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!!!

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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!!