tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73571815117761485642024-03-05T19:41:03.187-08:00Within the Heart of AfricaDRI's partnership with THARS
Burundi 2013
Written by Malachi ChampionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-20586431354131867012013-07-06T01:43:00.003-07:002013-07-06T01:43:55.925-07:00T Minus Two Hours to Departure<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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7/6/13</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s almost
poetic how our first and last nights were spent in the same beds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went to the THARS office last night to
write while everyone else went to a market for souveniers, so our next stop (from
the THARS office again; there’s wifi here) is for a reprise shopping trip that I
will be attending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our plane takes off
at half past noon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s not much more
to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll be home soon.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-84514019274737498892013-07-06T01:26:00.001-07:002013-07-06T01:26:02.714-07:00The Road Back<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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7/5/13</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unbelievable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all just unbelievable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unbelievable that our time is up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unbelievable that we’ve seen the things we’ve
seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unbelievable that the world as we
knew it is just the same as we left it, and yet everything will seem different.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We woke up this
morning for breakfast, and afterwards, we had a meeting with our whole team, David’s
whole family who was still in Gitega, and Robert and his wife Salome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We talked about what went well, what went
poorly, what we could do better next time, and what we definitely need to do
next time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we’d finished that, all
of the Africans who served us during our time here were given a gift and a
short speech of thanks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that, the
teens were dismissed to write letters of thanks to our sponsors while the
adults talked about “other things,” I was never told what.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they were finished, we packed all of our
bags and had lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After lunch, we
loaded up the vans and drove back to Bujumbura.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the way, there was a semi that had overturned on a curve, and later,
we stopped very suddenly for Felicité to fill up a jug with water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hot in Bujumbura compared to
Gitega.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our plane leaves at two thirty
tomorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of me wants to go back to
Gitega.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not all of me, though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just can’t believe it’s over so soon.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-91609104516841348422013-07-06T01:22:00.005-07:002013-07-06T01:22:50.736-07:00Culmination<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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7/4/13</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was unaware so many memorable things could
happen all in one day, and I’m anxious to get them all down, lest they fall out
of the back of my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first big
change, for me, from every other day was that I did not stay behind and write
when the rest of the teens went up the hill to work on the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went up with them, and gained new respect
for what they had been doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sun
was hot, the work was difficult, and it was amazing how quickly my arms got
tired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also a noticeable difference
between the work that I had done and the work that people who had been doing
this for the last two weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In case I forgot
to mention what it was that the teens had been doing or you’ve forgotten, they
have been repairing the mortar between the bricks of the walls around the
campus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were originally mortared
with mud, and it has begun to erode away, quite a bit in some places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were going over the original mortar with
cement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve ever seen my
handwriting, you’ll have perspective for what the portion I mortared looks
like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While everyone else’s portions
were smooth and even, mine were rough and nowhere near even.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was almost humorous to see the difference
between where they were working and where I was working; you could tell from
one brick to another.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had become a
running joke that James, David’s younger son (who turned twenty while we were
here), would only believe that the Holy Spirit was trying to tell him something
through people if three different people who hadn’t already communicated said
the same thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During his time on the
wall, two different people had told him that his work was excellent, that he
should consider a career in wall work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
were half joking, of course, but at the beginning of work on the wall he
decided that it hadn’t been the Holy Spirit, as only two people had said
anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the adults finished the
training, J.D. came outside and started making jokes at us, as is his way, and
eventually remarked that James was doing an excellent job on his portion of the
wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone burst out laughing,
because he made three.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, it came to
light that he had been a plant and that someone tall and pale had set that
event up to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The look on James’s
face was priceless.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After lunch, we
washed dishes as usual, for the last time, and planned the skit for the kids,
about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once it was planned, we had about an
hour-long break, as the adults went back into the training early so that they
would finish early to help us with the kids.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each day that
kids came, we had about thirty, and there were roughly three groups that came,
with overlap and some kids that only came once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were all invited to come back today, and when they had all been let
in, there were over seventy kids that we were in charge of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The skit went extraordinarily well, and when
Christopher, our narrator, described Jesus dying, the kids all let out a sad
and surprised “yohhhh!” “Yoh” is a Kirundi exclamation that denotes surprise,
excitement, or shock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I only hope that
the message we were trying to convey reached them.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the skit,
we invited them to have us wash their feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve been a part of a foot washing service before, but never as the
person doing the washing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s truly an
amazing experience to humble yourself just as Jesus did to wash the feet that it
would be natural to see as below you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naturally,
it’s also powerful to be the person who is being washed, as the whole purpose
is that someone you perceive to be above you is humbling themselves to appear
below you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The purpose was not lost on
the kids, and it was evident in their faces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d look up from their feet to make eye contact with them, and they’d
become aware, look up from their feet, and look away from my face and cover
their huge smiles with their hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
their feet were washed, they were given a t-shirt or pants if they didn’t have
any, and sat down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the last child
was given a shirt, we (the adults, teens, trainees, and kids) were given a
private show by a group of ceremonial drummers, the kind that performed at the Independence
Day parade, though not the same ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ginger,
Julia, Lydia, and I even got a chance to join them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the drummers, we said a teary good-bye
to the kids for the final time and they left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After the last kids had left, a couple of women from the Twa village
across the valley came with their children, who had been coming to play with
us, and presented us with gifts of the pots that they make for a living as
thanks for the work that we’d done with their kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One woman had her daughter, Hakizimana, and
her son, Jagisoni, help her make the pots and etch their names into them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hakizimana and Jagisoni had been coming to
play with us, almost every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My eyes
teared up at how grateful they were for such a small thing we’d done: playing with
their children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burundi is truly an
amazing place.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-89012113387405338752013-07-06T01:22:00.001-07:002013-07-06T01:22:11.871-07:00Culmination<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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7/4/13</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was unaware so many memorable things could
happen all in one day, and I’m anxious to get them all down, lest they fall out
of the back of my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first big
change, for me, from every other day was that I did not stay behind and write
when the rest of the teens went up the hill to work on the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went up with them, and gained new respect
for what they had been doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sun
was hot, the work was difficult, and it was amazing how quickly my arms got
tired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also a noticeable difference
between the work that I had done and the work that people who had been doing
this for the last two weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In case I forgot
to mention what it was that the teens had been doing or you’ve forgotten, they
have been repairing the mortar between the bricks of the walls around the
campus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were originally mortared
with mud, and it has begun to erode away, quite a bit in some places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were going over the original mortar with
cement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve ever seen my
handwriting, you’ll have perspective for what the portion I mortared looks
like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While everyone else’s portions
were smooth and even, mine were rough and nowhere near even.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was almost humorous to see the difference
between where they were working and where I was working; you could tell from
one brick to another.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had become a
running joke that James, David’s younger son (who turned twenty while we were
here), would only believe that the Holy Spirit was trying to tell him something
through people if three different people who hadn’t already communicated said
the same thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During his time on the
wall, two different people had told him that his work was excellent, that he
should consider a career in wall work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
were half joking, of course, but at the beginning of work on the wall he
decided that it hadn’t been the Holy Spirit, as only two people had said
anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the adults finished the
training, J.D. came outside and started making jokes at us, as is his way, and
eventually remarked that James was doing an excellent job on his portion of the
wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone burst out laughing,
because he made three.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, it came to
light that he had been a plant and that someone tall and pale had set that
event up to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The look on James’s
face was priceless.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After lunch, we
washed dishes as usual, for the last time, and planned the skit for the kids,
about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once it was planned, we had about an
hour-long break, as the adults went back into the training early so that they
would finish early to help us with the kids.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each day that
kids came, we had about thirty, and there were roughly three groups that came,
with overlap and some kids that only came once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were all invited to come back today, and when they had all been let
in, there were over seventy kids that we were in charge of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The skit went extraordinarily well, and when
Christopher, our narrator, described Jesus dying, the kids all let out a sad
and surprised “yohhhh!” “Yoh” is a Kirundi exclamation that denotes surprise,
excitement, or shock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I only hope that
the message we were trying to convey reached them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the skit,
we invited them to have us wash their feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve been a part of a foot washing service before, but never as the
person doing the washing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s truly an
amazing experience to humble yourself just as Jesus did to wash the feet that it
would be natural to see as below you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naturally,
it’s also powerful to be the person who is being washed, as the whole purpose
is that someone you perceive to be above you is humbling themselves to appear
below you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The purpose was not lost on
the kids, and it was evident in their faces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d look up from their feet to make eye contact with them, and they’d
become aware, look up from their feet, and look away from my face and cover
their huge smiles with their hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
their feet were washed, they were given a t-shirt or pants if they didn’t have
any, and sat down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the last child
was given a shirt, we (the adults, teens, trainees, and kids) were given a
private show by a group of ceremonial drummers, the kind that performed at the Independence
Day parade, though not the same ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ginger,
Julia, Lydia, and I even got a chance to join them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the drummers, we said a teary good-bye
to the kids for the final time and they left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After the last kids had left, a couple of women from the Twa village
across the valley came with their children, who had been coming to play with
us, and presented us with gifts of the pots that they make for a living as
thanks for the work that we’d done with their kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One woman had her daughter, Hakizimana, and
her son, Jagisoni, help her make the pots and etch their names into them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hakizimana and Jagisoni had been coming to
play with us, almost every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My eyes
teared up at how grateful they were for such a small thing we’d done: playing with
their children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burundi is truly an
amazing place.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-3717278191800536172013-07-02T09:55:00.000-07:002013-07-02T09:57:07.758-07:00Kwibuka and Independence Day<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: white;">Today, I learned
that David and Felicité are truly amazing people and that our God is very
powerful.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: white;">We visited Kwibuka, the
village where David was born, married, lived for many years, and where he had
three of his four children.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: white;">It is also
the place where he was fired at and almost killed.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: white;">He was teaching at the boarding school in
Kwibuka, a class of both Hutus and Tutsis, when a truck of soldiers drove up
the road and fired at them.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: white;">You can read
the whole story in David’s book, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unlocking
Horns</i><span style="color: white;">.</span>
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
unbelievable to see the real place that it happened, and more unbelievable to
hear David and Felicité tell the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was almost as though such horrible things had happened to other
people, with the way that they told the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve never known Felicité to look troubled, but I was amazed to hear and
see her tell us about how she thought that her husband was dead with part of a
smile on her face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t even
imagine the joy she expressed when she told us about the moment she found out that
he was still alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was truly a
magical sight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The true magic,
though, was in the way they told us about burying the reeking bodies of David’s
dead students with almost the same demeanor as when they showed us their first
house or the church where they were married. These are truly people that God
has healed, and they are a testament to the true healing that can happen, that
they are trying to instill in others.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the true
purpose of this trip: to educate Burundian counselors to be able to guide their
patients through the same amazing healing process that David and Felicité have
undergone, to show them that there is hope for healing, even from something as
heartrending as war or genocide.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today was also
Burundi’s Independence Day, July 1<sup>st</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went to a stadium in the center of Gitega
proper where, it seemed, all of Gitega turned out to walk in the parade,
leaving only the city government and special people to watch it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We qualified as the latter, and we sat for
five hours as every child in the school system, public and private, and every
professional in the city walked around the soccer field holding a banner that
said what organization they belonged to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was not the most exciting thing that we’ve done here, but it was a
very cool glimpse into the culture of the city that we would not have gotten otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was talking to Daniella, David’s eldest
daughter, and I asked her if she was in the parade when she was in school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said she was, so naturally, I asked her
if it’d been fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She responded with a
prompt and emphatic no, there was too much waiting and rehearsing and
such.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could hardly blame her, in fact,
that was the answer I’d expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such is
the way of those types of things, I suppose.</div>
<span style="color: white;">
</span></h4>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-60274055075353905202013-07-02T09:54:00.003-07:002013-07-02T09:54:50.777-07:00Kibimba<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sunday is the Lord’s
Day, set aside in my life for church. This Sunday, we attended church in
Kibimba, the town where Vickie spent much of her youth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She goes by her maiden name there, and it was
immediately obvious why: her parents are well known, well loved people. Mr. and
Mrs. Young, if you’re reading this, I assure you that your friends in Kibimba
have forgotten neither you nor your daughter, and many, many people were
delighted to see her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We attended a
beautiful cross-shaped church where all of the worship singing and instrument
playing and dancing took place in the center, where the four separate ends of
the cross meet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We, as we were with
Vickie Young, were treated as honored guests and were seated on the stage
directly behind the pulpit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a long
service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the ever-present
language barrier, it was in many ways a very rich service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was also a bit rough in a few ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have not been sleeping as well as I could
be, so I have been running on less energy than I am used to having.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mornings are rough for me when I sleep okay,
so when I’m not sleeping okay, they’re even harder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That fact, partnered with the fact that the
service was three and a half hours long made it difficult for me to remain
fully alert, and during the sermon, I admit that I dozed off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My fellow world travelers were eager to
suddenly awaken me, though, using any means at their disposal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This includes the flash on a camera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you very much, Christopher.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t think,
though, that I didn’t enjoy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, it
was a bit difficult for me to endure, but trust me when I say that these people
have a love for God that is unbelievable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I only wish that I could show my love as readily as they.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So many groups performed songs of praise with
dancing and instrumentation that simply blew me away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was truly amazing, and I’d go back in a
heartbeat.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we toured
the hospital at Kibimba, the second best one in Burundi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was very difficult to see people in
various states of sickness in a place with no air conditioning or an
extraordinary amount of privacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What little
privacy there was was lessened by the eagerness of Samson, our guide, to show
us how much they can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m told that
we didn’t infringe as much on this tour as the group did that went two years
ago, but it was still, by American standards, unbelievable. He showed us into a
room where a woman was listing her symptoms to a nurse and then spitting up
into a Ziploc bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside of that room,
J.D. got an unwanted eyeful from a woman who decided to show him her
bandaged-up left breast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had wanted
to get a picture of the women sitting behind her and was readying his camera,
but after she did that, he just let it hang from his neck and avoided eye
contact with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She stared intently at
him, seeming to want something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of
us, however, speak enough Kirundi to have asked her what she was doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time anyone who could speak with her
was around, we just wanted to move on.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Around the corner
stood an African man whose feet were gray and rough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They looked like gravel, as though he was
petrifying from the feet up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daniella, David’s
eldest daughter, went over to him and talked to him for a short while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His voice was high pitched, as though he was
speaking in falsetto.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she rejoined
us, we all asked her what the problem was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She told us that the man said that the doctors didn’t know what was
going on with him, but that he was in pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I almost cried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For an infection
to look that inhuman, to be in pain, to have come to the second-best hospital
in your country and told that the doctors didn’t know how to help you; I can
think of nothing more terrifying, and he’s been on my mind since.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From there, we
walked by the maternity wards, where, Samson told us, a baby is born every four
minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was hard to believe that
even here the rate is that high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the
time we got back to where the tour started, we were all very ready to go back
to the THARS campus and unwind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We huddled
together and watched <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How to Train Your
Dragon</i> in the yard behind our guest house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had left the DVD in my computer from when I decided to watch it a few
weeks ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out to be just the
thing we needed to recover from the day’s stress.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-16946281163934221222013-07-02T08:58:00.000-07:002013-07-02T08:58:05.769-07:00Field Trips<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Saturday, we
took a few day trips to a few interesting places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The day started with breakfast an hour later
than the rest of the days this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
breakfast, we went for a walk across the valley our porch overlooks to a small
village on the mountain opposite us. It was a ten minute walk, about, but it
was as though we’d entered another world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Africa that everyone in the U.S. thinks of if they don’t know better
is what this village was like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women in
old graphic t-shirts that obviously came from America with patterned head wraps
that matched their skirts sat on the ground outside houses made from red mud
and tree branches and shaped clay pots with their hands as little kids ran
around them and played, some without pants and all without shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a unique dissonance, though,
between the poverty that surrounded them and the natural beauty that surrounded
the poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chris, my father, told
David that the view from the top of the mountain was what Americans call a “million
dollar view.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any western country, a large house or
resort or hotel would be sitting up there right now, drinking in the view that
these poor, poor people have every day of their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After lunch, we
piled into the vans to drive an hour and a half to the source of the White Nile
River.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While it may not be the exclusive
source of the river, it is without a doubt the furthest one south.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a fun car ride through more of Burundi’s
mountain country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We passed through a
number of small towns and even a wedding ceremony on our way home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s so much life in this country, and it’s
so beautiful to see how Burundi has become the picture of what reconciliation
and healing can become.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The source of the
Nile itself was, when last Vickie was there, a pipe sticking out of a hill with
water trickling from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not so
anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it’s a full on tourist
attraction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were charged admittance,
but given a tour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our guides told us of
how it was discovered: a German explorer started in Egypt and walked upstream
till he arrived in Burundi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where there
once was a pipe, there is now a series of tile pools that the spring fills with
the crystal clear water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all took
turns drinking from where the spring feeds into the first pool; there is a
little waterfall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It tasted just as
spring water should.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we’d had our
fill of spring water, we walked up a hill to where the bathrooms are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are two sets: the toilet shack and the
cho shack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The toilets, unfortunately,
were out of order, so it was to be the cho.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For those of you who are unfamiliar with the structure of a cho, let me
explain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine the simplest of
latrines: a hollow cement stool with a toilet seat over a pit where everything
winds up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now get rid of everything but
the cement and the pit. Add, however, little feet marks facing away from the
hole in the cement floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You now have
an idea of what we had to work with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I acknowledge
that, as a guy, it was not the same experience for me as for the women on the
trip. </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moving on from
the bathroom situation, we walked down from the promontory where there was a
closed bar-like building, picnic tables, and the bathrooms to the parking lot
and then up another hill, this one more like a mountain, to where the man who
discovered the spring commissioned a pyramid to be built in solidarity with the
other end of the Nile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about ten
feet tall and very fun to climb upon. Many pictures were taken on and around the
pyramid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our guides also told us about
how the mountains we had been upon are part of a continental divide that dictates
where rainwater will wind up, either in the Nile and therefore the Mediterranean
Sea or Lake Tanganyika. It was a very cool place.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We came home
exhausted but full of wonder at the things we’d seen that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cards and dice (no gambling, I promise) were
played and we went to bed, excited for church the next day.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-14681829754889725052013-06-28T08:41:00.002-07:002013-06-28T08:41:57.512-07:00Week One<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Foremost, I feel
I should apologize for the gap in posts about this week, I have not had a great
deal of internet access or time to write, so what time I have spent writing has
been used to get caught up on the posts that you have seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take heart, though, for I assure you that I
will bring you up to speed on what you may think you’ve missed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every day here is
pretty much the same: wake up much earlier than I want to, have breakfast with
four or five cups of chai, go up to the chapel for a time of worship and prayer
and a devotion given by J.D, then we split up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The adults go into the conference room for the training seminars and the
teens go back to the guest house to wash dishes from lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the dishes are finished, the teens walk
all the way back up the compound to work on remortaring the inside of the wall
that surrounds the compound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hot
work, and there’s never any doubt about how hard they are working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The training and time that the teens are to
be working on the wall both end at the same time: lunchtime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone reconvenes at the guest house at the
bottom of the compound for lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
lunch, the teens wash dishes again and the adults go back up to the training.
There’s a short break between dishes and when the kids arrive most days, but
sometimes, dishes take so long that we only have time to finish the dishes,
apply a healthy coat of sunscreen, and run out to meet the kids. Two and a half
hours later, the teens and Chris are coated with the red Gitega dirt mixed with
sweat and smiling wide as the adults walk down the hill with glass bottles in
their hands that were once filled with soda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Prearranged sharing of the dregs of Cokes and Citron Fantas occurs, as
everyone goes back inside the guest house to wash up and relax from a hard
day’s work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cold showers are had, there
is much sitting and relaxing and laughing about funny things throughout the
day, and J.D. usually shines his green laser at people on the mountains opposite
the valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The teens have a devotional
time just before the lights come on at about 6:30, and dinner is served an hour
later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t last long after dinner,
and we’re consistently all in bed when the lights go off at around 10:30 as far
as I know; I always am.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every day this week has been like that, and
every day this week has been spectacular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve sat in on a few lectures in the training, and they’ve been
unbelievably interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The questions
that the trainees are asking are evidence that they’re learning and that they
really care about the subject matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the end of the first seminar, on Wednesday, a woman got up to speak on behalf
of all of the trainees to say how grateful they all are and that what they are
learning is already being applied in their minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also said that they are excited to share
what they’ve learned with colleagues back in all of the separate regions of
Burundi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That night, there was a
celebration called nyamachoma in honor of the completion of the first round of
classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They slaughtered a goat and a
sheep and prepared the meat for us on a charcoal grill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The meat was served on a stick and was
absolutely delicious.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wouldn’t be
Africa, though, unless there were the children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Upwards of forty children all at once, kicking soccer balls high into
the air and throwing Frisbees and tennis balls across the little field we
confine them to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are truly a sight
to behold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m always struck by how much
happier they are than most American children, and how much less entitled the
African children act despite the fact that they have almost nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not an exaggeration, either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are members of the Twa tribe, the
poorest tribe in the poorest region of Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>None of them have shoes and many of them don’t have pants either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their clothing is all stained the same color
by constant exposure to the red Gitega dirt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even the soccer balls we’ve been using, only for four days, mind you,
have turned the same color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If American
kids could learn to be happy with what they have like the Twa kids, their lives
would be transformed, especially since we have so much to be grateful for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know of almost no American kids who could
be outside in the hot sun for two and a half hours, running the whole time,
with nothing but a couple soccer balls, a few tennis balls, and a Frisbee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’d get bored or uncomfortable or some
such after a while and go find something else to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know because I’ve been tempted to do just
that almost every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The children have
a magical quality about them, though. They love to touch our hair and skin and
are fascinated by how hairy Chris’s arms are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Julia’s hair is of particular interest because of how long it is: three
quarters of the way down her back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They’ve taught us games, one in particular involves tossing a tennis
ball between the legs of a second person, to be caught by the third.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one who threw then comes to the middle
and the one who caught it throws, to be caught by the first jumper, and so the
cycle continues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no winner or
loser, but you certainly get yelled at if the ball doesn’t go under you and
it’s your fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I speak from
experience, trust me.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-75088707632955542792013-06-25T11:10:00.002-07:002013-06-25T11:10:27.669-07:00Church and The Road to Gitega<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got up early
this morning to attend the Evangelical Friends Church of Bujumbura.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After four or five cups of chai, I was ready
to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we arrived, the first sermon
had already begun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were provided
interpreters about ten minutes after our arrival, much to all of our
relief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the first sermon, a woman
gave her testimony and it was announced, I believe, that the offering from
today would be going to her or her cause; I was unclear about what she
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The offering was taken and the
worship team got up on stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was
a drum kit, an acoustic guitar on rhythm, a bass guitar, a regular ol’ guitar,
a choir of about 20 people, and a relatively small man leading it all and
singing a separate part from the choir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was just as you’d expect it to be: absolutely astounding. The element that made
it the most immersive was the volume to which everything coming through the
sound system was turned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first bass
drum kick felt like a blow to the chest, and it was a beautiful thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The choir, the band, the worship leader all
worked together to produce this glorious ocean of rich, rich music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Music truly is the universal language; it
made no difference that the lyrics were all in Kirundi, they conveyed what they
were meant to perfectly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a couple
of songs, a bunch of children from about five to eleven years old came onto the
stage and sang with the band and danced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our entire group was transfixed by how cute they were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they’d sung their songs, the children
and the worship team got off of the stage, another sermon began, this one about
God’s purpose for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was amazing how
I felt that it was meant for me, and it’s been a long while since I’ve felt
that close to God.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After church, we
headed back to the Swedish Guest House to have lunch and pack our things for
the two-hour road trip to Gitega. </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first vehicle
to arrive was a white Toyota Land Cruiser piloted by a funny little man named
Robert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all of the suitcases (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">all</b>), were packed like Tetris pieces
into the back of the Land Cruiser, Robert announced that he had one seat, so
who would be sacrificed as tribute to join him for the trip?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hesitantly volunteered, and we shortly
departed to get a head start on the other drivers, David Nyonzima and Kwa
Imani, both of whom were driving fifteen passenger vans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert, he explained, was a slow driver
compared to them and didn’t want to fall behind too far, but predicted that
they would pass us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road to
Gitega is a beautiful place, perhaps the most beautiful drive I’ve ever
made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is no small notion,
considering my extensive experience in travelling in the U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The drive was made even more exciting by a
few factors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Primarily, the driving in
Burundi is a sight to behold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Organized chaos
is the paradox that comes to mind, and it is a perfect description for how
smoothly the roads operate here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything
has its proper place, and if it gets into a bigger vehicle’s way, it gets honked
at and moves back to its place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easy as
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of the chaos that seems to
ensue, Burundi drivers know the dimensions of their vehicle within an inch. I once
witnessed Kwa Imani’s side view mirror come that close to a bicyclist’s head,
and neither the biker nor Kwa Imani batted an eyelash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So too does Robert know the dimensions of his
Land Cruiser.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt as though we
threaded needles time and time again as oncoming vehicles barreled around
curves at us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another element of the
drive that made the two hours go by with amazing speed is the sheer beauty of Burundi’s
mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think of Sedona, Arizona’s
red dirt, now make it deeper and more red than orange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the color of Gitega’s soil, and everything
slowly adopts that color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It contrasts
nicely with the lush green of the tropical vegetation, making for spectacular
vistas as you look across valleys at mountains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The final thing that made my car trip very enjoyable was Robert
himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We conversed for the entire
trip with maybe five minutes of any kind of quiet total.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and I have gotten along famously since.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-19374986263989035642013-06-25T11:01:00.000-07:002013-06-25T11:08:19.704-07:00Welcome to Burundi<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From Addis, we caught a flight to
Nairobi, Kenya. Lydia and Julia pulled the lucky tickets to sit at the
emergency exit row, and were asked to move, so that they could switch with
“someone more qualified to operate the door.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In other words, they were too small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Other than that, the flight went without a hitch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My biggest issue was that my seat back
decided that it was happy where it was and nothing could move it, despite the emergency
exit row being directly behind me, giving the people in the next row extra leg
room anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In any event, we landed in Nairobi and relaxed in the plane while it was
refueled and new passengers got on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Luckily for us, about seven people got on, leaving a great deal of room
for everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know Ginger took an
entire row to herself; I sat in the seat right next to the emergency exit so
that I would have leg room and a window. The leg room did wonders; I fell
asleep as soon as we were in the air. I awoke to the left side of my body
chilled beyond belief. Cold air from outside the plane was leaking
through the emergency door, and I was very uncomfortable. I had no time
to move away before the fasten seat belt light came on and I was stuck in that
seat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> After we
landed, I found that Ginger, Lydia, Julia, Chris (Champion, the Beam one is
Christopher for our purposes), Kim, Vickie, and Lizzie all awoke with a jolt
when the plane hit, not touched, the ground. I've been hearing about that
landing from them since.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Because I
was not expecting to fall asleep, my rude awakening at the hands of low
temperature put me in a bit of a sour mood. I realized it, though, and
once we finished filling out our cards about who we are and why we want entry
to Burundi, I kicked myself back into gear and helped get our twenty-three
suitcases onto carts to bring to our transportation to the Swedish Guest House,
where we're staying for the first two nights and our last night in
Burundi. The driving rules here are crazy, but they make perfect
sense. Everything has its proper place. If it's not in its place,
it gets honked at. It's that simple.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Today has been a very
full day, and it's still not over. First thing in my morning, not
necessarily everyone else's, the two present Willettses decided to go take a
closer look at a pair of pet monkeys tied to a tree a few hundred yards from
our rooms. From what I've heard, I was still asleep, they loved J.D. They
were tossing seeds to them, and one monkey was quite friendly. J.D. held
out a handful of seeds, and one came out of the tree to grab a handful and
climb back up. The second came over from the ground and, while he ate
none, felt J.D's arm and hugged it, then ran off. Lydia saw that they
seemed friendly enough and took some seed to give it a try. She held out
her hand, he gave the seed some interested sniffs. He must have smelled
something good, because he took her wrist and bit down on her hand. In
the words of J.D, "[Lydia] squealed, [the monkey] squealed, and everyone
got worked up." On our way to spot some hippos at Lake Tanganyika,
we stopped at the local hospital for Lydia to get some just-in-case shots and
her bite wound cleaned. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> For a snack at the
"yacht club," where we watched for hippos, David brought us plates of
fried whole minnows with lime, tomato, and onions. We all enjoyed them
greatly, except, of course, for Kim, who despises the very notion of eating
anything that previously lived in water, no matter how fried. As we got
up to leave, David spotted a hippo, so we all rushed back to watch the hippo
and finish our snack. It was then that Gagnam Style came on.
Ginger, Lizzie, and even Kim danced to it. The workers at the club were so
entertained that they played the song two more times. The second time it
played, J.D. joined in. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> After the
lake, we went to see the site where Livingston met Stanley. It's a
beautiful precipice overlooking the plain upon which sits Bujumbura, the
capital of Burundi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the west, or left
if you’re facing Buja, is Lake Tanganyika.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Directly to the south, between the sheer cliff and Buja, runs a
river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the rainy season was
over, the river was very low, but it was apparent that it floods during the wet
season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the east were huge, gorgeous
mountains that rose up suddenly out of the plain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rock was interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was, as Christopher complained on the way
there, just a rock (he’d been there before), but the vista was well worth the
drive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After a quick lunch and rest, we went to a “museum,” which turned out to
be more of a zoo. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our guide told us
about three crocodiles on display and the differences between them and then
took us to a cage housing a lone chimpanzee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>J.D. had clearly not gotten his primate fill for the day, because he
excitedly shook hands and high-fived her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our guide told us that she was depressed recently after her family died
of disease.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The actual museum portion
was a replica of pre-colonial Burundian housing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the tour of the grass huts, we passed a
crocodile being fed. We, of course, crowded around the cage to see it chomping
around a still-moving unidentifiable rodent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The next cage over was the one where people were getting pictures taken
holding the tail of a live crocodile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Except for Gretchen, Christopher, and Kim, we all got our pictures taken
holding its tail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of us was even
photographed fleeing in terror after the crocodile decided to flick its
tail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll not name names, but I will
say that while she had it, she held the tail quite gingerly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then went to the house of snakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lydia, ever adventurous even after squaring
off with a monkey, held a few, along with the rest of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On our way out, J.D. had another tangle with
the chimp, who refused to let go of his arms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From the zooseum, we went to the THARS office in Buja to use the wifi,
and then to David and Felicite’s house for dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They showed us around their gardens and
rabbit cages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were not, mind you,
pet rabbits. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A link to J.D’s blog for a decidedly
different take on things: www.psychopastor.com</span></div>
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<![endif]-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-53038025825594691752013-06-21T08:43:00.000-07:002013-06-21T08:43:13.447-07:00We're In!6/20/13-6/21/13<br />
<br />
Wow. I'm no stranger to late nights, early mornings, or long-distance travel, but I had not prepared myself mentally to lose a day. Because of my unique sleep schedule, I don't consider 4 AM on Monday to be Monday yet if I haven't gone to sleep for what's left of the night. In my mind, it would still be Sunday. So, then, imagine how my brain would short circuit if I were to not sleep Wednesday night and then travel, albeit for twelve hours, to somewhere where it was Friday morning. It was a bit of a rough transition, to say the least.<br />
But enough about time. We arrived at Dulles International Airport with twenty-three bags we wanted to check and two carry-ons apiece. Now, before you get any ideas, the luggage was filled with all different kinds of thhings we brought specifically to donate to THARS, the organization we're travelling to help. We plan to leave it all here, including the suitcases we packed all of it in. The clothes, the printer and ink, the sports equipment, the office and art supplies, we're going to donate all of it.<br />
It took three trips to get all of our luggage to the check-in area, but once we did, our team suddenly developed into a finely tuned, well oiled machine. The slowest part of each step was at the hands of the man checking our passports and weighing our luggage. Which, if you ask me, is the way that it should be. Our team was so cohesive and efficient, we checked all twenty-three bags in about a half an hour. From there, we had just enough time to get to our gate and board our flight.<br />
All things considered, it was a very good flight. They ran out of Coke about twenty minutes in and my audio port for watching movies was broken, but I brought enough things (books, laptop, Chris, Lizzie) to keep me occupied all twelve hours. Sleep, I'll admit, was a huge part of passing the time. We arrived in Addis Ababa early, and had a four hour layover to endure.<br />
Addis Ababa Bole International Airport is a very unique blend of cultures from most corners of the earth. Westerners huddled in pale groups; men and women, African and otherwise, bowing toward Mecca and washing their faces, hands, and feet in the bathroom sinks; Asians perusing the selection at gift shops; western-dressed black men and women speaking Swahili and Afrikaans and Kirundi; and all hurrying to get to their gates and trying not to lose the little ones they have in tow. Addis Ababa Bole International Airport has a distinctly different flavor from another great melting pot we all think of, and we were only a part of the bigger picture.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-36207912631497496922013-06-19T21:46:00.000-07:002013-06-19T21:46:31.116-07:00T Minus 4 Hours to Departure The time has almost come. I don't plan on sleeping tonight, night owl that I am, in favor of simply staying up until our 4:30 departure from home sweet home. Roughly 24 hours of travel await me, alongside the rest of the team. In all likelihood, we're going to be a sorry bunch by the time we touch down in Bujumbura, Burundi.<br />
Burundi. To quote a particularly annoying sect of modern American pop culture, "you've probably never heard of it." Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUiG7wMmgAAV90C9vKos7SWGLeZcxNGIw_sojPAB31D-sTEbVWmGZobNvksUW2MVPAbbVeK4RZEoOqYIMTZz_HFCcXPFPcA5Okts0aR30SXSRRHLdHdHGwQPLspn28Oh7DOkXNqe0sShjI/s0/heart+of+africa+copy.jpg" target="_blank">here</a> to get a better view of the image behind this text; Burundi is in red. Surprisingly, it isn't even the smallest country in Africa, such countries as Lesotho, Djibouti, and Swaziland, along with a few island nations, compete for that distinction. It was colonized by the Germans originally, but was taken by the Belgians during World War I. The Belgians introduced French, which, alongside Kirundi, is still spoken there today. As with Rwanda, Burundi's history is riddled with tribal warfare and genocide. Detailed information can be found <a href="http://reliefweb.int/report/burundi/fact-file-burundi" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
Governmental efforts to quell violence have been tenuous in the past, and so despite the fear that violence might break out again, peace efforts are growing.<br />
Development and Research Innovations (DRI) has partnered with Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS) in the hopes that with education and training, the animosity that exists as a result of the last genocide will not lead to another.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357181511776148564.post-35288172002824904192013-06-18T23:35:00.000-07:002013-06-18T23:35:22.214-07:00The Night Before the Night Before6/18/2013<br />
<br />
It's the second to last night before we leave. I still haven't packed, and I've just begun to get excited. I'm nervous, though, too. Fear isn't an appropriate word for how I feel, I'm just experiencing jitters. Interestingly, though, the 20+ hours of travel are the least of my worries. The language barrier, the food, the separation from technology are all things I've had to deal with before, albeit to a lesser extent than epic blocks of travel time. My real jitter epicenter is, perhaps ironically, this blog.<br />
The third time a trip to Africa happened, I opted not to go. A number of people were surprised that I would pass up an opportunity to do something like go to Africa, but there were things at work that were invisible to the casual observer. Having already been to Africa twice, it wasn't the once in a lifetime window that everyone saw it as—and perceived to be closing. They also didn't know that the last time I went to Africa, I felt grossly out of place. I felt like a burden, a liability, or a worker without the skills to do his job properly. Naturally, friends and family assured me otherwise, but I felt a deep conviction that, if having gone wasn't a mistake, going again would certainly be one. So naturally, when the planning period for this trip began and I was asked if I was interested in going, I had my hesitations. I didn't give a definite answer until I was told what role I would fill.<br />
My goal after graduating college is to be employed as a travel writer, one who goes places and does things and then writes pieces for a magazine (or blog) that take the reader there with me. I want them to taste the food I've eaten, see the vistas I've taken in, feel the equatorial heat or arctic cold. I couldn't, therefore, pass up the opportunity to be an official trip blogger for a group going to Africa from a professional standpoint. Many of the reservations I felt about going on this trip were eased when I was approached about filling this position specifically. Even just tonight, Kim Champion, my mother and one of the trip leaders, handed me a list of expectations and a calendar schedule that solidified my place on this trip. I am, it would seem, situated somewhere I'll be useful over the next few weeks.<br />
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