Christine Wichert's Adventures in Africa

Photo: View from Mt. Songa

IN BUJUMBURA
I just had the great privilege of taking 4 of our Bible School students with me to visit Doug in Burundi and it was a fantastic time of fellowship and ministry. We arrived into Bujumbura on Friday, March 16 and our first team meeting with Doug was on the shores of Lake Tanganika under the tin roof of a gazebo during a torrential rain storm. Deafening, but very refreshing!

Photo:Team time at Doug & Deanna's House

We spent the first few days in Bujumbura and it was especially exciting to meet a dynamic young leader named Onesphore who heads up a ministry called Harvest for Christ, with the vision to raise up quality Christian leaders in the next generation through evangelism and discipleship. We had a couple of chances to share testimonies of Christ's work in our lives at that time, and it was encouraging to know that we are serving the same Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ - despite our vastly different cultural contexts.


IN GITEGA
On Tuesday, March 20, we headed into Gitega, the heart of the country,where Doug and Deanna spent their first 3 years. We had the chance to meet again a couple of days later to play Ultimate Frisbee with some of the youth, as well as watch some other young guys (that Doug had gotten to know) perform traditional Burundian drumming. It was really great to see the friendships that had developed in a relatively short time, and I was reminded of the importance of investing in the lives of others wherever we have opportunity. The impact on someone else's life could be immeasurable.


Photo: The guys joking around with Doug after the drumming performance.

During that time we were actually living and working at an orphanage just outside of Gitega that's run by Youth for Christ. This project is in it's earliest stages and they have 13 orphans currently, with the goal of being able to house 100, Lord willing. Now there are 3 buildings, but they hope to build about 30, including a school and a clinic in addition to more dormitories. We had the joy of playing with the kids quite a lot, but we also chipped in with one of their building projects and joined the local workers in lugging rocks and dumping them into the foundation trenches of their next building. It's all done by hand, of course, according to the strength of each one. I couldn't help but think of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem; restoration is a long slow process, but stone by stone the task will get accomplished if the workers are faithful to work.


Photo: Building the Kingdom, stone by stone

We left Gitega mid-morning on Friday, the 23, but before that we went on an early morning hike up Mount Songa, the highest peak in that area.(See photo top of page.)We joined together with some of the volunteers from the orphanage for the beautiful scenery, some breakfast, and a time of prayer for the needs of the people living and working below us. May God's Kingdom come and His will be done on earth - in Burundi (and Canada!) - as it is in Heaven.

IN KIRUNDO
So, on Friday we drove up to the northern province of Kirundo and on the way made a short rest stop at Mutaho, where the Cornerstone crew had spent some time last year(Feb./06). It was so encouraging to see the gifts that Cornerstone had brought to such a remote and impoverished area and to know that we can reach out to our neighbours around the world. Once in Kirundo, we spent a couple days working with the reforestation project that Brandon Thiessen is supervising and so he joined us for the weekend. Our main job was to hoe the seedlings that had been planted in the last couple years and I was thankful for all that farmwork in my younger years. (Thank-you Froese Farms!) It was actually a refreshing change from my usual work,and yet the locals couldn't stop laughing at us, presumably because they don't usually see "muzungus" doing manual labour. We decided we might as well join the fun and ended up laughing along with them.


Photo: Hoeing "101" with Brandon in Kirundo


IN KIGALI
From Kirundo, we headed up to Kigali, Rwanda on Tuesday, the 27th. Here, we spent some time learning about the history of the genocide in '94 and also some of the programs in place to restore peace and reconciliation in this broken land. It's hard to grasp the magnitude of the suffering in this whole region. It's also incredible to hear testimonies of those who have lost their whole families to the genocide and yet are able to say they've forgiven the killers. This kind of forgiveness is a total miracle and helps me to understand the depth of Christ's love for us, "...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us..." How can this be?


Photo:Widows and wives of men in prison because of the genocide join together

The 3rd World is another world, that's for sure, and it's hard to know where to begin making a dent in the mountain of need. My prayer for the students and myself before we went is that we would start to have a long-term vision of how to be involved, and I'm encouraged by the faithfulness of the Christian leaders we met at each stop. Like our stonework at the orphanage, may each one of us contribute according to our strength and ability, and step by step, stone by stone the work will get done to the glory of God.

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