It’s been a year since we moved here to Burundi as two weeks ago was the exact day one year ago that our family touched down at the retro-futuristic international airport in Bujumbura.
It sure seems like it’s been more than a year – and I don’t think that’s just because it was a leap year.
We landed in Bujumbura March 6, 2015 – and it sure feels like we’ve seen, experienced, and learned a lot since then.
We stayed for one month in a temporary place before moving into our house. We basically brought over our bags and then left for our Serge East Africa conference. Looking back we were actually pretty hesitant about going – it seemed like a fairly big, expensive trip so soon after we arrived. It was a fantastic experience, and we are so glad we were able to get to know the rest of the East Africa team, and what we learned, expeirnedced and shared there were much better prepared in many ways for much of what was gong to happen over the next 12 months.
Then a few weeks after we got back the ruling party announced that the President would run for a third term, and the protests started.
In May there was an attempted coup, and we left for what we hope would be a few weeks in Rwanda.
The violence continued, and escalated and things got pretty bad in the city and we stayed in Rwanda for most of the summer. We finally returned as a family at the end of August.
I got back into the swing of things at Hope Africa University, moved classes to our house for security reasons, the kids got into their school – and we settled in to what everyone seemed to refer to as “the new normal”
We had to leave again after a day of intense fighting in December, and ended up spending Christmas up here.
Now we’ve moved up here to Kibuye and the kids have settled in to their new school routine, I’m working with administration at the hospital, and Susan has started helping out with the malnourished children.
While at the time, it often seemed like a bit of a random even chaotic ride – it has been amazing. We have been able to get involved at HAU, and now here at the hospital, and help out a country that has some of the lowest levels of medical care and university education in the world. Both HAU and Kibuye Hope Hospital are part of the local church that we partner with – and so we have had that common link, and ability to work with others who also are attempting to better this country because they are compelled by the love that they have received from God, and want to both share it and show it with others.