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Burundi Mission Reports
Dieudonne and New Generation
Habbakuh 2:4
“The righteous will live by faith.”
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
On a plot of land overlooking a magnificent view of the Burundi highlands with Tanzania over the next hill, our group prayed over this land outside Muyinga that has been given to New Generation for a new orphanage and school. Much of the land in Burundi belongs to the government and is given to organizations that will build to help the people of Burundi. Work must begin within six months of the transfer or the land reverts back to the government. Two and half months have passed since this land was first given and no work has started. Who is this man who has such plans for building a complex to help his people? Dieudonne Nahimana is the founder of New Generation, a charity he started in 1994 after God laid it on his heart to provide care for the street children of Burundi. Dieudonne was a war orphan who had a sister in Belgium and a ticket out of this country that was still at war. He refused to leave because God had called him to take care of the street children. As we walked on this land, I was deeply humbled that we were among people who had the depth of faith to face war, hunger and homelessness because God called them. They had Jesus in their hearts and faith in God as their only hope and carried on.
Our sixth day in Burundi again had us on horrible roads for a 3-4 hour ride to Muyinga, a town in the far northeast corner. It is there that we were to meet Dieudonne and visit the orphanage he founded to house some of the children he rescued from the streets. With our host, Simon Guillebaurd, it was constant motion and we got back in the car to visit the property and then drop off our luggage at the Auberge (guest house.) What a study of contrasts. The Auberge was within a walled area that had paintings of Arthur Ashe with a tennis court, bar, restaurant and guest rooms, which all had bathrooms with running-yet cold- water! Our 6 rooms cost $48 for the night.
The orphanage of New Generation is open to the main street, but as everywhere else in Burundi, there is a high wall and gate to enter the courtyard. This courtyard is surrounded by what looked like bombed out buildings that house a cow, 3 goats, chickens and rabbits. It is not possible to take in all of the street children because of space and funds, but sometimes they are open during the day to the non-resident children to give them food, some talks on hygiene and of course to hear the news of the gospel. We were welcomed by some of the teenagers that live there, girls and boys, but it was so different from our welcome at the orphanage in Gitega. These are children who have been on the streets and put up natural barriers. It was also our first real close-up look right at street level of the poverty and filth that surround these children day after day. We were whisked off to a church service where Simon preached and then back to the orphanage for supper---a cup of tea and a roll. Teddy Claude, the National Coordinator of New Generation, led us in a few songs of praise and introduced a few boys to us. They told us some of their stories of how they became orphans and the hardships they faced every day. At this point I hated to even eat the roll, as I wanted to give it to all of the people we saw on the streets and in church, but that would have offended our hosts.
The next morning, Sharon and Rick had planned our activities with the children. We planned on about 60, but had about 80 boys. Apparently the residents were in school and this was the day for the real street kids to come in. We lined them up for pictures with much shoving and pushing, but they all eventually got taken. In a large circle, Wade, Dave, Ella and I all gave our testimonies. It was very hard to get through to these boys, they seemed so tough, but they were children of 8-14 years of age. Teddy got the boys separated into age groups for us to make Salvation bracelets. Many of the boys pocketed the kits and claimed they hadn’t gotten them. While still is circles, some of them gave us their stories. One after another was that their parents were killed or lost during the war and they had nothing and had to steal to survive. One boy, Jeffrey, was crying most of the morning. We were told that his parents were dead, and a sister had been looking after him, but she had died the week before. Dieudonne said they would take him into the orphanage, because he had not hardened yet and probably could not survive the streets. For only $50 a month, one can house, feed, clothe and educate a child in Burundi. Can you help save one child?
~ Eunice Logan
Onesphore and Harvest for Christ
In the afternoon of our last day in Burundi we met with Onesphore, the founder of Harvest for Christ, a street and door-to-door ministry in the slums of Bujumbara, the capital of Burundi. We gathered outside of a local church and met with our nine interpreters and evangelist. Aliney, an attractive young woman was the evangelist for my group, while Prosper, a young man around twenty was my interpreter. Each of us were paired with two Burundians and thus we were separated into nine teams and walk in different directions with our two new friends to spread hope, love and word of the Lord to whom ever would listen to us. My job was to pray that those we encountered would be receptive to the Word.
It rained the previous night and the dirt paths were turned into a sea of mud with huge puddles. The first person we encountered was a young woman in a field, who, with her machete in hand, was skillfully cutting a heavy broad-leaf grass which is used to make a fire for cooking. During the 20 minutes that we stayed with her, she never stopped swinging the machete and did not say a word to us. Finally, she paused, and said that she would like to hear more about Jesus, however, at this time she could not stop working. After saying a brief prayer with her we continued on our way slouching in the mud. At our next stop we were invited into a courtyard that was shared by three homes. The occupants were very gracious and gave us a warm welcome. By this time our mission team had witnessed such devastating poverty that I could not help but to think that it just could not possibly get any worse. Well, I was wrong. This was by far the saddest, most heart wrenching place I had seen all week. There was a young mother with a sick infant strapped to her back, many young boys with no shoes, wearing torn and tattered, mud caked pants, with no shirts to cover their visible ribs. Of the many people that were milling about three men and two women sat down with us to hear the good news of our Lord. Our evangelist, Aliney, shared the gospel for approximately 45 minutes, while her audience with hardened faces looked elsewhere, fiddled with their fingers, and kicked the mud in the yard. After asking the occupants a question or two, Aliney told me that they do not believe in Jesus and have no interest in learning. At that point, my interpreter, Prosper, decided to try to reach these people and share the word of love and salvation. For the next half hour I watched the Holy Spirit at work, as this family began to pay attention, look at the speaker, and absorb the word of the Lord. Their faces were no longer hard and cold. Two of the men had tears streaming down their faces as they repeated the sinners prayer. On that afternoon I was blessed to have witnesses three out of the five people come to the Lord.
As we are about to leave one of the women approached me with her hand extended. She wanted me to give her some money. I tell her I have no money to give to her, but she obviously does not believe me, as she points to the emaciated children and the sick baby. From my wrist, I remove a beaded bracelet which we made the previous day and slip it onto her wrist. With tears in my eyes I hug her, turn, and leave. She does not know that she has just received the very best gift of all. Hopefully, the seed that was planted that day will grow and they will trust in the Lord for all of their needs. As we were walking back to our central meeting place, one of the men from the house who had accepted the Lord caught up with us and started talking non-stop. My interpreter told me that he had many problems and that he was losing his eyesight and had no money to see a doctor. He was receptive to being prayed for, so we looked for a semi-dry spot to stop and pray. As we approached a tree just off the road, he went ahead of us and knelt down beneath the tree. I laid hands on him, and prayed for about ten minutes as a large crowd of children and adults gathered around us. It was a very powerful time, and I pray each and every day that our good Lord will restore his eyesight, but even more important that he will walk with the Lord and trust Him in all things. We hugged, and once again we were on our way back to rendez-vous with the team. This day, like all of our experiences in Burundi, cannot be adequately presented in stories or pictures..........you just have to be there to see and feel the poverty and hopelessness of our sisters and brothers in Burundi.
A final observation: As we were on route to Muyinga, which was a four hour ride through the mountainous north eastern region of the country, I could not help but notice that some of the villages we passed along the way appeared to be a bit better-off than others. I was curious why this was so. Was it better land for farming, cottage industries, or something else? Simon had the answer. These were all Muslim villages. The Muslims offer free uniforms, a meal, and education to the children who attend the mosque, in addition to access to a free medical clinic. I could not help but wonder, what would I do if I were a desperately poor Burundian mother, who, by attending the local mosque would enable my children to receive food, clothing, education, and medical care. What would you do? And, what should we be doing as Americans and as Christians?
~ Charlotte David
Gitega
The team headed to Gitega on Monday afternoon, by overfilled bus, on a poorly maintained road. (In fact, the road closed at 4 p.m. each day, for fear of bandits. Plus it was an entirely unmarked mountain road with no guard rails, occasional washouts, and drivers who took seriously the adage “Here in Burundi, you drive as you please.”)
Before Germany, and then Belgium, had colonized Burundi, Gitega was her capital. It is centrally located, more accessible than Bujumbura, and the current government is planning to move the capital back there. There would be much to do: roads are poor, public spaces are poor, housing is poor, and stores and people look poor. We drove through town, and then out into the countryside toward the orphanage over muddy roads, and over a log bridge none of us had confidence would hold the bus, though it did. We waved to everyone we saw. In my experience, very few waved at us first, but responded with a big smile and a wave when we waved to them.
Our work project for Tuesday morning was to haul stone from the road down to the site of a new medical clinic being built on the orphanage property. Not too far, but taxing on some of us old folks. They have an interesting way of constructing foundations: they dig very nicely edged ditches, fill them with the rocks, and then pour concrete over the stone. Very stable and strong, it seems. Labor intensive, but with unskilled labor costing $20 a month, labor makes more sense than equipment.
The road where the stone had been dumped was dirt, but it had constant (foot) traffic, especially in the morning headed toward town. I would say hundreds of people, going to work, or carrying goods to market balanced on bicycles or on their heads. But when they saw us working, many stopped. As it often did, our very presence drew a crowd, either because white people were so very rare, or perhaps it was unusual to see white people do manual labor.
We had a chance to look at the orphanages new water system, partially installed. A cistern had been built near a spring, and a pipe run to another cistern nearer the orphanage. But the pump required to lift the water to a third cistern was not strong enough, and three larger pumps had also failed. I expect they will make it work, but in the meantime, two women brought water up the hill in five gallon containers, all day long, barefoot over rocky ledges. And we flushed from buckets.
That afternoon we called on the local Anglican Bishop, John, at his cathedral, of St Luke. Frankly, it looked like the gym of a poor high school in the rural south, but it seemed active, and he was proud of it. They were also building a new office and conference center, which looked like it would be a fine facility. Very nearby were the cathedral’s stable of cows and coops of chickens.
On the way back, I would say we had three notable experiences. First, we passed the very large, and very well maintained Roman Catholic Cathedral. The reputation of Roman Catholicism has not fared well in Burundi, because that church is generally seen as conforming itself to various poor governments. In addition, it apparently did little to help individuals overcome the profound trauma of the civil war. Second, we passed the Bishops Bar, a café and bar run by the Roman Catholic Bishop. In a country with $40 monthly wage for skilled workers, and where alcohol is a serious and pervasive problem, it seemed to me to be inappropriate to run a bar. Third, the bus bogged down on the turn in a very muddy road, and we could not get it out. Once again we drew a friendly crowd, who tried to help with what meager supplies they had, along with our manpower, but we finally left and walked back to the orphanage. On our way, we were passed by the “cavalry,” a dozen young men on a pickup, coming to help get the bus out. They did, and it met us back home.
It rained heavily Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the time we had planed for a hike up the tallest mountain in Burundi, to pray for her, and for her leadership. Simon asked us if we had prayed for rain to avoid the hike and get a little rest. We told him no, I guess because we assumed that we would go, even in a heavy rain, given Simon’s reputation for go-go-go. But it cleared, somewhat, and we headed out. Over muddy roads, slip sliding to the point of nearly bogging down again before we got to the point of departure. As we hiked up the path, two very poor children, Bosco and Nadine, probably 6 and 8 years old, joined us, as did a herd of goats tended by two young goatherds, as poor as Nadine and Bosco. Public education in Burundi is not expensive, but it is not free, so these poor children were working, or idling, instead of being in school.
We stopped to pray, for the country, and for the vision of raising a new generation of leadership, so that Burundi could be transformed from nearly the poorest country on earth, into a light to the nations of Godly leadership. We asked the children if we could pray for them as well. Nadine asked us to pray for her for forgiveness. We returned to the orphanage for lunch, another good meal of rice, beans, unidentified meat and gravy, and very fresh and good fruit. In what I might say was one of the most poignant experiences on the trip, all the children of the orphanage gathered around us as we left, whispering in our ears. Freddy told us, “they are praying for you, for safe travel, for all good things.”
~ David Soutter
Youth for Christ
Dave Soutter told me that when he told his brother that we were going to visit the capital of Burundi, Bujumbura, his bother’s comment was “you’re making that up, right?” I had never heard of the country of Burundi until meeting Simon Guillebaud a few years ago. So like the control freak I am, I set out to learn what I could about the country before we left. The results of my research caused me to have second thoughts about our trip.
The former Belgian colony is located in East-Central Africa, bounded by Lake Tanganyika and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the West, Rwanda on the North and Tanzania on the East and South. The two principal tribes are the Tutsi (about 15 %) and the Hutus (about 85%). Estimates of the population range from 6,000,000 to 8,000,000. Burundi is one of the poorest, if not the poorest, of the world’s countries, with an annual per capita income of $100. An epidemic of HIV-AIDS has ravaged the people. Most people exist by subsistence agriculture. Because no one can afford fuel, they cook with charcoal – the country is almost completely deforested. Erosion is terrible.
It has been said that when Rwanda sneezes, Burundi gets a cold. What they got was a 13-year civil war, from 1993-2006, involving the same ethnic hatred between the Tutsis and Hutus that afflicted Rwanda. An estimated 300,000 people were killed in the war, and thousands more were displaced. The twin plagues of civil war and AIDS have left literally tens of thousands of orphans, who live on the streets as long as they can survive. The average life expectancy is 41 years.
What in the world could nine people do? After a lot of prayer and several meetings with our team, a number of you were incredibly generous with your support. We raised money, got a lot of donated clothes, toys and equipment, and went. I have to confess that I thought that we would have more of an impact by simply writing a big check.
After a two-day trip, we arrived in the airport at the capital city, Bujumbura. We were met at Bujumbura International by Simon and a number of young people from an organization called “Youth for Christ,” or “Jeunesse pour Christ” in the official language, French. YFC is an international organization with chapters in over 100 countries. It was started in the U.S. in the 1950’s – its first full-time employee was a young man named Billy Graham. The organization in each country is run by a board of citizens from that country. YFC in Burundi is one of several organizations under an umbrella group run by Simon Guillebaud and its Board of Trustees called Great Lakes Outreach, or GLO. The YFC team took us to their office in Bujumbura, where we dropped most of our donated clothes and equipment, and most of our personal clothes. Then we were off – to the South, to a little town called Rumonge.
The reality of Burundi that we found on the ground was worse than what I expected from my research. Most of the roads were dirt. Probably half of the houses were burned out or otherwise destroyed. The most sophisticated agricultural equipment that we saw was the hoe. The majority of the people in the countryside have no running water, no electricity and no hope. The evidence of the fruits of tribalism, corruption and grinding poverty was overwhelming. What gave us hope was the young people whom we met during our eight-day stay. People like Freddy Tuyizere, the national director of YFC, and his wife Marie-Josee. Freddy speaks three languages (as do most of his team) – English, French and Kirundi, the language of Burundi. Freddy was a teacher at a boys’ school and came to work one day to find that a man had thrown a grenade into one of the rooms at the school the night before, killing eight boys. Because no one had moved the bodies, Freddy carried them out himself. Like a number of others in Burundi, Freddy felt that he had to do something.
Freddy helped to start the Burundi chapter of YFC in 1998. In 2000, with Simon’s help, he left his job and became the full-time National Director. He attended seminary in South Africa for three years, and in 2003 came back to Burundi. Freddy, his deputy director, Euphrate, and their team of young people like Bosco, Alice, Yves, Lela, Emmaline, and Jean-Paul carried our bags, translated for us, protected us – we will never forget them. They had their own worship service for us that first Sunday night, and gave us a farewell dinner the last night we had in Burundi, one of several meals that we had with them.
In the midst of the human and economic devastation in their country, God’s joy shines through all of them. God is doing astounding things in this small, broken but beautiful land. The President of Burundi is a Christian. Reconstruction is beginning andYFC is helping to lead the way. They have two centers, the main one in Bujumbura and one in Gitega, in the middle of the country, where they run an orphanage. They run schools, provide leadership training and do evangelism and outreach. They provide Bible studies and English clubs for students. They provide translation services. Most of them have postponed marriage so that they can perform the work that they do.
I was, most of all, humbled by these young people. They are living examples of what Christians are supposed to be. They gave us a glimpse of the body of Christ acting like the body of Christ. With God’s help, they are making a difference. They were an inspiration to all of us. They blessed all of us. They gave all of us an experience that will impact us for the rest of our lives. I give thanks to God that I had the opportunity to meet them and see the difference that committed Christians can make. They showed us that God and YFC are creating a majority in Burundi.
~ Wade Logan
The Orphanage at Gitega
Yes’ashimwe! Praise the Lord! What an incredible experience we had in Burundi. I, for one will never be the same. Thanks so much to all of you who contributed to make this mission trip happen.
Monday, February 11th was quite a busy day. We visited Jeunesse Sans Frontières, a child prostitute/child warrior rehabilitation home, and we visited an Islamic Cultural Center with a school, library, medical clinic, conference center and mosque. We visited posing as students of Islam, and thus we were able to get into the center. The women team members were not allowed to actually go into the mosque so we stayed outside and prayed for the blood of Jesus to cover the whole property. The men were allowed to go into the mosque and were told by their guide, Ibraham, that women were evil and tempters to men, and as a result, not allowed to enter the mosque except in an area separated from the view of the men. Funded entirely from Islamic regimes outside of Africa, the center exists to recruit new believers by giving people free medical care and schooling.
We returned to the Bujumbura office of Youth for Christ for a good lunch and to meet Onesphore, a Muslim convert to Christianity who now heads up Harvest For Christ. You will hear more later about Onesphore and his ministry. Back on the bus, we traveled 3-4 hours to Gitega. The long drive was on bumpy, pot-holed, often washed out dirt roads. We arrived at the orphanage at dusk. As soon as our bus pulled through the gates the children came running. We were quickly surrounded by twenty-three children laughing, hugging our legs and wanting to be picked up. We immediately fell under their spell! Most of us had at least two children in our arms. We were greeted by the staff and shown to our cottages with much help and frolicking around with the children.
There are four cottages, three with three bedrooms, a kitchen area, a living room and a single bath with no running water. The bedrooms had two double beds that slept four children to the room. The “Mom” had the third bedroom. Each cottage represented a “family” with a Mom, eight children and a cow. The Moms are completely responsible for all of their children’s needs. They cook, clean and hand wash all of the clothes. The Moms have an occasional Sunday morning off but mostly they are on call 24/7.
The fourth cottage is presently used for guests. Eunice and Wade, Rick and Sharon and Dave and I commandeered the 3 bedrooms. In the living room, two tents were set up, one for “Uncle Bob” and another for Simon & Freddy to share. (Freddy, the director of Youth for Christ, tagged Bob Lawrence, “Uncle Bob” early in our time with him and it was a moniker that remained throughout our African sojourn.? Charlotte and Ella were in a children’s cottage down the hill.
As there was no running water, we quickly became very close with each other. The toilet was only to be used for #1 and any other business was to be transacted in the outside latrine. We carried travel toilet tissue in our pockets along with Imodium and Pepto Bismol tablets. We freely shared these items in the event something was needed and not in stock on the person. It was at this time I decided it was appropriate to give up brushing my teeth, and showering and shaving my legs! With no running water, life as we know it is VERY different. There are at least two women whose jobs are solely to carry water to the cottage from the cistern at the bottom of the hill.
There is, in addition to the cottages, a two-room schoolhouse with teachers and a new volunteer from Kenya named Dorcas who has come to teach the children English. Also, a new latrine is being built right down from the schoolhouse. This latrine has both boys and girl’s side and four opportunities for each group to get business done. And last, but not least, there is a barn for the cows and goats.
Because we were “special” guests, our evening meals were taken together with the children, Moms, staff, and Youth for Christ volunteers. The children would sit patiently side by side on a grass rug with their plates in front of them and remain perfectly still until all the adults were served and the blessing said. After a dinner of rice, beans, meat (?) with gravy, fresh fruit, pineapple, mango and of course, FANTA or COKE. After dinner the children would dance and sing songs of praise to the Lord and then off to bed at 8:30. The second night, we were able to offer an opportunity for prayer for all the staff, volunteers, and team members that were not prayer ministers. The participants were unsure of what we were actually going to do and uncertain about participating, but what a lovely surprise this was for them and incredibly rewarding for us! They loved it! We are so blessed to live in a country where we can freely pray for each other!
For breakfast, we had coffee or tea and rolls with peanut butter a la Eunice. We had breakfast as a team at the guest cottage with Simon and Freddie. It was such a wonderful way to start the day, breaking bread with such devout and Godly men. What an amazing inspiration these men were and are to us.
After school on Tuesday, we were able to do arts and crafts with the children. Sharon Wood provided T-shirts, paints and wipes for painted feet t-shirts. The children LOVED this!! Clothes lines were hung on the guest cottage porch for the shirts to dry and the children checked their shirts at least a dozen times just to be sure they were still there! The process of cleaning the children’s feet and pressing them into the paint and onto the shirt was a very moving experience for those who did that so I’ll leave those stories to them. While the children waited for their turn, they were given heart stickers and paper hands with Bible verses on them made by Lynn Lawrence. They also received plastic flutes and kazoos that were donated. What a cacophony of sounds!!! I was impressed the children didn’t argue or fight over the instruments, but later I did see one child with two flutes! As good as they are, they are only human.
All too soon we were saying goodbye to those twenty-three children we were so smitten with. As for me, I hate goodbyes so I was sitting on the porch crying, looking down the hill where the children were gathered. I thought to go to the bus quietly, but Freddy had other plans. He called all the children to the bus and then asked them to pray for us. Little four-year-old Baylise ran up to me and somehow managed to get so close to me that her lips were in my ear as she prayed for me ~ and I sobbed.
I thank God for the time we were in Burundi and in Gitega at this orphanage with the children. It is the express desire of Freddy and Youth for Christ that these children from differing tribes be brought up together in a Godly, Christian environment. These children are the not only the future of Burundi but the next generation of leaders.
A personal note ~ I have never been set so completely on fire as I was in Burundi. My heart burns for those children and the incredible ministries we saw at work ~ ministries that would be impossible for anyone except by the Lord. I have never seen such raw faith and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. The pain, the extreme poverty, and the desire for hope is everywhere. The harvest for the Lord in Burundi is indeed plentiful. All that is lacking is workers. Won’t you help?
~ Linda Soutter
Monday at Jeunesse Sans Frontières
Monday morning, February 11th, we arose early at the Rainbow Centre in Bujumbura under a clouded African sky, to the chirping of birds and the mild aroma of Burundi coffee (a scent our nostrils would learn to yearn.? We hurried through an epicurean breakfast to be loaded on our 24-passenger bus for a cross-town junket to the “Southside of Chicago” or in this case Bujumbura.
On arrival our bus stopped parallel to one of many fortified steel entrance gates. Simon in military fashion ordered us off quickly, so in 18.7 seconds we were all safely inside the compound, leaving the busy rumbling streets entirely out of view. We were greeted by a female “muzungu,” a petite white woman with a broad smile, open arms, and a welcoming embrace that made me feel as if I was an old friend and not a new acquaintance. She was Allie, the founder of this youth work. She herself was just arriving from a trip out of country; yet there was no fatigue in her manner and quite a lively bounce in her step.
We gathered under a shed, surrounded by several autos in various stages of repair. Adjacent to these cars were grease soaked workbenches, where the student mechanics could practice their skills and prepare for gainful employment. One by one young men and women (teenagers) joined us seated around on benches. They were children of war-collateral damages of a vicious civil war-ethnic cleansing where neighbor slew neighbor, friends slaughtered friends and years of tribal hatred lodged just under the surface of their skin had exploded into violence and mayhem. Young boys inducted into soldiering, and at a tender age, faced savage murders by machete. Rivers of blood from annihilation of entire villages, their family homes burnt and abandoned, many wounded and left to die, the survivors sent running away from fear into the empty arms of starvation. These are the memories locked in the hearts and minds of Burundi’s children forever!
Along with the boys were beautiful young ladies, once innocent, once sheltered, once cherished, they too victims of battle torn Burundi, taken from the security of what may have been a meager but safe existence, then orphaned onto the streets to beg, finding prostitution their only means for daily bread. But today inside this courtyard their hope is renewed. With a few sewing machines housed in safe surroundings, these girls train to tailor clothes, repair torn garments and restore their tattered lives. The hand of God holding needle and thread is what binds them together for now, while voices on the streets taunt them, calling “come back! come back!” tempting them to stray.
Our team performed an impromptu dramatization of the prodigal son. As the narrator I must say we resembled “Who’s Line is it Anyway.? We then took time to share and pray, making our petitions known. We hoped to strengthen their faith as they faced a lifetime battle we could not fight for them. All the while believing in our hearts that God is able to deliver each of us, from our afflictions and leave us singing praises! God is Good! Or as in Africa we learned to say, “Imana ni nziza!?
~ Rick Wood
First Impressions of Being in Africa
Flying over Kenya brought back memories for me of a previous trip to Africa back in 1997. I came then with a friend for a photographic safari of Kenya and Tanzania. That trip had opened my eyes to the people of East Africa and the extreme poverty that touched so many of their lives. In preparing for that trip I had been focused on my life long dream of seeing and filming the wild animals in their native habitat. In my self absorption it had not occurred to me that it would be the people of Africa that resonated most with my soul. That pulling of my heart strings did not cease and here I was again on African soil. I was asked to photograph the mission trip and as a photographe? I wanted to document every precious moment….almost 2000 images later….I think I did!
When we landed in Nairobi after a zillion hours of flying time we were all delighted to be warmly greeted by David Ngau. David is a Christian man that has a safari company based in Nairobi. He had been recommended to us by a couple of people that had been to see Simon on previous mission trips. We were taken to a small boarding house that he owned which was located approximately thirty minutes drive from the airport. I think we were all relieved that the fighting there was not apparent and according to David was hopefully about to end. A lovely woman named Phyllis was his manager at the Hibiscus House. She was very kind and warmth just oozed from her. She offered us all a glass of mango juice in the reception area. She showed the three married couples to their rooms and then had David drive Bob, Charlotte and me over to a neighboring guest house building. Bob stayed upstairs and Charlotte and I shared a room downstairs. We were so exhausted by this time that hysterical laughter ensued between Charlotte and me. It was the attempt to eat the soap that looked like a wrapped up candy that really got us going. We felt like we were girl scouts at camp and everything was suddenly very funny. We felt sorry for the other pour souls sharing the building. Apparently exhaustion makes grown women act like they are 10 years old…what fun!!!!!!!
The next morning we all rose early and had a quick bite to eat over at the Hibiscus House and headed on to the airport. David and Phyllis made us all feel warm and safe on this leg of our journey. Everyone was grateful to have gotten a little rest and now we were ready to continue on to Bujumbura, Burundi. This last leg of the journey was short and once we made our way through customs we spotted Simon Guillebaud. He helped us gather our belongings and as we departed the baggage claims area he had a half dozen smiling volunteers from the Youth for Christ Center to help us load everything onto their bus. We were each given a fragrant flower bouquet to welcome us to their beautiful country. These special souls were already winning our hearts with their contagious smiles and true heartfelt thanks that we had come to meet them and find out what their lives were like and see how we might help. The day was warm and a breeze of change swept over every one of us. God had already started the process of reshaping our hearts and opening up our minds to the reality of life in Burundi and how one person can change the fate of a nation…one soul at a time. I thank everyone that helped make it possible for me to take this journey and am grateful for the gifts that I received by going that shall remain with me forever.
~ Ella Richardson
Early Impressions and Rumonge
Yes’ashimew! Praise the Lord!! Thank you for giving me the opportunity of sharing my life with the people of Burundi, Africa. When I heard Simon last fall and he described what he and others are doing in Burundi it touched my heart, but not nearly as much as the people and children we met. After a two-day trip from Charleston to Detroit to Amsterdam to Nairobi to Bujumbura, we FINALLY made it. Greeted by Simon and a dozen others from Youth for Christ with flowers in their arms, warm hugs and huge smiles to greet us. All wanting to help load our luggage into the bus and joining the weekend adventure to Rumonge. First stop was the Youth for Christ site were we had lunch: spaghetti, bread, mango, pineapple and FANTA. Dropped off our luggage then onto the bus, south, down the coast of the great lake Tanganyika. We talked and sang and got to know these brothers and sisters of Christ from Burundi: Simon, Freddy, Euphrates, Alice, Emelina, Bosco, Ester and other University students. Going thru the town of Bujumbura it was not much different than any other place I have been, but people were walking. 100’s to 1000’s of people walking, to work or to market, thru a field or along the road. We would see this often throughout Burundi.
Simon asked Freddy, Bob, Rick and I to share our testimonies at a church not far away and the others to speak at the school. Walking off the road down a dirt path, past the small brick homes with no electricity, it reminded me so much of the area around Asheville, NC, including the red clay. The priest and other churchmen greeted us, and then we joined their service, a small group. We came for the other side of the world to share the word of the Lord and our love with them. God loves us ALL. When the service was over the priest and other churchmen shared a Fanta and gave us a pineapple. We shared that in Charleston a pineapple also a symbol for welcome. Returning to the other group we walked. Children joined us, many children dressed in loosely fitted Sunday school dresses and shirts, donations from others in another country. 200+ children walked back with us, God’s children.
That evening we stayed at a guesthouse, slept and ate well. Sunday Morning, we all broke out into small groups to go to different churches. Freddy, Rick and I took a taxi to an Episcopal church up on the mountainside. Interesting ride, not all the roads in Burundi are paved, most are washed out and this taxi drive was having to steer steep inclines and evade the ruts in the road, not to bottom out and break an axle. The church was beautiful. We walk in as the service started. You can smell the fresh flowers and juniper that is hanging on wires strung throughout the church. Three or four congregations had joined this service, 600 to 700 in all. Men and a few women to our right, women to our left with their babies wrapped to their back. Men and women in front of us and small children sitting so preciously on the floor. The women clothed in brightly colored dresses and men in there smart shirts and pants. We were blessed to join in a wonderful worship of song and dance. During the course of the service we heard around 25 groups, each sharing 2-3 songs. Someone from their seat would stand and start to sing, the drum would play, others would join them in the front of the church. Songs and dance of Joy, Hope, and Faith. Some of everyday life, going to and coming from, but always including God’s promise. The worship was truly blessed. The Holy Spirit had uplifted their voices and it was inspirational. After the service, we were asked to join them for lunch then back on that interesting road, at least this time it was downhill.
Each day to follow was blessed, each in a different way. The horrors that some have witnessed: the lost of a brother, a sister. a father, a mother, an uncle or an aunt, the war has touched them all. Yet to witness their love, faith in God and that Jesus is their savior and is with them everyday, brings tears to my eyes. Simon speaks of “a call to No Holds Barred Discipleship” and introduced us to many in Burundi that share that vision. God be with them and us.
~ Sharon Wood.