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.