Murals

One of the things that is important in Burundi is public education.  Besides the gospel, it's important people know about things like the spread of diseases, nutrition, and birth control.

For example, one of the things people eat here is cassava root.  It is white and chalky.  It fills the stomach, but has no nutritional value.  There has been some attempts to encourage people to abandon cassava. 

I met a lady at the Internet café one day.  She travels around Burundi and hosts conferences to educate mothers.  She gives the mothers a meal to try, and teaches the mothers the importance of cooking different foods.  The variety of food provides kids the nutrition they need.  I asked her if they promote deworming pills, because I had heard that worms can take up to 30% of the nutrition and food from a person.  She said they didn't promote medicine or deal with medicine.  I had some deworming pills with me, and she asked if she could have them for her grand daughter.

For birth control, I've seen several posters advertising the condom brand Class.  But...birth control is taboo.  People don't talk about it, and the Christian and Catholic churches discourage it in Burundi.  For term one, the science teacher before me taught some sex education.  When I asked kids the first day of school what they wanted to learn about in science, many of them wanted to learn more about sex education. I will probably have to touch on that next term.

AIDS is a problem in Burundi, but it's not something I have seen a lot of issues with during my time in Africa.  I have heard about educating people about AIDS through radio commercials. 

Many people in Burundi don't have television.  Some listen to the radio religiously.  Many don't know how to read.  So...one way that has been effective for educating people is through murals.  These are some pictures of murals Hanna took while in Cankuzo.

This mural shows problems associated with drinking.

This mural shows the issues associated with smoking.

 The next two murals are social comments.  Many women in Burundi generally farm, take care of the children, do the washing, and do the cooking.  Some men sell things, do construction jobs or other hard labor jobs, or transport goods on bicycles.  In some situations, a man will earn his wages, spend them on alcohol, and then come home to his wife with nothing. 

In the next mural, it shows the man whistling.  I'm guessing that's to show that the man isn't hindered in his life, but I wonder if it relates to more.  In Burundi, the stereotype is that if a woman whistles, it means she is uneducated.  So, women generally don't whistle.

I'm not sure what this mural is about.  I think it's about encouraging one another.


Cibitoke Revisited

On the way to Cibitoke, I hoped Mom would see some birds.  I guess during the dry season, the birds hide.  Oops!  She did get to see a couple.

On the way, Johnnie said, "Burundians like to dance." The road was still bad, and we had to weave in and out of the holes.  But...there were some piles of dirt on the side of the road, ready to be used to fill the holes.

In Cibitoke, we saw the bakery again.  This time, they were making ibitambura, or sweet cubes of bread that are fried.  They are like donuts but without holes in the middle, powdered sugar, or frosting.

 

Mom with Joan, a lady from the YFC office.  She's been extremely
helpful with the immigration office, getting visas, and helping me get around in Bujumbura.

  

Across the road from the children's home is the new school, and another school where the kids currently go.  

 

Local kids watching the construction of the wall, and kids playing at the school.

 

The kids were doing well.  We did some coloring, and hung out with the kids.  We then went over to the new playground at the new school.  I believe the school will be open this fall.  A volunteer named Tara came out to Burundi a few weeks ago.  She packed some playground equipment, but it didn't come on her flight.  Thankfully, it did eventually come, and she was able to add it to the new playground at the school.  The kids love the new playground!  Thanks Tara, and those who have contributed to the playground!  Here’s a video of the mamas laughing at two kids swinging on the same swing.

Mom handing out cotton candy.

The store is now completely operational.  It has been a success, and we have been selling a lot of bread.  The new baker was invited out to my town to train the bakers at our bakery.  He joined us one night for dinner, but didn't speak much English.  The kids English is improving.  Seth took a video of the kids thanking the people in Australia and singing a song.



The new store, now fully in business.

 

"Thank you Australia for all you are doing...and have a good night."

Seth Chase

When Mom was out here, we left our town and traveled to the capital.  We stayed the night in the Youth for Christ guest house.  The next morning, Johnnie, the president of YFC, picked us up.  We traveled with Johnnie, Jackie, and a videographer, Seth Chase, to Cibitoke.  Seth was traveling to Cibitoke to make a video of the Children’s home for some of YFC’s supporters in Australia.  Here's a video he made last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQhD69aVvtE

Seth is from Montana, but has been traveling a lot in the last ten years.  He has traveled to many African nations, including southern Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Rwanda, and the Congo.  Seth knows a lot of politics in this area, and it was fascinating listening to some of his experiences.  He has had some contact with some political figures, and talked about some of the meetings related to the ongoing war in the Congo.  Seth reminds me of my uncle.  He’s adventurous, independent, and very smart.

The Congo has been in a state of war now for ten years.  Congo’s border is about 3km from Cibitoke.  Seth has traveled the road to Cibitoke a number of times to go to the Congo.  Soon, Seth will be traveling to the Congo and doing a video on Artisan Mining.  Artisan mining is done by making small tunnels and using basic tools.  It sounds like something from the movie Shawshank Redemption.  In the movie, the main character takes years to dig a prison escape tunnel using a small rock hammer.  Seth has had a lot of experiences, but this one is risky and one that he admits that has him worried.  Could you please pray for him and his journey?  It’s possible the film will be funded by Switzerland, but at this time, it’s not funded.  Seth will be doing the trip out of his own pocket.

For more information, go to http://kivumining.org or look up some of Seth's videos on YouTube.  You can Google Seth, however, beware!  There are multiple people named Seth Chase.  One is a terrorist, and another one does porn videos!

 

 

Batwa Project

After being in my town, the South Carolina joined Harvest for Christ doing other mission work.  They spent some time with the Batwa.  The Batwa are also called bushmen or pygmy.  Have you seen the movie "Gods Must Be Crazy" or its sequel?  It was about a tribe of bushmen.  There are mainly three tribes in Burundi...the Hutu, the Tutsi, and the Batwa. 

The Batwa are the minority.  According to the CIA's website, they represent about 1% of the population.  They are the poorest tribe and are often oppressed.  Jeremy and Nadia visited a Batwa village or area, and someone said to them, "Oh...you must come from the Batwa in Canada.  That's why you are helping them."

The Batwa are in need of housing.  Sherry told me that mothers and fathers will share a room with their children.  Since the children witness their parents having sex, they may have sex with each other at early ages.  There has been imbreding in some villages, and it has caused problems in the Batwa population.  So, Harvest for Christ is working with Burundians by building two room houses for some of the Batwa.  The group from South Carolina was able to work on the houses during their time in Burundi.

The children's home I live in has children from all three tribes.

Commute

The road from Cibitoke to Bujumbura is mostly paved.  Since Bujumbura is the largest city in Burundi, a lot of things are taken to the city.  Below are some pictures I took on the drive to Bujumbura.  Some people with bicycles make the 64km journey to Bujumbura and back every day.

 

 

Bikes transporting pineapple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the drive there was a community of cookie cutter brick houses.  The houses were built by a government project to get people to group together.  Together, the people would have access to clean water, and advantages of a community.  But...most of the houses were empty and unfinished.

Cankuzo 06/14/13

For the second part of the Leadership exchange, 10 of our students traveled to the province of Cankuzo.  Cankuzo is one of the poorest providences in Burundi.  Hanna, Jack, and JR went with 9 of our 8th grade students.  The students were selected based on their discipline record, and a leadership essay in JR's leadership class.

 

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go, but I found the trip interesting.

 

A group called the Lutheran World Federation hosted the event.  Our students traveled to one of the 9 villages that the students that visited us live in.  The chose that village because you could get to it in a vehicle.  Some of the other villages you can't get to other than walking or by motorcycle.

 

Headmaster JR.

 

Lutheran World Federation (LWF) does a number of projects, and one of them is a three part Leadership program for youth and young adults.  They teach entrepreneurship, agriculture, and citizenship.

 

For entrepreneurship, they teach students how to manage a business.  I think outside of the program, LWF has been involved in doing micro loans to encourage economic growth.  One of the problems they are finding with micro loans in Burundi is creativity.  The proposals from people on what businesses they would like to start haven't been unique.

 

While the students were in Cankuzo, they go to see one of the agricultural lessons and projects.  Students in the leadership program learn to make small three tiered gardens. 

 

 

The citizenship program was not what I would have guessed.  It has different parts, but two things the program encourages is for people to get official marriage licenses, and for people to get ID cards.  But...getting either can be difficult.  People may walk a day to a government office, and then when they arrive, they may find the office is closed.  The ID cards made sense to me.  With ID cards, young adults can be more involved in community activities, and they can vote.  At first, I didn't understand why the marriage licenses were important...

 

For the exchange, the kids that came to our school for the exchange did a performance.  The play was about a man and a woman.  They fell in love and got married.  Then, the wife got pregnant and had a baby.  The man went out and married another woman.  Because there was no proof of the first marriage, he wasn't held responsible for the baby or for taking care of his first wife.  One of the things the performance demonstrates is the importance of getting an official marriage license. 

 



Locals climbed a tree to see the performance.

 

A picture from the performance.

 

One of our students.  Notice what's on his shirt.  Appropriate for a boarding school?

 The marriage license is also important if something happens to the husband or the wife, like if one dies.  Recently I learned that women can't own land.  Because of that, it's actually easier for foreign women to get citizenship then for a foreign man. Simeon has lived here for over ten years, and just got his citizenship last week.

On Sunday, the group visited the first church built in Burundi.



 

 

The hotel the group stayed in.  Very nice!



Some of the students at the hotel.

Hanna, the photographer of these pictures.

Leadership Exchange 6/5/13

For the third term, 9 students visited the school from the province of Cankuzo.  Cankuzo is one of the poorest provinces in Burundi.  For the visit, I was responsible for doing an activity Friday afternoon, shortly after the students arrived.  The students did not speak any English, so instead of English Club on Friday afternoon, we made an exception and called it Kirundi Club.

For the activity, I decided to do something from my days as a camp counselor.  I decided we should play Queen Sheba.  I had the students divide into groups with ten students each.  Then, I had them to competitions to try to impress the queen.  JR, our schools headmaster, was the queen. 

The first activity we did was see which group could make him the best robe in ten minutes.  After the ten minutes, representatives from each group presented the robe to JR.  Many came with plants, and one group even kissed his hand. 

 

For the second competition, a student from each group put a medical latex glove on their head, and had a straw from the glove to their mouth.  Then, students raced to see who could blow up the glove, and make it come off their head first.  Sorry, I didn't get pictures of that event.

Unfortunately, the Cankuzo kids didn't participate that much.  I should have done something else to encourage more team work.  After the event, I found out that each student was from different villages.  I'm not sure any of them had more than a 4th grade education.  Each one was chosen from their village to visit our school, so they didn't know each other very well.  But...later we had a dance party.  I hope they enjoyed their time at our school.