Measuring Our Impact--Reputation vs. Character

Oren, Elias, and Aviaja climbing on the monkey bars at the Ecole Belge after their Karate class.



Our last full week at home (before starting travel again) this past week was significantly more eventful than the week before.  We are still in the process of end of year reporting and planning for the new year as well.  That is work done at the computer mostly, filling in fields in a database after reading and critiquing plans and reports received from our partners and service workers. 

It is interesting to be part of such an ‘intentional’ organization.  Literrally everything done by MCC, it partners and each individual service worker is planned for at the beginning of the year and then reported on at the end.  (with one progress report as per year as well.)  “What about sponteniety?” You Ask.  I assure you, there is a blank for that in the final report that asks what unexpected surprises or learning happened during the year that can be reported on, and how will you integrate this into your plans for next year? 

In fact, as an amusing exercise I will provide you with a few questions to consider for yourself this year that we must answer and report on each year.  As you see some are about personal development, not just questions about the job.


1) What self development goals do you have for the coming year?

2) What primary relationships (e.g. co-workers, neighbors, local church) will you focus on this coming year?  What do you hope to give and receive from those relationships?

Felix at the office at work.

What I find interesting is that this is my ‘job’ that is asking me this.  Some may consider it invasive, but I appreciate the emphasis on transparency that is put on our position here.  What undergirds this is an element of trust that MCC is committed to help us in realizing our maximum potential and not seeking to undermine us.  It also kind of gives one a sense that ones time is valuable and should not be wasted.  

I do admit though, that while I was enthusiastic and very elaborate about my great hopes and plans in the first two years, my answers have become shorter and far less interesting as the years go by.  


Looking back over the week though, the routine remained more or less the same.  I have mentioned that I started teaching a ballet class for adults on Wednesday evenings and that continued to grow and go well last week.  Swimming continues to be a daily activity and we found out that our dues for this year will be about $100 each (Rebecca and I)  That is really not bad for unlimited access to a great pool for a whole year.  (They did warn us they would be doing major renovations during the last 3 months of the year though.)

Thursday was one of the standout days because of interesting activites.  It began in the afternoon after school.  I was with the kids and we were invited by Naja to go fishing off the pier of a restaurant called Cercle Nautique, that has boat docks at it.

We met Thomas and a friend of his as well as the kids Aviaja and Elias who were already fishing off the wharf.  What was most impressive though was the family of hippos between the piers, about 10 yards away lolling in the water, occasionally bumping the docked speedboats bobbing nearby.

David and Oren did not catch anything but enjoyed watching the hippos snorting and yawning nearby.

(note to anyone in Burundi, this is the best free place to see hippos, and very close to the center of town.)

That same evening Rebecca and I had a date night pre arranged with Scott and Danika.  We went out to a nice restaurant called Palmerai, also on the beach near Cercle Nautique.  The chef there is possibly the best in Burundi, a Belgian man who used to cook for Mbutu (former Bigman of DRC).

We had exquisite food--filet mignon with roqueford sauce and veal scallopini.  It was about $12 per entree but would have been about $50 each in the US.

We had a chance to have a good conversation together about things other than work, mostly.  It did occur to us that my Birthday and Valentines day were going to be the following week, but we would be out of town in Rwanda for my Birthday.  So this was kind of a celebration.

One topic of conversation that came up that was interesting was looking at how our current jobs differ from our previous ones.  I had been director of the dance theatre at Vassar College and on the dance faculty, and Rebecca had been a youth pastor.

Being in monitoring and evaluation mode we analyzed the differences in the language of NGO reporting.  It went something like this:

Although we are challenged by our new jobs we realized oure old jobs were exciting in a certain way that is not duplicated here.  There we were program implementers here we are administrators.  At Vassar and our Church, we were directly involved with 'beneficiaries' of these projects.  (students mainly).  In 4 years it was really possible for both of us to see the 'impact' of our work on them.  At Vassar, someone in VRDT for 4 years of College goes through a major transformation in that time, and there is a real sense, for many, that I played a significant role.  In the case of the church (PUMC) Rebecca was able to see the same affect on youth in that time.

By contrast, we do hope our programs are having 'impact' on 'beneficiaries' of our work, but we rarely see that, even when we read reports and do field visits.  It is not the same thing as being 'on the ground' and in the lives of individuals the way we were, and our partners are now.

I suppose we might have some impact on our service workers on our team, but we are always one step removed from those who we are truly here to serve.

By the end of the evening we went and picked up the kids and Scott and Danika gave us a great report on their behavior.

The other place Oren is getting great reports is on his dictées.  These are his French language writing quizes he has every Friday.  I am impressed that so far he has done them all virtually perfectly, in cursive.  Last week he wrote:  A l'école je calcule et colorie.  It is good to see him succeeding and feeling pleased with himself about his progress in learning French.

Saturday was a big day in that we planned, also as part of my Birthday week, a folk dance in the afternoon.  We once again cleared our living room and invited the 'usual suspects', as well as some new folks.  As most of the regulars could not come we had a newer group, many of them francophone this time, so much of the teaching was in French.

Among the most enthusiastic dancers was the daughter of one of Oren's teachers who brought 2 other friends from school.  They did "Cotton-eyed Joe" about 3 times before other adults arrived as well as a South African dance called Pata-Pata.  We did some Western square dances as well and a Hora.  It was fun as always and we had a dinner together afterwards.

We did have a few unexpected but welcome visitors including Allie Wisdom, a person who actually reads this blog and is planning to move to Burundi with her family in August.  It was great to meet her and 2 of her sons who were visiting with her.  We also had a pastor from the UK (John) drop by to cut a rug, as well as Carl Schmidtt, one of the founders of Conservation Agriculture (Farming God's Way).

It was an interesting group and I enjoyed the conversation as much as the dancing this week.

Rebecca and I got to bed around 10:30 pm after cleaning up some messes, but felt very satisfied with the work.

Sunday was another special treat as Scott Mackenzie was preaching (for the first time at BICC).  He did a great job talking about Ananias and Saphira.  The takehome message that really struck me was the distinction between reputation and character, and where we put our emphasis and energy.  I think admittedly most of us are more concerned with the former than the latter, and may even spend time on our character if we think it will positively influence our reputation.

He challenged us to be individuals that really cultivate a good character and be the kinds of people that others seek out because we genuinely care, and are not motivated to friendship for other objectives. (particularly trying to get something.)  This was probably a challenge for many here who see friendship and interest as inseparable.

He also challenged Western missionaries to be 'real' with our constituents at home.  Not to try to impress them with testimonies of conversions and miracles which may not have quite happened as extraordinarily as we might imply.  He admitted his own temptation to make his time and work here sound more impressive that it really is to those at home.  (Especially since they depend on support from others.)

Overall, though he was encouraging and not confrontive, and I feel motivated us all to want to be better and more real in our work here and church community.

Next weekend we will be in Kigali and will be meeting Rebecca's dad there.  Hopefully there will time to send a short post on Monday.

Bonus photo on the way to church.  Bicycles are the pick up trucks of Burundi.  This is a pretty typical view on the road.