My arrival in Bujumbura, Burundi did not go as planned as the schedule challenged folks at Rwandair moved the 8 pm flight back to 5:30 pm and did not tell anyone ordering tickets. I arrived at the terminal in Kigali looking for the transfer desk and it was smaller than a lemonade stand. Literally a small stand up desk that said, “transfers.” With no one around, we asked the cleaning lady, who asked someone else, who got a third person who eventually tracked down a fourth. After ushering us through a keyed door way, he told us to wait here, they needed to load a flight to Uganda first. About our flight, there wasn’t one. "May we have your passports and tickets?" After about 30 minutes, when the flight was supposed to leave, a fifth person showed up and said, we would be put up in a hotel and get the 11 am flight out in the morning. We were introduced to a 6th person who said all was well with our tickets and handed off to a 7th person who took us away to the hotel. There were three of us and we were all expected in the WR office at 8 am. This is Africa.
They did put us up in a nice hotel. The going rate is $189 per night, supposedly a 6star, but I think the ladies at the front desk were exaggerating a bit. I have stayed at one 5 star in my life and this was not close. Maybe a 4 but I’m not complaining, except they did not give me the wakeup call I requested. Fortunately I woke up at 6 by internal alarm and made it to the pickup site on time.
We got the airport and you guessed it, 1) our tickets had not been changed and 2) the plane was not even ready for its first flight of the day on time. We left a half hour late, making it 10 am, pretty close to the predicted 11 am, although they had said it was to leave at 9:30. Their in-flight magazine for the month said, departure at 11, so who knows, the employees didn’t and they get the planes ready! This is still Africa.
I had lunch with some of the leadership team in Bujumbura and the expectations were pretty high. “Tell us what to do so that when we get to September start date of the new program, our implementation team will have it all figured out.” Hmm, at least I get three months to do that. This is more of an assessment trip for me since the first time I did not make it out of the capital city due to meetings and shortness of time.
To round out the afternoon, we took a road trip along the coast of Lake Tanganyika and then up into the mountains of the southern provinces. We stopped to visit an association that WR had helped start with a few goats, vegetables, bananas and cassava two years ago. My task was to ask lots of questions and try to figure out how to fashion a real, business-based agriculture and value chain development program out of what is and what ever opportunities exist in the region. These 17 young men were trying to raise small eggplant on a hard rocky and clay soil mix. It is the kind of soil that someone cultivated so poorly years ago that all the top soil has been eroded off and washed away. They get some water from a stream up the mountainside so at least they don’t have to spend money on pump fuel. They just dug a trench across the dirt road, around the bend and into their small garden field and the water just runs. It doesn’t even soak in that well.
To their credit, they had covered the stony ground with a grass and weed mulch, and apparently used come goat manure underneath. The plants looked relatively healthy and had fruit. If all goes well, they could earn up to 30,000 Burundian franks, or $25 every two weeks for the next 6-7 months off that patch. Some of that money will go to buy spray to keep the bugs away, if they can find it. There were lots of little raggedy clothed, bright eyed little kids around, some with swollen bellies. Many of the young men didn’t look much out of their teens themselves.
How to have a real lasting impact on agriculture, incomes and development in such a situation? That is quite a responsibility to carry the next couple of days. When I thought about it, it was a little overwhelming. Fortunately, there is a team here that should be a good resource. The idea is to see the situation as it really is before we try to envision, with God’s help, how it could be different. We'll use the skills of the local people, the resources they have been given, plus realistic ideas from other places that if implemented, could change the future of many who now live lives of quiet desperation.
On a lighter note, needing to have a gluten free meal on the plane, provided me with sirloin steak instead of the chicken, fish or vegetarian option. That was a first. I am staying at the UNHCR hotel in Makamba and the chef said the meal would be ready in an hour. I had a pretty good lunch, so I told him I only needed a small plate of food. I was tired enough to fall asleep on the bed, then was awakened by a knock on the door about 8 p.m. He came in with 3 plates of food. Since it was late, I was hungrier than I thought and could have eaten it all. The temp is pretty cool up here and I will use it to keep warm tonight. As for the meat? You guessed it, sirloin steak, two days in a row. Another first. My compliments to the chef!! He has pretty good taste.
