the day meeting with partners to discuss their final reports and 2010 plans d'action.  It was generally productive but the whole time rain clouds gathered and we had a huge cloudburst.  By the time we headed to Burasira the roads were very muddy and we had to use 4 wheel drive all the way.

We got to Jodi's home about 5pm and spent the evening chatting with her.  We had also brought her a jeepload of supplies including cooking gas, fruits and vegetables, mail, yogurt, cheese, etc. Oren was ecstatic about  being there.  He loves her house, the nearby seminary, her garden, her books, etc.  He enjoyed the whole experience more than any of us.

The visit was short as we had much work waiting for us at home.  We knew also that the roads would be worse as it rained most of the night.  Our 4wd had gotten us through before though so we were trusting it would work again.

When we began traveling we were stunned at how bad the roads were, nothing but trucks with 4 wheel drive could get through.  It was in fact so bad that it became good!  That is, our otherwise difficult trip home became an off-road 4 wheeling adventure that you would probably pay money to do in Colorado.  It was really cool!  I have become quite adept at this kind of driving now and we did some incredible climbing up a muddy slope that looked more like a steep river bed than a road.  Long story short, we got home safely and felt like we had had a real adventure.  (I am also appreciating now just how much muscle that truck has.)

Our truck is in for repairs right now because it has been getting pretty squeaky over the year and we have some funds left over from this fiscal year to fix it.

We continue to enjoy the internet connection in our house that allows us to video skype our families.  My parents had dinner with us several time last week when I set the computer at the end of our dining room table.

Just as a humorous not of closure on our DSL saga.  As you may know we gave up on it and got this other wireless service after waiting 9 months for someone to come and install it.  Well, exactly one week after getting this installed, a man came to our gate to hook up our DSL.  There was some sweet satisfaction in telling him it was too late, even if we do have to pay a bit more.  Hopefully the free-market system will leverage some changes in the labyrinthian phone company that held us in limbo for so long.

Tune in next week to hear about how a root canal goes in Bujumbura.

Bonus photo, this is me with my Burundian 'mutama outfit' complete with old man hat and pipe.  I am missing a straw and bowl of banana beer though.

A Bus Ride from Kigali and Carnaval at the Ecole Belge

 Oren got a hold of the camera again.  Here is one of his better efforts.


Recipe for secret ingredient banana smoothie:

Here is something you can do with old bananas that is great.  Before they get too old, freeze them then try this:
Mix in Blender:
2-3 bananas
3-4 cups of cold milk
1 tbsp sugar
1tsp vanilla
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tray of icecubes
1 whole avocado (with no skin or seed of course)

Blend it well then enjoy.  We love it here, it is the closest homemade thing we can make to a milkshake.  (We use powdered milk and water though.)

Maybe I am being a bit insensitive, describing a cold tropical drink when many of you are still sitting under deep snow.  For us, we are getting avocados from our trees in the backyard and bananas are always available for vitually nothing.  But hey, there is not much else to brag about here in terms of luxury.  In fact I have no doubt that Rebecca and Oren would trade this all away for a visit to a Coldstone Cremery, or even Baskin Robbins.

We will probably be up late tonight as this is the night reckoning for the MCC program.  That is, all of our final reports from last year, and budgets for this year are due tomorrow.  Finishing is not entirely realistic as we have not even received everything from our partners, but we will do our best to get most of it on the database for our directors in Akron, PA.

Working was a challenge this week because we had to split up again.  I went to Rwanda this Thursday without Rebecca, Oren and David.  This was our second trip  to Rwanda in less than a month and we decided we really wanted Oren to be in school for the end of the week.  Particularly since this coming week is  a school holiday.  We are also aware that he will miss another week of school in a month when our family makes a trip to Nigeria for some regional meetings.

All that to say that it was decided I would go without the family.  I was not alone, however, Zachee, Bridget and Timmy were with me on our trip up there.  It is very convenient to share many of the same partners with Bridget's organization, CAPP.  It means we see each other frequently in meetings, but also carpooling to Rwanda is a possibility from time to time.  We left just before the end of school on Thursday, so Timmy would miss as little as possible,  and so I could get a swim in, then raced up to Kigali to try and make a 5pm meeting that Zachee and I were having at Friends Peace House.

We had no trouble getting there on time as the new route between the cities takes less than 5 hours, and the border can take as little as 10-15 minutes.  By now I am definitely on a first name basis with all of the customs officials and border guards, and several of them asked me where Rebecca, Oren and David were.

We arrived in Kigali about 4 and went directly to our accommodations, Peace Guest House, which is run by the  Friends church. It is not where I stay with the family, but it is run by the Friends church and is fairly near Friends Peace House.  It is not a bad place to stay in many ways, as long as you consider running water a luxury you can do without.  (I bathed in what amounted a glass of water each morning.)

The meeting at 5pm went well, then we had an all day meeting on Friday.  It involved Friends Peace House as well as several donors.  Ruth and Krystan were there as well, as they are seconded to FPH.  All in all it went well.  They are restructuring the organization and letting us know what they were doing.  I was able to offer little more than moral encouragement from MCC as we have been forced to cut many of our grants to our partners due to budget cuts at home.  The meeting began at 9am and ended around 4pm.  (That is typical of meetings in this part of the world.)

I had several errands to do in town after that and ended the evening over dinner (pizza) with Zachee, Bridget and Tim.  Among other things we made plans for the next day, Saturday.  There was a wedding of one of the Peace House staff who had many friends about 3 hours West on Lake Kivu.  I considered going, but Rebecca felt she really needed me back on Saturday as we still had a lot of work to do.  Zachee and Bridget wanted to go to the wedding with some others.

Since they were in the majority, I decided it would be best if they took the car and I returned to Burundi by bus.  So on Saturday morning they dropped me off at the Belvedere Lines bus stop where I caught a bus to Bujumbura.

I am happy to report that the bus was small and quite comfortable.  They even had a television running rap videos for our viewing and listening pleasure.  The border crossing also went quite smoothly.  In fact it would have been a good trip overall if we would not have come to a serious accident on the way into Bujumbura that had stopped all traffic.

Sadly  have seen more accidents here in a year and a half than I have seen in my whole life in the US.  This one involved a large open truck, carrying about 2 dozen policemen standing and riding in the back, and a taxi mini-van loaded with people.  They seem to have glanced off each other.  Both were upside-down completely blocking the road.  The carnage was quite horrific.  I am guessing we arrived about 15 minutes after it happened because when the bus stopped we could see the accident and walk up to it.  What was strange about it was how quiet it all was despite the number of people.  Many were helping to do by hand what the jaws-of-life would do in our country.  There is no urgent care here, no firetrucks or rescue vehicles.  The dead and injured had been taken out of the vehicles and were laying on the ground beside the road.  I saw about nine or ten mortally wounded and dead policemen piled into a pick-up truck to be taken down the mountain to Bujumbura.

As the vehicles were pushed out of the way and our bus was able to get through, we took on two injured people.  They were laid out on the floor in the aisle of the bus.  I was glad we could do something as I had a real feeling of helplessness there.  I was even trained as an EMT many years ago, but there was not even much available to do the most basic first aid. 

The injured did not cry out on the what must have been a very bumpy and painful ride down the mountain.  I gave the policeman my water who was lying in the aisle next to me.  He could really barely drink it. 

When we got to the bottom of the mountain, at the edge of the city, our bus popped a tire.  We stopped and waited for another bus.   I called Rebecca to pick me up as we were quite near the city.  I was going to offer to drive the injured to the hospital as well, but a rudimentary ambulance arrived and took them to a hospital before Rebecca got there. 

I was struck, as I said above, by the 'stoicness' of all involved, the bystanders and the victims, as well as survivors. Perhaps from years of trauma, there is a kind of fatalism, or at least 'realism' about the fragility of life.  In a place like this, if something happens you either die or survive.  There is really no life-saving advanced life support that can bring one back from the point of death.  Maybe I am reading too much into this, but there is something about the way people behaved that seemed, after years of war and other trauma, to reflect a kind of solemn recognition that life is not an entitlement.



I don't want to end on a sad note, and fortunately there is some good news to report.  While I was gone I missed Carnival (Mardi Gras parade) at Oren's school.  I mentioned last week that all of the nursery school classes have been doing an extended units on American Indians.  On Carnaval day this past Friday, parents were invited to come and see the fruition of their labor.  All of the kids had Indian costumes and feather headdresses.  There were teepees as well.  Oren's class wore white pants and the boys were bare chested and looked like young braves, with their teacher as chief.  They had warpaint on their faces and chests and carried spears.  I do not know what tribe they were supposed to be, some kind of plains Indians I suppose, maybe Navaho or Cherokee, but they did look quite cute.  So much for political correctness at the nursery school level.  At least there were no cowboys.

Oren seemed to really enjoy the whole activity and got to keep his Indian costume that he helped make.  He still likes to wear his headress and carry his spear, and even took it to church this past Sunday.

Rebecca also had a parent-teacher conference on Thursday evening while I was gone.  She did get a good report that Oren is very smart in all the crafts and activities they do, but it was confirmed that his French is progressing very slowly.  Nonetheless, I will say that he still loves to go to school and even looks forward to the extra French tutorials on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

This week, while he has no school we will be heading upcountry again to visit Jodi and our partners in Gitega.  Please pray that we do not meet any more serious accidents on our way up.  Frankly I am worried that this is another 'peace dividend' as the number of vehicles on the road in the city and coming from upcountry has increased considerably even since we have been here.