It's hot, real hot in Bujumbura!

It’s HOT… real HOT!! We have spent the first few days in Bujumbura, staying with Doug and Deanna. The younger guys are staying a 10 minute walk away, at an orphanage called the Rainbow Centre. On Sunday when we first arrived, we had a church service in the afternoon at the Rainbow Centre. It is in a building without walls- it is amazing to worship God in the midst of the beautiful surroundings- mountains, birds, palm trees. Ed spoke that afternoon and Doug lead worship. This service was in English- the only one so far. By the evening- we were all so tired! It was a loonnnggg day!

On Monday, we started the day early. After breakfast we met with Zachee, Doug and Deanna’s close friend. He gave us a brief history of Burundi. It is such a beautiful place among so much conflict. After the meeting, we went to the market in town. It was so chaotic! There is nothing at home that I can compare this experience to. Imagine a place packed with people. It is impossible to walk through the market without running into people. Being in a group of 9 white people- everyone stopped and stared at us. They shouted “mzungu” at us, which means white. Everywhere we went people shouted at us! We went through the different sections in the market. Burundians were hacking away at the meat with machetes. The smell was so strong and got worse as we entered the area of dried fish. Fish sat out among tons of tables surrounded by flies. After we had seen most of the market, we picked up some colourful pails/buckets for the ladies at the AIDS centre that we visited later in the week. Some of the guys practiced carrying the bright coloured buckets on their heads. There were 75 buckets in total. We spent the rest on the afternoon organizing the clothes and the items in the bags that we had brought from home- while the other half of our team had a worship practice. We ended off the evening with a Burundian dinner at Doug and Deanna’s house. We had rice, ubugali (looks like play dough!), a cabbage salad with tomatoes and avacados, and tender beef in a sauce. It was very good! For dessert we had fresh mangos!

Tuesday we packed a few things and got on a bus and headed up-country. As we left the city, we noticed a gradual temperature change. The view was incredible as we headed up the mountains – lush green fields of tea, palm trees, flowers, cows, people standing on the hillsides, people walking with huge loads on their heads, bikes, trucks, buses full - very full of people. The bus driver was very confident, driving through curves and turns , potholes – deep potholes, wash outs, honking as needed! We picked up people from Harvest for Christ Ministry, who were joining us on the journey. We thought the bus was full when we started, but there was always room for one more. The air was so clean and fresh compared to the city, and the scenery was breath-taking. We stopped in the town of Igenda and got settled into a guesthouse, run by nuns. We each had our own room. Then we got back on the bus, and drove to the place where a new church is being built. The setting was so beautiful up on the side of the mountain, with a stream nearby that was ice cold! The story of how the church was being formed is incredible. No one had the money to buy a plot of land for the church. The Catholic church looks at the evangelical church as being lost- so they were against having a church in this land. A university student, Leon had a huge vision. His father had given him a cow as a gift. Cows are very expensive here. Leon traded his cow for a plot of land. He donated this land to build a church. How amazing is this? It was very encouraging to see his heart for God. The people seem so passionate here- in their singing, dance and worship. It has been a blessing to see this. We continued to help build the church. A group of us went for a long walk through the valleys, and hills to hull up some long pieces of bamboo for the church walls. Many people were thankful to see this… especially seeing a 70 year old man (Jake) doing this! We brought some tools with us which were donated by some people at home. They came in very handy. By the time we had to leave to attend 2 church services- we had half the church built.