Retreat and Recovery

Oren building a multilevel railway with some new pieces of track Grandma Jean brought from the USA.

I think I am beginning to understand how the Levites (the priestly tribe of Israel) felt on a Sabbath.  It seems like much of the time of worship was dedicated to hauling water slaughtering animals and tending a giant barbeque grill.  In other words, it was hard work and probably exhausting.  Just coming off a three day team retreat, I think both Rebecca and I were ready to collapse on Saturday night into a coma of exhaustion.  I am not saying it was bad, but organizing and running a retreat is not as renewing as being on it.  

Just to back up a bit, I might have mentioned that we would be having a team retreat this past week and we did so beginning on Wednesday evening and ending on Saturday evening.  Because of this, the first part of the week was front loaded with much preparation work-- photocopying songsheets, worksheets, cooking food, shopping for snacks, organizing art supplies, as well as planning activities, discussion topics around a theme, and a general schedule of events.  Rebecca was good about making sure this process was inclusive and asked many to contribute to the retreat according to their gifts.  

Because of this we have had many unique offerings in the past including bookbinding and yoga, and this year, thanks to Nathan and Yolanda, we added sculpting in clay and watercolor to the repertoire of activities.  

Although we did not have the retreat in Bujumbura, members of our team began arriving here as early as Monday (Yolanda and Jodi).  Ruth and Krystan got here on Wednesday which meant that by Wednesday evening, including Rebecca’s Mom (Grandma Jean), we had 7 adults (Grandma Jean, Ruth, Krystan, Yolanda, Jodi, Paul, Rebecca) and 3 children (Oren, David, baby Misha) staying in our house.  This pretty much meant that all parents were sleeping in bed with their children and Yolanda was in the living room, but our house is big enough to feel like it can accommodate this many people comfortably.  

One of the reasons Yolanda came down early was to see a mutual friend, Jean Claude, defend his masters thesis at Hope University here in Bujumbura.  I went as well because I was curious about how this differed from my own experience of defending a thesis and I must say it was quite interesting and a reminder of just how much less people make-do with here than in our country.   It was pouring the whole week and the evening of the defense was no exception, we drove to the campus, in a poorer quartier of town and did our best to avoid getting drenched as we looked for the room.  

The classroom was set up somewhat like a tribunal in a German prison camp.  Far from a state-of-the-art, multimedia, controlled climate and acoustically optimized, room one might find at Vassar where I used to teach, it was in fact a cinderblock room with bare walls, save one blackboard, no working lights, and a tin roof that amplified the rain to a deafening tone making the exchanges of questions and answers almost impossible to hear.   The windows also had no glass and the voices of students standing  and chatting under the awning (to avoid the rain) added to the din.  

The room was crowded as many had come to hear the defence and Jean Claude was attired in a white suit and tie on one side of the front of the room at a desk complete with a floral centerpiece, and the panel of 3 professors in suits on the other side of the room at their own long table complete with a second floral centerpiece.

Since Jean Claude had decided to write his thesis in English (his 3^rd language) some of the questions were asked and responded to in English, but others were in French. Jean-Claude’s thesis was an analysis of why education was failing to bring the Batwa tribe into mainstream society and why there continued to be an extremely high rate of attrition from the free primary education among Batwa disproportionate to other ethnic groups.  

Being a French system I was aware that form is as important as content in all of this and many of the questions and corrections were focused on the form of the thesis, to wit: how to write acknowledgements (thank professors before family) and which prepositions to use in the title (at school rather than in school)  (As an American it sounded quite nit-picky).  The formality of all of this certainly was daunting, and I knew that points were awarded or taken away based on solely on these criteria.  What made it all a bit comical though, was the deafening acoustic din in which this solemn examination was taking place.  To add an element of film-noir to it all was the fact that by 7pm the room was entirely dark, making reading from prepared text nearly impossible, EXCEPT for an intensely bright strobe light attached to a video wielded by a free-roaming cameraman who stood between Jean Claude and the professors and was panning between Jean-Claude, his interlocutors and the audience (with several close-ups on your truly--the mzungu).  It gave the whole thing a feeling of some kind of criminal interrogation and added to the many distractions that everyone seems to accept as normal around here.  I continue to be humbled by what people endure to have an opportunity for education around here in contrast to the comforts of academic pursuit in the US that are almost entitlements (electricity, laptops, internet access everywhere, libraries, classrooms, and study alcoves complete with comfortable seating, and a general ambience of quietness in which to reflect and exchange ideas).

Despite the challenge of it all, he did pass with a good grade and Yolanda and I were happy to congratulate him on his accomplishment.  I believe his thesis had been influenced somewhat by experience he had doing some work with our partner UCEDD who runs the Hope School for the Batwa.  

Tuesday was pretty normal, schedule-wise.  It is the day when I teach ballet in the afternoon, and Rebecca and the kids did take the opportunity to take Grandma Jean to see Oren’s school as well as a swim at Entente Sportif.

Wednesday was occupied with logistics for leaving and food preparation for a large group.  We were happy to have Enoch, our back-up cook (and cook trainer) to help make tons of cinnamon rolls for our guests.  He is a great cook and we enjoyed fish curry, tomato tarragon soup, fajitas, and other tasty dishes while he was there helping out.

We actually had our first meal together as a group at our house on Wednesday and asked everyone to wear a costume (as an icebreaker)  It was pretty funny and I have at least one only slightly embarrassing photo of the event at the bottom of this page.

The kids went to school on Thursday as the Horst’s son Jal as well as Oren are in the Ecole Belge. So we headed up to Igenda in the afternoon, a town where there is a retreat center about an hour out of Bujumbura.  We have been there in the past several times and even had last year’s retreat there.  It is beautiful and sits among several tea plantations with spectacular panoramas of rolling hills that remind one of Switzerland.  It is also quite cold!  Very cold, in fact, when it rains, which it did for much of the time we were there.

Upon arrival we huddled around a warm fire place in the main open foyer, trying to avoid getting splattered by rain that was being blown under the roof by the wind.  It was difficult to really get unpacked and begin, but Nathan did have his clay and we started doing some sculpting by the fire.  Nathan told us he bought the clay from a Batwa man who was stunned that he wanted it, and not a ready-made pot.  

He did show us some techniques of pot making, bead making, and how to fire at low temps in a wood fire.  We all made our own things until it became too dark to see.  (Oh yes, there was no electricity in this place when the noisy generator is turned off.)  I made a bust of a head, which I don’t think came out badly considering I had no tools and virtually no light.  (Unfortunately by the time we left it was beginning to turn to mud and crumble apart.)

Our reflection times, interspersed through the retreat focused on understanding our mission through conceiving of poverty as a spiritual issue, and seeing transformation as beginning at the levelof the individual.  Among the interesting passages of scripture we considered was the story of Jesus healing a woman ‘bent-over’ for 14 years on the Sabbath, as well as the story of Zaccheus.  It was interesting to consider how Jesus ministers to and transforms lives through liberation of both victims as well as oppressors.

We tried to find ways for members of our team to encourage and build each other up through affirmation and praying together.

Friday morning we saw a brief pause in the deluge of rain showers and we went on a group hike.  It was relatively successful even with young children in tow.  It is one of the few places in Burundi I have found where mzungus can hike without attracting too much attention.

During all of our meetings Grandma Jean ran an entire kids program for all the children.  She was assisted by Zachee’s sister Ina who also came on the trip.  It was a real Godsend to have someone watch the kids and allow the parents to have some adult time together.

By Saturday, despite the enjoyment of hikes and nature, we were pretty much all ready to head back.  The rain did detract somewhat from the pleasure of being there and we had another brief reprieve from it as we were leaving.  We stopped on the way down the mountain at an old tea plantation house for some fantas and playing but when the rain caught up to us again we continued down the way to Bujumbura.  

We got home in the late afternoon but went out to dinner together at a restaurant along the lake for a final closure on the evening.  I am not sure which part of this was what made the whole trip exhausting for Rebecca and I, but we came home after dinner and flopped into bed almost before the children were asleep and stayed there the whole night.

We did go to church on Sunday morning with Jean. Yolanda left on Sunday afternoon and Ruth, Krystan (with their baby) will leave on Tuesday with Jodi.  

We did have a meeting with our small group on Sunday evening and it was refreshing to share and reflect on the weekend events with them.  It is good to feel affirmed and renewed by others who can share our joys and concerns on a regular basis.

I am very happy that the next several weeks will be spent in Bujumbura and I am looking forward to beginning to prepare for the holidays here.  I am thinking of repainting the living room while we have Grandma here for extra help with the kids.

Bonus photo:  The Fresh Princes of MCC-- DJ Felix and Ice P.  (From the costume party on the first day of the retreat.)