Final week in Burundi

Thoughts from Erin

Hanna, Mom and I went to the US Embassy on Monday. Hanna started doing a presentation about face book to the English club there, and then mom started to take over and get off topic and they started talking about businesses I don’t know how that happened. There was a bunch of very nice guys there and I gave like four of them my email. I was sure to not give anyone our phone number though because they would probably call at 2 in the morning Edmonton time.

On Tuesday we went to Youth for Christ again for supper. We met Freddy who is the leader of youth for Christ Burundi. He is a very nice man. The African drummers put on a show for us they were as good as I remember. We were not the only muzungoes there because there were two American teams there as well. One was from youth for Christ U.S. and the other was from Builders without Borders. The builders without borders team successfully completed building a school in Gitega. The food we ate that night was to die for!

On Wednesday we met up with Benit and Florian the Burundian couple from Canada. We all had a nice relaxing visit at the beach. Their son is as cute as can be. He is only one year old. Then, later on we all went to Isango, a restaurant not far from our house and we had brochette which is a fancy word for meat on a stick, but it was very good.         

Today Thursday, August 09, 2012 was the Olympics day at school which went okay. All of the kids had a good time but it was very hard to run the events.

Tomorrow (Friday, August 10th) is our last school day. In some ways that is a bad thing and in some ways that is a very, very good thing. It is bad because I’m going to miss every single one of those kids like anything in the world. We have all had a wonderful time together laughing and having fun even Hanna’s class... I think I’ve been fooled by their cuteness. The kids have been a blast to teach.  And it is a good thing because I am soooo home sick it is not even funny. I think when I get home I am going to kiss the floor. There is a really cute kid who is three in Hanna’s class his name is Dolaste. Peierrot is another kid who is Jordan’s age. He and Jordan are best friends. He is a blast. Whenever Hanna can’t control the class Peirrot says “Miss Hanna I go to get a stick! I need to beat the kids!” He is such a funny little guy. Anyways he and Dolaste are inseparable. It is so funny watching them together. Dolaste kisses the ground he walks on. I think I’m going to put Dolaste in my pocket and take him home… but of course not without Peierrot. I’m sure their parents won’t mind.

P.S. I am so sorry you have to read my mom’s boring blog post… just try and stay awake!

Thoughts from Carol

Erin caught you up on most of the news although I have to put my 2 cents in. So as Erin mentioned, we did visit the US Embassy. I beg to differ on the fact that I randomly started talking about business. Hanna did a great job giving an overview of Facebook and how it can be used. What these young men were keen to know is how to start a business and grow it. There are very very few jobs available in Bujumbura, so if they want to earn money they have to start their own business. These guys are eager to work and earn money but frustrated as it is very hard. I did share with them about Kiva, an organization that started in the U.S. that focusses on small private micro loans to people in developing countries. No one I have met here in Burundi has heard about this organization but I think it is ideal for this country since small business is one of the few ways to make a living here. They are affiliated with Turame Community Finance in Bujumbura. If you haven’t heard of Kiva, goggle them; I think it is a great way to give people in developing countries a hand up. I really hope and pray that this may be a productive way for the people of Burundi to get access to capital. Before we left the embassy we received several invitations for visit other English clubs. I left feeling a little overwhelmed because I know there are so many ways one could help here but there is not enough time to do it all. On a positive note, we have seen and heard of a lot of groups that are lending a helping hand here in Burundi. We met people from Food for the Hungry, Homes of Hope, Villages of Hope, Youth for Christ, Builders without Borders, just to name a few. It is really good to see that other organizations acknowledge the needs here in Burundi and are willing to help.

I was glad to finally meet Freddy from Youth for Christ. I saw a video on You Tube of Freddy when we were wrestling with taking our family to Burundi. I watched Freddy address some visitors from Britain and something he said really stuck with me. He said “I don’t want your money for Burundi I want your hearts”. Freddy is truly a gift from God for the people of Burundi. He inspires people to visit and help in Burundi. He sincerely wants to help his country and has set up many ministries to address the needs here from sharing the love of God with youth, to setting up English schools, and I was really happy to hear he is also planning on setting up job training courses for young men and women. After our meal together, Freddy thanked everyone there for coming to Burundi and expressed his sincere gratitude. I really enjoyed talking with some of the folks from Builders without Borders. It is amazing to hear their stories, as unlike us this is not their first trip to Africa. They sent 7 containers of supplies to Burundi and then came and built the school in Gitega in a few weeks. The school will begin this fall if all goes well.

This week we are wrapping up summer school. We had to give the students an exam which was tough because some students have attended the entire 5 weeks and others have only been at the school for a week or two. I am happy to report that most students received a grade of 70 % or higher, so I guess they learned something.  We had the Olympic games today at school. We had Team Burundi, Team Canada, Team Kenya, Team Tanzania, Team Egypt, and Team Rwanda. The kids colored the flags for each of these countries. We had events like relay races, archery, shot-put, and football to name a few. The kids seemed to enjoy it, although it was mass chaos. Tomorrow we will hand out certificates and the medals for the Olympics. Team Canada won Gold!

Tonight Jordan and Megan entertained our cook and guard with the small drum we bought from the Drummers on Tuesday. Megan talks to them all the time even though they don’t speak of word of English; they seem to be able to communicate. Hilaire brought the twins some drum sticks so they could enhance their drumming. All the African’s seem to have a great affinity for Miss Megan and she loves all the attention. She is planning to visit Burundi again for 2 years and live at the Hotel Club du Lac.    

Poor Hanna has a fever and is not feeling well. We took her for a Malaria test but thank God it came back negative. Keep her in your prayers.

The board members wanted us to have a ceremony on the last day and hand out certificates to the children. When I heard about this I thought it was kind of silly, but alas I was wrong, it happens from time to time J.  They want to celebrate achievements and these kids sat through 5 weeks of summer school to improve their English and that is an achievement to celebrate. The students brought music and the school brought in pop and doughnuts. It was quite festive actually. I even danced a little which made my kids cringe but the Burundian students had a good laugh. Greg did an excellent job running the ceremony. They had the press at this event as well, to help promote the Burundi English School for the fall.  The board would like to grow the school to 100 students which, is more than double of what it was last year. I really hope they are successful. There are only two English schools in Bujumbura that I am aware of: the Kings School and the Burundi English School. I think both are excellent schools and the Kings school is Christian which is great. We had an opportunity to Skype with their new principal Jeremy, who is moving his family from England to Burundi as we speak. We did have a good discussion with Jeremy about the fact that tuition is too high for many of the families here. Not sure what the solution is other than to have a sponsorship program perhaps.   

Although there were times when we were wondering what we were doing here, there were other times we felt truly inspired. I hope in some small way these students will benefit from the summer school at the Burundi English School, because I know our family did. It was a privilege to visit the Heart of Africa as the Burundians put it and meet these wonderful people.

 I want to thank everyone who helped us with our journey to Burundi and prayed for us, including the TanBur African Aid Society, Ellerslie Road Baptist Church, and our friends and family, including our missionary mentors Curtis and Lisa.

We came to this country knowing very little about Burundi or its people, and we come away richer from this experience. We read many warnings about coming to Burundi but at no time did we feel unsafe. They are a country trying to recover and heal from a terrible war and they are making progress. Keep Burundi in your prayers and if you have an opportunity to come here, I would take it.   

This is the Lessmeisters signing off from Africa…………..

We will post more pictures when we return to Canada and have access to high speed internet!