Burundi

Last week I had the privilege of joining Steve in Burundi which is a small country in East Africa. It is bordered on part of the west side by Lake Tanganyika. Bujumbura is the capital of around 1 million people and also right on the lake. It is a developing, sprawling city. I was surprised to see how many dirt roads there were right off the main highways.


Lake Tanganyika. It doesn't look too big here, but it is one of the Great Lakes of Africa.


While Steve was busy with micro-finance board meetings I spent a day at WR offices. I shared a devotional with them and then spent some time with their new Church Mobilization person. It was good to compare notes and share resources and encouragement. The WR office has had some tough challenges but they continue to move forward.

A couple of days we traveled to a small city 3 hrs away, Makambe. The mountains and scenery were beautiful and reminded me of Puerto Rico. A small camera shooting out of a car window does not do justice to the beauty we saw but perhaps you can imagine it.


We stayed at a U.N. Guesthouse since WR is working with UNHCR, providing roofing and other materials to refugees. When I logged on to FB from there I was notified that I had logged on from Geneva!

They also have a small agricultural program which Steve helped them with. We met this group of young men who have formed an association and are growing tomatoes. To get to their field we trekked through a palm forest and forded a small stream. Their customers come to the field to buy and they haul some of the tomatoes out. It was great to see young men working as in Moz most of the men have gone to S Africa to work in the mines.


Steve training the ag staff in the office:



We were amazed to find a boy wearing a Notre Dame shirt out in the middle of nowhere.


These women work with the child survival program and have started kitchen gardens at their homes. This may look like weeds to you (pig weed) but it is actually amaranth and a green eaten often by the Burundians.