Our final morning dawns bright and sunny after a night of terrible storms and heavy rain. This time of year is usually like this, hot sun and big thunderstorms.Thankfully I am used to it after 13 years of back and forth! The garden here is growing at a tremendous pace. Just over a year ago I went on a raiding party to friends' gardens for cuttings of this and that to brighten up the compound. I poked in small geranium, hibiscus and other unnamed flowering shrubby things - at most 3 or 4 inches high. Now they are all waist high and getting bigger. A small mango tree and a tiny nut tree that have been sitting out front not doing very much, have suddenly sprouted and magnified to a surprising extent.
The visit to our ministry partners, Cup of Cool Water, in Burundi was very busy and very productive. We like to keep these visits short and to the point as we are very conscious of the amount of additional work we cause them in the midst of their own punishing ministry schedule all over the country of Burundi. We are also sensitive to the physical danger of going there at all. The FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) advise against all but essential travel to a large part of the country and parts of Bujumbura due to ongoing security issues and clashes between armed groups and national security forces in the past few months. Unlike Rwanda there is a high risk of crime and it is not wise for us visitors to go out in the street after dark in Bujumbura. Both Ruth and I were aware of the underlying tensions, but having said that we take our hats off to Charles and his team for the careful way they looked after us and escorted us everywhere. Our accommodation was in a safe area with high security provisions in place.
Our purpose for going down to Burundi was two-fold. Firstly,
I needed a meeting to firm up our plans to assist with the construction of the Mbabazi Clinic for the Poor. This was
conducted at the office of CCW and was very helpful and allowed us to map out a
way forward. A visit to the site with Charles and Joshua was good. Ruth and I
prayed over the land and prayer walked part of the boundary, while the two men
walked all round the rest of it. I was pleased to see that this piece of land
was being used productively to grow a large crop of cassava while it lies in
readiness for building work to commence. Charles explained that it was
important to use the land for food production, not only to feed people but also
to signal to others that the land was in ownership and not derelict. I saw
where the access road would be made and where the production of bricks would
take place once the work starts. They will manufacture the bricks themselves on
site as they go. This is normal practice.
Our second reason for going to Burundi was to meet with a
group of deaf people and to conduct a half day teaching seminar and to get to
know them a little. We had no idea whether they were Christians or what sign
language they use. Ruth is very good at Rwandan sign language (quite different
from BSL) but was somewhat apprehensive at being on her own without Susan, her
deaf ministry partner. We were expecting 10 to come and 19 adults and 10
children arrived. It worked out very well because one of the deaf ladies has a
hearing husband who can interpret speech to sign and with Charles’ help with
translating from English to Kirundi, we got on fine!
We are now on the way home, sitting in the airport having our last African coffee before we board the plane.
