As I look at the hour I realize the urgency of getting at
least something down for this week as we start a new adventure at 7 am tomorrow
morning. Yes, the first of two vacations
begins in the morning when our family and the family of Rebecca’s brother Paul
jet off together to Kenya for a week of safari and beach.
If you read the last entry you will know that I ended with
their arrival, so for the last 8 days or so we have been hosting them
here. Despite the fact that life is a
bit hectic at the end of the academic year--especially this year with so many
of our friends leaving, we are actually really delighted to have them with
us.
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| Miriam joining Oren's soccer team for a game. |
Although their kids are each slightly older than their
counterparts, they play together very well, and have enjoyed participating in
the activities that our kids have been doing.
Paul and Gwendolyn last Wednesday in the afternoon. This is a trip that has been in the planning
since we got here, practically. It was
decided that they would come close to our final year when their kids were old
enough to enjoy it, and it seems hard to believe we have reached that
time.
We began last week by taking them sight seeing around
Bujumbua a bit. We started with some
lake front restaurant like Cercle Nautique and Bora Bora. They enjoyed tasting some of the local fare,
especially the bottles of pop we get here—coke, Fanta (orange and lemon), with
the taste of real cane sugar!!
The kids liked the pool and the beaches, but enjoyed our
house as well where they have been incessantly jumping on the trampoline.
Friday, Rebecca took everyone to the zoo. I thought the cousins would be a bit squeamish but was surprised to hear that they had bought not one but two guinea pigs--one to feed to the leopard and the other a crocodile. It is really amazing to an American that this is a petting zoo since you are welcome to pet absolutely anything. The chimpanzee (Kita) enjoyed being fed peeled peanuts right into her mouth. A French herpetologist was visiting and took out the Gaboon viper and let everyone touch it. All in all it was quite an experience for the Americans, but they seemed to be into it.
The weekend was busy with social events including our last
yoga class for the year. (I actually
videoed it and was going to offer it as a free work-out class to anyone
interested.) It was a bit sad because
we are saying good-bye to a very good couple from the UN who we will miss very
much. They have hosted us regularly at
their house which has a beautifully picturesque porch and garden.
Teri_Lynn as well as our other Salter Janelle were both
there. (Teri-Lynn from upcountry) as
well as Jennifer Price and Melody. That
was 4 MCCers besides Rebecca and I.
Melody was down from upcountry because her sister was
arriving in town, and Teri-Lynn had just finished teaching classes for the
year. All the guests has meant our house
is quite full and Jennifer had to absorb the surplus at her place where Janelle
has been living since her visa refusal in Rwanda.
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| yoga crew |
After yoga, Rebecca and I went with our family to our Danish
friends the Spanner’s house for another brunch.
This was a final good-bye party for them. We brought the kids and Paul and Gwendolyn
along as well.
The food was exquisite at their party with many European
offerings. It was a big gathering with
many friends. It was probably a bit
awkward for Rebecca’s brother’s family but they were gracious and the kids
seemed to be able to join in games pretty well with the other children.
In the late afternoon-evening we went to the beach and then
to Ubuntu restaurant for dinner. It was
a very full day.
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| Naja's brunch |
Sunday we went to church where the sermon was quite
prophetic, in challenging the church not to follow, but lead on issues of
justice in the country. The pastor has
some poignant examples of where the church has failed to do so, and it was hard
medicine to swallow as a listener. I did
feel challenged to do better in as much as I can.
We spent the entire afternoon at home preparing for Oren’s
Birthday Party, which was to take place on Monday. Preparations were done by all and involved
getting costumes made (It was a Narnia themed party), building a piniata,
making a cake, plan games, writing out a treasure hunt, etc.
In the evening we had our last small group for the
summer. It was great to have everyone
here who is still around. We had a very
good discussion about the message and a meaningful prayer time as many of us
will not see each other for several months.
Others are still uncertain about what the future holds for the next half
of the year.
Monday, the kids started their last week of school. While they were there, we continued to get
ready for the party planned for that afternoon.
There was also a fair amount of office work that needed to be done as
our vacation has been rapidly approaching.
We picked up the kids after school and by 3pm Oren’s friends
started to arrive for his 8th Birthday party. (This is actually about a week early because
we will not be here on the actual day.)
The preparations paid off!
We started off with a costume parade and I was impressed by what the
kids wore. David and Oren who had had the
most time for preparation were probably the most elaborately dressed with David
as Tumnus the Faun, (complete with little leather pants and a goat hair
goatee!)
Oren was a minotaur and he finally got to wear his helmet
and wield his sword and battle axe. He
also had a goat skin covering on his chest and back to make him look more
bovine.
He really enjoyed leading the parade. There were several Princess Lucies and Susans
and little Grace Guillbaud was a fetching White Witch. There were also an Edmond and Peter, two
Aslands (Isabel Van Aarde was one of
them.). We were missing Reepicheep (We
needed you Samuel Miller!)
After the parade we played 2 rounds of musical thrones to
find the true High Kings and Queens of Narnia.
There were so many kids (22), we did an older and younger group.
After that we played a kind of bowling game where the kids
had to knock down enemy Telmarine soldiers.
It was a good math game as they had to multiply their scores after 2
turns.
The treasure hunt was next and there were two paths for two
teams, one francophone one Anglophone to find the missing Birthday presents and
party favors which had been captured by a Telmarine raiding party. Both groups really got into following the
clues.
When they were found Oren opened the presents and was
thrilled to find several lego sets and even a small microscope. This was followed by Bithday cake. Rebecca had cleverly designed a cake in the
shape of a hill with Asland on top standing beside the broken stone
tablet. (made of white chocolate.) Here is a picture of what it looked
like.
We all enjoyed cake and other snacks. It was great to see all the kids again,
especially because some will not be here next year with us.
The party ended with a piniata. I also made this in the shape of the stone
tablet and put a seam in it to split down the middle when hit from the
top. It did prove to be quite tough
though and every kid got a shot at smashing it before it finally broke open.
We felt good about the party when it was over and Oren
really seemed happy with it. He really
has a lot of friends, mzungus and Burundians, boys and girls. We actually could not possibly have invited
them all.
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| piniata |
As we looked over the wrecked house shortly afterwards, we
did have the feeling that we had had one social event too many, but this is one
you cannot pass by. Birthday parties
mean so much to Oren and he loves the preparation as much as the party
itself.
Fortunately we had a lot of help cleaning up as Teri-Lynn
was still here as well as Paul and Gwendolyn.
We had a quiet evening that night after clean up.
Tuesday we planned to head upcountry to take Paul and
Gwendolyn on a sight-seeing tour of some tourist attraction as well as some of
our work projects. We were actually nine
in the car when we started out since Teri-Lynn hitched a ride up with us to
Burasira.
We stopped outside Gitega at the town Gihosha. It is the place where drums are made for
traditional Burundian drumming. We had a
tour and heard the story about how the King of Burundi had sought refuge there.
After hearing the story, we were treated to a show by one of
the finest traditional drum corps in Burundi.
It was an awesome show, about half an hour long. I got some of the best photos of drummers I
have ever had.
We left in the late afternoon and continued on to Burasira
where we were staying the night at the Grand Seminaire near the Hope School.
I was stunned to see that they have actually paved the road
all the way there (coming from the Ngozi side.)
The changes in infrastructure in the area make it all seem far less
remote.
Teri-Lynn showed us here house and joined us for supper at
the Seminary where we stayed the night.
We woke up to find it quite cool in the morning. We had a nice breakfast (homemade bread and
guava jam and avocados) then headed up the school.
Classes are currently not in session but we took Paul and
Gwendolyn’s family up through the Batwa quarter and to the school where we met
Beatrice the coordinator of education.
There were some kids hanging around kicking around a soccer
ball made of old plastic bags. Miriam
and Gabriel joined in the game while Rebecca did an interview of a couple of
the kids for an MCC report.
It is always amazing, in talking to the kids, just to find
out how poor they are. Really buying
something like a bar of soap is often completely out of reach for some of their
families.
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| Teri-Lynn with one of her kindergartners |
This year the 10th grade has one Batwa girl in
it, a major feat in itself considering that girls are not encouraged to go
beyond 6th grade. They had
taken their national tests but the results were not in. I know success is unlikely but I am praying
that she might be able to continue with her studies.
We left letters from pen-pals and picked up some others and
headed back down to Bujumbura after lunch.
We were one person lighter as Teri-Lynn stayed up in Burasira. It is quite interesting to see her more at
ease after teaching for a year here.
Kids at the school love her, especially the little ones. She even finished an English language
curriculum for every level from M1 through 7th grade. Quite a feat for one year.
We arrived back in Bujumbura in the early evening on
Wednesday. Oren and David had their last
day of school on Thursday. They were
content to go and say good bye. Rebecca
and I also said some final good byes to friends (The Spanners and Hoffmans)
during the day. We have known both of
these families most of the past 5 years.
Now we are completing our monthly financial report and
packing into the wee hours. I will write
again in about 9 days, after our Kenya vacation.
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