The past few days have flown by. We have seen so much and heard so many heart wrenching stories that I really do not even know what to share. I think I gave everyone a fair warning about my inability to express my emotions through my writing. I sit down to write, wanting to share everything…and I go blank. L When I get back to America, I will tell you everything. PROMISE!!

*The street children are really opening up to us. Not verbally, although I do know a few key phrases in Kirundi now. We communicate through hugs, smile, and laughter. We have taught them a few more games. Today we played hot potato and a few circle games that I made up on the fly. They are very quick learners and enjoy anything, even if I think it was a bust. We had a talent show, which ended in a big dance party. Some of the kids played soccer while I taught the others English. I found out that “oh yeah” in Kirundi means “no”. Oops!! I have been saying that the whole time I have been here. Ahhh….communication in a foreign country. J I painted fingernails and a few of the girls did my hair. The pictures are not postable (is that a word?).

*Yesterday, at church, the message was on JOY!! I can honestly say that I have never been as challenged as I was yesterday. I was sitting with street children and adults who have suffered SO MUCH!! True suffering is something I cannot even imagine. I was sitting there with my bible (one of the 10 bibles I had to choose from), big bottle of water (yes, I am drinking a lot of water Mom), shoes on my feet, clothes on my body (whoa), food in my stomach, food in my room if I needed it, totally rested (I am sleeping on a bed with a pillow and sheets), and probably other things that I have completely forgotten to be thankful for. I was listening to the preacher (well…the translator) thinking about all the stories I have heard about the preacher’s life (I will share some of those later). I was absolutely overcome with emotion. These people understand suffering yet have so much JOY!! In my life I have lost a few people close to me (not as a result of war or starvation), I have been rejected by boys (crazy…I know), hurt by friends, and lonely at times. Those are the things that I have let steal my joy. This is my reality…a little heartbreak. I have NO CLUE what true suffering is like. I am thankful for the opportunity to be taught by these people.

*After church, we went to the beach. Jessica and I are really trying hard not to come back to America as white as we left. J We discovered PARADISE!! Diodonne dropped us off because he had a class to teach. We walked to the beach and there it was…a restaurant with a pool and lawn chairs. Americans, I bet you are thinking…Ritz Carlton. STOP!! I’m describing a Day’s Inn pool here, but it felt like I was at the Ritz (at least what I imagine a Ritz to be like, I’ve never been to a Ritz). We were seriously in heaven.

*Last night, we met with a group of street kids that have grown up. I’d say the average age of the boys was 17. They have all lived together since they were 3 or 4. This was the first group that Diodonne helped when he got on the bus that Christmas day so long ago when New Generation was founded. We sat in a big circle (maybe 15 of us) and they each told us their story. Some were orphaned and some were from very poor families that had no means to care for them. Now, they all live together in a house and go to secondary school. Each of the boys expressed how thankful they were for Diodonne and his wife and they all want to help the younger street kids in the future. Each of them has a talent or a dream that will allow them to be successful. They would have never had that opportunity if they remained on the streets. I asked a million questions at the end and with my eyes full of tears I thanked them because I now I have inspiring stories for the street kids that we work with everyday. We are planning on throwing a big party for the current street kids and these boys. It is going to be a blast!!!

*Today at lunch, a few of the guys were laughing at me because I mistook one guy for another guy. For two days I have been calling man #1, man #2’s name. OOPS!! When they told me that I was confused, we all laughed. I felt silly, but they reassured me that they think all American’s look alike. I mentioned that two guys at the table look alike, but the other ones do not. I said it was their nose. Oh boy…did that open up a can of worms. Can you believe that during the war (last year and the 40 years before) the rebellion groups would stop a bus full of people and kill people with noses similar to my two friends. Somehow, their nose defines them. It is supposed to show which ethnic group a person belongs to, but that is a bunch of nonsense. The way the ethnic groups were divided makes no sense. Surely not every Irish person has the same nose as me. Every one of the guys at the table has seen that happened. Their nose…really?? This is one example of what these people have survived.

*Tomorrow, we are headed “up country”. Anything out of the city is considered up country. It doesn’t matter if it is south or west…it’s up country. So, I really have no idea where we are going except I know it is not in the city. I doubt we will have Internet for a few days (tragic), but we will be in contact when we come back.

Please continue to be in prayer for…

*our relationships with the street children

*financial situation with New Generation

*ideas on how to help New Generation &Burundi

*safety

*alone time

I wish you could smell the smells of Africa with me…if that makes sense. I know that I am very far from America, but I feel like I am in a different world. It doesn’t make sense to me that we live the way we do in America, and the Burundians have to live like this. Why does it have to be like that? The possibilities to help are endless, but finding a place to start is difficult. I am really thankful for this opportunity and am hopeful that even the few smiles and hugs that I can offer will make a little difference in the lives of these people. Think of the possibilities if we all did a little something more than what we are doing today. I am really hopeful that I figure out what else I can be doing to make a difference.

We complicate our faith and lives in many ways, but at the core, our purpose is simple: We are called to love.

Typical Day in Burundi

Our house

This morning, the rooster started crowing at 3:30 am. I didn’t wake up until my alarm went off at 8. (typical American) I pressed snooze a few times until finally I got out of bed. Our bodies are still not totally adjusted. We woke up in the middle of the night…wide awake and hungry. We watched a movie and then went back to sleep.

I was taking a ninja shower at 8:30. Ninja showers (for those of you who haven’t been to Africa) are where you get your hair and body completely wet, turn the shower off and soap up. When you feel brave enough you turn the water back on and stick your arm in the stream of freezing cold water, then the other arm, then your right leg, then your left leg, then your whole body. It is quite the ordeal. My hair hasn’t seen conditioner since I got here (not because I don’t have it, but because I can’t handle the cold water). It may sound extreme, but to be honest this is one of the nicer shower situations I have had in Africa. I was expecting a bucket with dirty water.

Breakfast is always on the table when we wake up. I brought cereal so we have cereal, bananas and milk every morning. Today, I made the mistake of smelling the milk. I will NEVER do that again. I have never experienced instant nausea like I did today. It is just very different…I’ll put it that way.

I was out in the church (our front yard) with the street kids by 9. Twelve kids (2 girls and 10 boys) came today. We watched a movie in Kirundi (local language). I put the English subtitles on and watched with them. A few of the kids were at church on Sunday, but the others were very fascinated by me. I don’t think anyone explained why I was there. They just kept looking at me and laughing. It wasn’t too good for my self-esteem.

When the movie was finished, Jessica and I called the kids over to us one by one. With the help of a translator, Claire, we asked the kids about their lives. We are hoping to figure out a system to get these children sponsored for school. They receive one meal a day through New Generation, but cannot attend school because of the fees. New Generation is struggling to feed these children right now. After talking with them, my heart is completely broken. These kids have suffered through war and have to beg for food or just not eat. We asked them what their dreams for the future were and most of them had never thought about it. They didn’t even know what it was to have a dream. Without school, all they know is life on the streets. I cannot begin to describe how painful it was to hear that.

Lunch was served around 1. We always have great conversation around the lunch table. Today, we had chick-fil-a sandwiches and an oreo milkshake for dessert. Oh wait…no we didn’t. We had fish (Diodonne had to take it off the bones for us…not quite African mama’s yet), spaghetti, beans, peas and pineapple.

After lunch I hung out with Nathan and Tracy, the two older kids of our Burundian family. They have discovered Photo Booth on my Mac. That has entertained us for a few hours. We laughed a lot.

The daily thunderstorm came around 3, so we all went to our rooms and rested. I LOVE the African Nap. We acquired a fan today, which was really nice.

At 6 we went with Diodonne to a bible study. One of the New Generation teams (a different project than the street kid ministry) meets every Tuesday night. These students are part of the Forgiveness and Reconciliation project. We wanted to experience it, even thought we didn’t understand a word that was spoken. It was a totally different atmosphere. Students were friendly, joyful, and excited about life. After the interviews this afternoon, I was desperate to see some hope in the eyes of the kids in Burundi.

We are now at the Internet café. Our super duper wireless Internet that we had the one night, no longer works. We aren’t sure what happened, but we are hopeful that we can get it fixed. The Internet café is close by, but we cannot walk here alone.

Dinner (bread, milk, and tea) is usually served around 9:30pm. We will go to sleep soon after that, at least to our room so that the kids go to sleep. Jessica has a million sappy, girly movies that I haven’t seen. I may try to watch one at a normal hour tonight, instead of waking up at 2 in the morning.

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Today is a very special day!! It’s Becky’s 40th Birthday. Becky is the mom of the girls that I was a nanny for in Texas AND a very dear friend of mine. If you don’t know her you are missing out. If you do know her, hug her for me!!!

40~40~40~40~40~40~~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40~40

Well, that pretty much sums up a day in Africa. When I reflect on today, I realize that I have NEVER gone without a meal out of necessity. I may have skipped a meal because I was still full from the previous one or because I was too preoccupied with sometime else, but I have never gone without. These children face this reality everyday! They wake up in the morning with nothing to eat, nothing to look forward to, no dreams, no hopes…it is just another day of begging on the streets to provide for them and their families. War has destroyed their communities, families and their lives. I sit here wondering what my role is, what is it that I can do. For the moment, all I can think of is to share their stories with you. So many of us have it so good. There really are people struggling, hurting, and STARVING. Please pray for these children. Please pray that these stories will have a happy ending!!

IN BURUNDI!!!

Texas àFlorida à D.C à Virginia à Maryland à Italy à Ethiopia à Kenya à BURUNDI

I am in BURUNDI!!! It has been a long journey, but I am here and LOVING it!!

Jessica and I met up at the airport in Washington D.C. We quickly ate some Dunkin Donuts and then boarded the plane. We were VERY fortunate that our flight was early in the morning because all the flights after ours were cancelled due to a snow storm in the area. Because I have flown internationally so many times, I know a few secrets of flying. One is to ask for an entire row. Both Jessica and I had our own ROW on the plane. It was a beautiful thing. We could lay down whenever we wanted. I actually slept quite well on the plane. Our first flight to Rome was 9.5 hours. We couldn’t get off the plane; we just had to sit for an hour while they re-fueled. The next flight to Ethiopia was about 6 hours. We did get off there only to quickly update our Facebook status and board the next plane. The next flight was about 2 hours to Kenya where we couldn’t get off the plane. We waited another hour while they refueled and let most of the passengers off. We then FINALLY flew to Bujumbura, Burundi, which was a 2-hour flight. We met some wonderful people along the way. That is always a bonus to a long flight; you get to meet people from all over the world.

We arrived yesterday afternoon and have been treated like royalty since. Our new friend, Diodonne, picked us up from the airport and brought us to his house where we will live for at least the next month. He introduced us to his lovely family. His wife Mary, his son Nathan, and his daughters Tracy and Zoë are like family to us already.

We were exhausted when we arrived, so he gave us the afternoon to rest…the afternoon turned into the whole day!! We woke up at 8pm…oops! Diodonne took us for a quick tour of the city. We stopped and got some cold sodas and milk for breakfast. We ended up at an Internet café where we called our moms and ate chicken and French fries. J

Today, we woke up and walked to church (the church is in our front yard). There will be NO skipping church here…ha ha. We had a translator who sat in between Jessica and me. I am embarrassed to say that I was falling asleep throughout the service. My body is not quite adjusted yet…or at least that is the excuse I am using. We had a great time being the token Mzungus (white people) at the service. Everyone wanted to take pictures with us. That always makes me laugh because we use MY camera. I guess they want me to remember them.

After church, we took a little nap (I love the daily naps in Africa). We woke up to spaghetti and beans (I really should have taken a picture).

After lunch, Diodonne and his wife took us for another tour. They wanted us to see ALL of Bujumbura before we start working tomorrow. It has been a great way for us to get to know them. Their passion for their country, especially the orphans and street kids is unbelievable. I am truly thankful that we are here and have the opportunity to be a part of New Generation (their organization). When we get in the groove of things, I will give you a better idea of what it is they are doing.

I cannot even express how happy I am to be here…cold showers and all!! Africa has a very special place in my heart. Well, I need to go put some more bug spray on my legs and eat some beef jerky. J

Thank you for your love, prayers and support!!!!!!!

PS---> I am uploading pictures to this blog from my room. Wireless internet in AFRICA. Who knew???

"You can pick it up tomorrow!!"

Those words mean more than you can imagine!! Here's the story....

All along (well...for the past 3 weeks that I have known I was going to Africa) our contact at the orphanage in Burundi has been telling us that we can get our Visa at the airport when we arrive. I also thought that was the case, because all the other times I have been to an African country, I was able to get my Visa at the airport. WELL....we found out on Monday that the policy had changed. Jessica and I called the embassy and could not get any information other than if we brought it to the embassy it would take 5 business days. Emailing with our contact in Burundi is not the easiest thing to do either. After a ton of phone calls and a lot of prayer, we decided that I would go to the embassy as soon as I landed in D.C. and try and work something out!! Jessica had to overnight her passport to my grandma's house with all her paperwork. My brother waited for the package and then came to pick me up at the airport. He picked me up and off we went...EMBASSY ROW!! I walked in and the girl was super sweet. I had to fill out a few forms and I handed her everything. I explained to her that our flight is on Friday and she asked me if I cancelled it. I told her no and that I was just going to see what happened today before we did that. She explained that it would take 5 business days and that they were closed on Friday (Burundi holiday). I asked her what the process was, who handles it, and if there was any way I could talk directly to that person. She said the the minister of something... handles the Visas and that he probably wouldn't talk to me. She called him and started speaking Kirundi so I left her office. Not that I could understand a word, but I just thought I would give her privacy. I quickly updated my brother and then I heard her hang up the phone. I walked in and she said..."You can pick it up tomorrow!!" Tears streamed down my face (I have been super emotional the last few days) and thanked her until she couldn't be thanked anymore. She told me that I could pick our passports up between 10-4 tomorrow. I plan on being there at 10:01. What a HUGE blessing this is. I called Jessica and we screamed for about 5 minutes!!

I love moments like these!! I am truly thankful!!