Francine Nijimbere relies entirely on her mother for basic things like bathing and eating.
Her husband cut off her arms up to the elbows in 2004, for failing to give birth to a boy. She was pregnant at the time and lost the baby due to her injuries, which included cuts on her stomach. The man - a soldier - was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison but was recently released following a presidential pardon.
After her arms were cut off, Nijimbere left for Burundi's southern province of Makamba with her daughter, now four, where she lived with her mother. She is now living in fear following her husband's release and has sought refuge with ADDF, an association based in Bujumbura, dealing with the protection of women's rights. She spoke to IRIN on 22 February:
"In December [2007], the president announced a pardon for all inmates suffering from incurable diseases. I hear my husband was released on a false name; how can a criminal like him be pardoned? The head of state pardoned inmates suffering from incurable diseases but my husband was not ill.
"I was married to his elder brother, who was a soldier. He died in 2000 five months after our wedding. However, I remained in the house as I waited for the end of the mourning period in order to return to my parents' home. My mother-in-law insisted I should not go to my parents since dowry had been paid. She convinced my parents that I should marry her other son; I was reluctant but my parents and in-laws reached an agreement.
"Right from the start, I never accepted him. One night, he forced the door to my house and raped me. I remained there; where was I supposed to turn?
"During our life together, he was just there; he never helped me, he did not buy me any clothes, nothing. Sometimes, I spent the nights out in the cold, other times he was good enough to let me in. When he realised I was not getting pregnant soon enough, he threatened to marry another wife and even built a house for her. He did not bring her home because I got pregnant then.
"When I delivered, he simply inquired about the sex of the baby. When he heard I had given birth to a girl, he did not even bother to visit me at the hospital, and he did not pay the bill when I was discharged. After three months, he came home from work and asked me: 'Do you consider yourself a mother after giving birth to girls?' He repeatedly told me I was worthless.
"I become pregnant again, four months later. This time he told me that if I gave birth to another girl, I would have to find somewhere to take her. Later when he came home on leave, he was all sweet, telling me he was sorry if he had wronged me and that from then on things would be different, that he was a new man. And I believed him. I actually hoped he would change.
"Then one evening, I saw him sharpening a machete. I did not know he was preparing to kill me. After the evening meal, I went to sleep, leaving him with his mother and sister. I was awakened by the machete blow on my arm.”
"I cried and cried, I begged for pardon but he cut my second arm. Nobody came to my rescue. Neighbours were afraid of him because he was armed. With cuts everywhere, I had a miscarriage. My husband left me there bleeding, and fled. He was later caught and imprisoned. I was taken to hospital out of pity, no one expected me to survive.
"I stayed in a coma for six days in hospital. When I was well enough, I went to live with my old mother. These days I depend on her for everything. If she is ill, I cannot get anybody to feed me. I cannot wash, I cannot clothe myself.
"If neighbours take pity on me, they come and assist me. I am more helpless than a newborn baby.
"Two weeks ago, my sister-in-law came to inform me that he has been released from prison. I know it meant death for me, so I fled to Bujumbura. I heard that while in prison, he had wed he would 'finish the work' if he ever came out. I hear he said cutting my arms was not what he wanted in the first place. All I want now is Justice and assistance.”
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
The Fam... and Dan Franklin
They came, they saw, dad took copious notes, mom asked many questions, they were an absolute pleasure to be around, then they left again. It was so good. I was blessed by my parents coming to visit. They both caught me off guard. My dad was nervy before he came here. In phone calls and emails, I thought he may not enjoy his time. But once he hit the ground, you couldn’t stop him. He would venture off by foot to nearby villages and towns marveling at the culture taking only Enoch with him at times. He helped to fortify a church that had been destroyed last rainy season. He checked out several of our programs here. Here is a list of the programs he got to see, in case his journal didn’t cover them:
Rehabilitation: Helping returning refugees, widows, and orphans to build their houses
Goat project: Giving goats to the poorest people in the world to help them survive.
VST: teaching formal rebels, and children how to work with wood, metal, cement, or teaching sowing, and bread making, so that they can get work now the war is ending.
All our programs are run in conjunction with the local churches here.
He also did a building inspection for our Child Survival program that will be used to estimate costs for repairs, so we can fix up the houses in order to get our program running. Mom was with us the whole way as well. She took pics, and she mingled really well with the locals. The kids loved her, and she was a great negotiator in the markets. The poverty was hard on her, and she had a soft heart. She wasn’t afraid to swim in the lake where, often times fifty percent of our visitors opt out of swimming do to crocs and hippos, and the occasional snake. Mom spent the most time in the lake, and dad enjoyed several dips as well. Trina and I were truly blessed by their visit. “They were rain,” as we would say here. Rain is seen as a blessing that gives life. That was my experience with my folks, a blessing that gave life.
Speaking of rain… there has been cases of torrential downpours a couple months back that caused some problems with flooding and destroyed crops etc in many villages. I visited several of these villages and was talking to a Burundian about all the damage to his town and how it was a bummer. Then he said: “Yes, for so long we prayed to God for rain, and we prayed and prayed. God decided to answer our prayers in one day but it was too much rain at one time.” I asked follow up questions because I was fascinated by his statement… I asked things like, “so if you prayed more specifically for appropriate rain quantity spaced out over a period of time, would God have responded to such specific requests.” He responded with a resounding yes, so I kept digging. He is a pastor at a local church, and I was fascinated about how different a view we had concerning weather. Note that I said fascinated… not shocked. I’m really not shocked by much anymore, especially not “The-weather-ology” which I consider to be the study of God and weather patterns. Both of us possessing incomplete biblical world views, and both of us having completely different views on “The-weather-ology” which I consider to be the study of God and weather patterns (the more you repeat the new big word, the more likely it will end up in a seminary program somewhere), I realized that if I went to his church, and he was giving a sermon on weather, I might lean over to Trina and say something like: “Trina, I really don’t agree with his guys thoughts on God and weather,” Trina would then shake her head in annoyance, and I would feel proud and stupid. Then when I went to tithe, I might stick a note in with my money, telling the leadership of that church not to use my tithe money for any of their weather ministries.
I don’t know who is more right, and it didn’t matter to me at the time, and it still doesn’t. We both gave our view, and we still love each other. Of course I think I’m more right. But I’m smart enough now to know that I’m not all that right about stuff… but I think I am. But deep down I know that really, Dan Franklin is the one who is right most of the time. Also, Doug Hebert is right, and so is Dan Brose… and between the three of them, I can triangulate. Triangulation is useful for all sorts of things. You can ask my dad about that.
So, like I was saying. I was so blessed by my parents visit. It was really difficult to see them go. I was the saddest I’ve been in a long time, so I immediately shot home, and edited a short video to get my mind on something else. I really love my parents, and I love who they are, and who they are becoming. I love that they put up with me, and my short temper at times. I truly can’t thank them enough for coming out.
Separately, but related to Dan Franklin. One of his many great posts was on dreams. His question was something to the effect of: “what nightmare would wake you up out of a deep sleep causing you to vocally express that nightmarish fear.” When I was a child a little older than Matthew, I woke up saying over and over again: “I don’t want to go to camp, I don’t want to go to camp.” My dad then said, “okay, seth you don’t have to go to camp.” I guess I went right back to sleep after he said that… but he was never going to send me to camp… he was really confused as to why I was worried about that. At that time I had never been to any youth camp so he was wondering how I even knew what camps were. To this day one of my least favorite activities are camps and retreats of any kind. Especially church related camps and retreats.” I simply dread them. But nowadays a phrase I would be likely to scream out of a deep sleep would be: “What do you mean you have to take out all my teeth!” I also might scream something like: “We can’t run out of sea food. We must always have New England clam chowder!” I read in a article a few years back that we’re pretty much eating all our seafood from earth’s oceans, and I remember having a few nightmares about that after I got home. Scary stuff... completely different from my parents visit.
Rehabilitation: Helping returning refugees, widows, and orphans to build their houses
Goat project: Giving goats to the poorest people in the world to help them survive.
VST: teaching formal rebels, and children how to work with wood, metal, cement, or teaching sowing, and bread making, so that they can get work now the war is ending.
All our programs are run in conjunction with the local churches here.
He also did a building inspection for our Child Survival program that will be used to estimate costs for repairs, so we can fix up the houses in order to get our program running. Mom was with us the whole way as well. She took pics, and she mingled really well with the locals. The kids loved her, and she was a great negotiator in the markets. The poverty was hard on her, and she had a soft heart. She wasn’t afraid to swim in the lake where, often times fifty percent of our visitors opt out of swimming do to crocs and hippos, and the occasional snake. Mom spent the most time in the lake, and dad enjoyed several dips as well. Trina and I were truly blessed by their visit. “They were rain,” as we would say here. Rain is seen as a blessing that gives life. That was my experience with my folks, a blessing that gave life.
Speaking of rain… there has been cases of torrential downpours a couple months back that caused some problems with flooding and destroyed crops etc in many villages. I visited several of these villages and was talking to a Burundian about all the damage to his town and how it was a bummer. Then he said: “Yes, for so long we prayed to God for rain, and we prayed and prayed. God decided to answer our prayers in one day but it was too much rain at one time.” I asked follow up questions because I was fascinated by his statement… I asked things like, “so if you prayed more specifically for appropriate rain quantity spaced out over a period of time, would God have responded to such specific requests.” He responded with a resounding yes, so I kept digging. He is a pastor at a local church, and I was fascinated about how different a view we had concerning weather. Note that I said fascinated… not shocked. I’m really not shocked by much anymore, especially not “The-weather-ology” which I consider to be the study of God and weather patterns. Both of us possessing incomplete biblical world views, and both of us having completely different views on “The-weather-ology” which I consider to be the study of God and weather patterns (the more you repeat the new big word, the more likely it will end up in a seminary program somewhere), I realized that if I went to his church, and he was giving a sermon on weather, I might lean over to Trina and say something like: “Trina, I really don’t agree with his guys thoughts on God and weather,” Trina would then shake her head in annoyance, and I would feel proud and stupid. Then when I went to tithe, I might stick a note in with my money, telling the leadership of that church not to use my tithe money for any of their weather ministries.
I don’t know who is more right, and it didn’t matter to me at the time, and it still doesn’t. We both gave our view, and we still love each other. Of course I think I’m more right. But I’m smart enough now to know that I’m not all that right about stuff… but I think I am. But deep down I know that really, Dan Franklin is the one who is right most of the time. Also, Doug Hebert is right, and so is Dan Brose… and between the three of them, I can triangulate. Triangulation is useful for all sorts of things. You can ask my dad about that.
So, like I was saying. I was so blessed by my parents visit. It was really difficult to see them go. I was the saddest I’ve been in a long time, so I immediately shot home, and edited a short video to get my mind on something else. I really love my parents, and I love who they are, and who they are becoming. I love that they put up with me, and my short temper at times. I truly can’t thank them enough for coming out.
Separately, but related to Dan Franklin. One of his many great posts was on dreams. His question was something to the effect of: “what nightmare would wake you up out of a deep sleep causing you to vocally express that nightmarish fear.” When I was a child a little older than Matthew, I woke up saying over and over again: “I don’t want to go to camp, I don’t want to go to camp.” My dad then said, “okay, seth you don’t have to go to camp.” I guess I went right back to sleep after he said that… but he was never going to send me to camp… he was really confused as to why I was worried about that. At that time I had never been to any youth camp so he was wondering how I even knew what camps were. To this day one of my least favorite activities are camps and retreats of any kind. Especially church related camps and retreats.” I simply dread them. But nowadays a phrase I would be likely to scream out of a deep sleep would be: “What do you mean you have to take out all my teeth!” I also might scream something like: “We can’t run out of sea food. We must always have New England clam chowder!” I read in a article a few years back that we’re pretty much eating all our seafood from earth’s oceans, and I remember having a few nightmares about that after I got home. Scary stuff... completely different from my parents visit.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Tribute
I wrote the greatest blog post in the history of the world last week. I wrote it over the course of a few days, and I thought “I should copy and paste this because internet explorer is super lame, and I’ll loose all this incredible blogging insight after a freeze followed by an error, explore must close.” Sure enough, I lost everything after saying several anathemas to Internet Explorer.
I do remember a line about the electricity here being as intermittent as my good intentions, and something about love being more precious than equity… but that’s about it. But this post isn’t the best blog post in the world, this is just a tribute.
Thanks to the good folks at mars hill, I’ve been reading a lot of George MacDonald lately. I love this guy. And man his he Scottish, which I love as much as I love his insight into life and faith and stuff. So then my wife’s copy of “velvet elvis” turned up on the dining room table last week, as I lost my blog post. I should also mention that I’ve been reading Michael Crichton (timeline) as well, just so you know: Also, I like Crichton better than Grisham. I’m not a guy who likes court room dramas, and law. If I ever get the chance to do a feature film, it won’t be a court room drama. Although, the first feature length screenplay I ever wrote centers around a traffic violation being settled in court (I know, it has oscar written all over it). I’ve been to traffic court many times, lots of times Officer Durbins from Gresham Oregon has sent me there… It could be officer Derbins, or Durbens. I no longer have my tickets so I don’t know how to spell his name In fact, I remember one time I was supposed to go camping with Andy Whipps and Matt Guerino, and I forgot I had a court date that prevented our timely departure. They both ended up coming to traffic court with me, watching Derbins, give out yet another successful traffic fine to yours truly. I’ve never won against that guy.
So whenever people send me books, like Jason from Mars, I start thinking about those people, and I start wondering what they’re doing… occasionally I facebook them, check out there new picks etc, and then I think how greatful I am that he would send a book out here to me, and of course I then start thinking about Greg from Mars... and that’s usually my process. Then that get’s me wondering why I haven’t read “velvet elvis.” I met two other people from mars, Don Golden, and Chris Stark, again the name spellings could be wrong, but these guys never gave me a single traffic violation, and I love ‘em for it. I had some good discussions with Don, and with Chris, and I remember thinking how, Mars people reminded me of each other, and myself… like I could pick them out of a crowd or something; or a few may show up at my next family reunion... So that got me thinking that I should read “velvet elvis” after all, why would it just show up like that, after I’ve had mars hill on the brain, plus I remember Chris saying to me that it was an important read as a part of his journey, and I’m a guy that’s all about journey… and Trina really liked it. Plus, Rob points out in this book that you should be critical and wrestle with it etc, and I’m super critical, and I like criticizing movies and books and bible commentaries, positively and negatively, and I don’t like that I like criticizing, so an invitation to criticize is like a delicious meal for me.
I realized that I never really studied too much about rabbinical tradition. It seems like Rob is really into this sort of study as a means to understanding scripture. Which makes a lot of sense. I thought Rob put himself out there. It was a bold move, and I liked his style. The concept of binding and loosing things was new to me. It was a good concept to think about. I did love the concept of pastor/teachers being masters of the obvious, and pointing out the obvious. I found that to be true to my experience… His passion and honesty was refreshing, as well as his sense of humor. I like to think about Rob as a big fan of Punk touring around with his punk band, it seems we’ve got similar music tastes. It was also great to see Trina’s notes, the things she liked, the sentences she underlined. Looks like she used it to teach quite a few things, and I know that Nooma is no stranger to the High School/Junior High machine at G-shep. In about two months we’ll be receiving two teams from Mars, and I’m looking forward to having them. Greg, see if you can make it back on one of those teams, I mean it, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
Some things I’ve enjoyed lately:
Dan Franklin's blog… I just plain love reading his blog... it's good stuff
Trina’s blog… I love reading her blog… she’s a great writer.
Burundian smiles… warmer than proper tea on a cold rainy day.
Rainy Season… you have to experience it for yourself.
East African Scenics…I don’t need to expand on this.
The living colors of Afrique… the colors are more alive then most people I know.
Beach volleyball… and bad mitton
Our new little church… as refreshing as cold water on a hot day.
Our Burundian friends and family… we’ll keep growing deeper roots.
Trinabelle… she’s Trinabelle, everybody enjoys the belle.
I do remember a line about the electricity here being as intermittent as my good intentions, and something about love being more precious than equity… but that’s about it. But this post isn’t the best blog post in the world, this is just a tribute.
Thanks to the good folks at mars hill, I’ve been reading a lot of George MacDonald lately. I love this guy. And man his he Scottish, which I love as much as I love his insight into life and faith and stuff. So then my wife’s copy of “velvet elvis” turned up on the dining room table last week, as I lost my blog post. I should also mention that I’ve been reading Michael Crichton (timeline) as well, just so you know: Also, I like Crichton better than Grisham. I’m not a guy who likes court room dramas, and law. If I ever get the chance to do a feature film, it won’t be a court room drama. Although, the first feature length screenplay I ever wrote centers around a traffic violation being settled in court (I know, it has oscar written all over it). I’ve been to traffic court many times, lots of times Officer Durbins from Gresham Oregon has sent me there… It could be officer Derbins, or Durbens. I no longer have my tickets so I don’t know how to spell his name In fact, I remember one time I was supposed to go camping with Andy Whipps and Matt Guerino, and I forgot I had a court date that prevented our timely departure. They both ended up coming to traffic court with me, watching Derbins, give out yet another successful traffic fine to yours truly. I’ve never won against that guy.
So whenever people send me books, like Jason from Mars, I start thinking about those people, and I start wondering what they’re doing… occasionally I facebook them, check out there new picks etc, and then I think how greatful I am that he would send a book out here to me, and of course I then start thinking about Greg from Mars... and that’s usually my process. Then that get’s me wondering why I haven’t read “velvet elvis.” I met two other people from mars, Don Golden, and Chris Stark, again the name spellings could be wrong, but these guys never gave me a single traffic violation, and I love ‘em for it. I had some good discussions with Don, and with Chris, and I remember thinking how, Mars people reminded me of each other, and myself… like I could pick them out of a crowd or something; or a few may show up at my next family reunion... So that got me thinking that I should read “velvet elvis” after all, why would it just show up like that, after I’ve had mars hill on the brain, plus I remember Chris saying to me that it was an important read as a part of his journey, and I’m a guy that’s all about journey… and Trina really liked it. Plus, Rob points out in this book that you should be critical and wrestle with it etc, and I’m super critical, and I like criticizing movies and books and bible commentaries, positively and negatively, and I don’t like that I like criticizing, so an invitation to criticize is like a delicious meal for me.
I realized that I never really studied too much about rabbinical tradition. It seems like Rob is really into this sort of study as a means to understanding scripture. Which makes a lot of sense. I thought Rob put himself out there. It was a bold move, and I liked his style. The concept of binding and loosing things was new to me. It was a good concept to think about. I did love the concept of pastor/teachers being masters of the obvious, and pointing out the obvious. I found that to be true to my experience… His passion and honesty was refreshing, as well as his sense of humor. I like to think about Rob as a big fan of Punk touring around with his punk band, it seems we’ve got similar music tastes. It was also great to see Trina’s notes, the things she liked, the sentences she underlined. Looks like she used it to teach quite a few things, and I know that Nooma is no stranger to the High School/Junior High machine at G-shep. In about two months we’ll be receiving two teams from Mars, and I’m looking forward to having them. Greg, see if you can make it back on one of those teams, I mean it, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
Some things I’ve enjoyed lately:
Dan Franklin's blog… I just plain love reading his blog... it's good stuff
Trina’s blog… I love reading her blog… she’s a great writer.
Burundian smiles… warmer than proper tea on a cold rainy day.
Rainy Season… you have to experience it for yourself.
East African Scenics…I don’t need to expand on this.
The living colors of Afrique… the colors are more alive then most people I know.
Beach volleyball… and bad mitton
Our new little church… as refreshing as cold water on a hot day.
Our Burundian friends and family… we’ll keep growing deeper roots.
Trinabelle… she’s Trinabelle, everybody enjoys the belle.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
on my mind
A few things have been on my mind lately, and it often comes down to grace received by our friends and family. So I got to blog about it… otherwise I think it, and I’m grateful, and then people never know.
Darrel, Trina’s neighbor, and a great friend of Trina and myself, sends us cards, with gifts, and I don’t know how or when he came up with the idea to mail stuff off to Burundi Africa, but Darrel, we get all your notes, with all the trimmings, and we are grateful for you, and how you love us. (I’ve tried mailing one item from Burundi, and I’ve had zero success)
Jason, whose my George RR Martin amigo, I read Princess and the Goblin, I loved it, and I’m reading everything you sent me. Thanks huge for the Sour Patch Kids (they say things taste better when your camping, when you’re in Africa, some food/snacks that I’d almost never eat from the states tastes amazing! But I actually love sour patch kids) you and the rest of the mars hill gang have been amazing.
Lori, Dave, Paul, Bryn, and Danny and I know I’m forgetting some others at frontline. Always asking ways you can pray for us, always looking for ways you can help Burundi, and us, you amaze me with your faithfulness and grace.
Aunt Mary, she sends birthday, cards, and cards for any holiday, and somehow she figured out how to send things to Burundi. I got the current rundown of everything going on in Mary’s clan.
My fam, I love your support, and grace, and you’re coming out to visit, and Jesse and Jill you both have been great encouragers, and thanks for the clothes, and goodies you sent out. My staunchest and most chasely supporters.
I should also mention Jeremy and Andy, who call my cell via skype. Again, Jer must have experimented one day. It’s the clearest connection I’ve yet talked on in all of Africa, let alone Burundi. Much clearer in fact then talking with someone in Burundi on my cell.
Newcomb fam, you guys are crazy awesome. I honestly don’t have the time or dilligence to write here all you’ve done for us (though flemming and dorris as well had a anniversary card sent out… crazy, I don’t know how they do it). I want to merely talk about the last time I was incredibly thankful for Ken. I was super sick and didn’t at all feel like being vertical. Tossing and turning on my bed in a sweaty, snotty, nauseous moment I remembered trina saying: “Seth in case you get sick, this drawer has most of the medicines that we’ll need.” Convinced I wasn’t hallucinating, I ran two the bathroom which had the drawer, but it was too much vertical activity. I veered off to the right of the drawer over to the porcelain thrown for an intimate and painful rendezvous. That finished, I crawled to the drawer that I hoped had my solutions. My memory was correct. I opened the heavy drawer to find it packed with what seemed like hundreds if not thousands of various medications. I was bummed, I thought: “how will I ever find what I need? I wish these were all labeled.” Sickness was churning in my stomach, and I grabbed the closest bag to me, I found it to be labeled: “strong antibiotics.” I set it back down, encouraged that it was labeled, I picked up another bag: “night, cold medication.” I realized all the bags were labeled (some had notes with info concerning the contents) and the drawer was completely organized. It could only mean one thing: Ken Newcomb had been here. A feeling of encouragement arose in me followed closely be intense, stomach pains, and sickness: I doubled back to the porcelain throne: business as usual. But I felt a lot better that I was going to find what I was looking for… with not too much effort (I only wish I had thought of it days earlier). Thanks to Ken. Now every time I pass by that drawer, I think of Ken, fondly as I imagine him somewhere in Oregon, completely organized.
Of course the Good Shep family, with Rakel being our main liaison as to how everyone is doing… as well as Kevin Holzer whom we will always have a special place in our heart for.
As always, there are so many people worth thanking that have been continued blessings in our life, but these are the ones on my mind lately.
Darrel, Trina’s neighbor, and a great friend of Trina and myself, sends us cards, with gifts, and I don’t know how or when he came up with the idea to mail stuff off to Burundi Africa, but Darrel, we get all your notes, with all the trimmings, and we are grateful for you, and how you love us. (I’ve tried mailing one item from Burundi, and I’ve had zero success)
Jason, whose my George RR Martin amigo, I read Princess and the Goblin, I loved it, and I’m reading everything you sent me. Thanks huge for the Sour Patch Kids (they say things taste better when your camping, when you’re in Africa, some food/snacks that I’d almost never eat from the states tastes amazing! But I actually love sour patch kids) you and the rest of the mars hill gang have been amazing.
Lori, Dave, Paul, Bryn, and Danny and I know I’m forgetting some others at frontline. Always asking ways you can pray for us, always looking for ways you can help Burundi, and us, you amaze me with your faithfulness and grace.
Aunt Mary, she sends birthday, cards, and cards for any holiday, and somehow she figured out how to send things to Burundi. I got the current rundown of everything going on in Mary’s clan.
My fam, I love your support, and grace, and you’re coming out to visit, and Jesse and Jill you both have been great encouragers, and thanks for the clothes, and goodies you sent out. My staunchest and most chasely supporters.
I should also mention Jeremy and Andy, who call my cell via skype. Again, Jer must have experimented one day. It’s the clearest connection I’ve yet talked on in all of Africa, let alone Burundi. Much clearer in fact then talking with someone in Burundi on my cell.
Newcomb fam, you guys are crazy awesome. I honestly don’t have the time or dilligence to write here all you’ve done for us (though flemming and dorris as well had a anniversary card sent out… crazy, I don’t know how they do it). I want to merely talk about the last time I was incredibly thankful for Ken. I was super sick and didn’t at all feel like being vertical. Tossing and turning on my bed in a sweaty, snotty, nauseous moment I remembered trina saying: “Seth in case you get sick, this drawer has most of the medicines that we’ll need.” Convinced I wasn’t hallucinating, I ran two the bathroom which had the drawer, but it was too much vertical activity. I veered off to the right of the drawer over to the porcelain thrown for an intimate and painful rendezvous. That finished, I crawled to the drawer that I hoped had my solutions. My memory was correct. I opened the heavy drawer to find it packed with what seemed like hundreds if not thousands of various medications. I was bummed, I thought: “how will I ever find what I need? I wish these were all labeled.” Sickness was churning in my stomach, and I grabbed the closest bag to me, I found it to be labeled: “strong antibiotics.” I set it back down, encouraged that it was labeled, I picked up another bag: “night, cold medication.” I realized all the bags were labeled (some had notes with info concerning the contents) and the drawer was completely organized. It could only mean one thing: Ken Newcomb had been here. A feeling of encouragement arose in me followed closely be intense, stomach pains, and sickness: I doubled back to the porcelain throne: business as usual. But I felt a lot better that I was going to find what I was looking for… with not too much effort (I only wish I had thought of it days earlier). Thanks to Ken. Now every time I pass by that drawer, I think of Ken, fondly as I imagine him somewhere in Oregon, completely organized.
Of course the Good Shep family, with Rakel being our main liaison as to how everyone is doing… as well as Kevin Holzer whom we will always have a special place in our heart for.
As always, there are so many people worth thanking that have been continued blessings in our life, but these are the ones on my mind lately.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Big Thank You
To all of you who wrote a little something to Trina, you're allstars. Trina loved it. We had some Burundian Drummers on the beach, and ate some fish and beef Brochets. Trina really enjoyed her birthday, and now she's back to work just as intense as ever, only now she's thirty. I hope you all are enjoying the season, it's been so hot here that I've been sweating with the fan on. I'm hoping for some sweet thunderstorms, and rain to cool thinks off. It's not looking very likely.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Banctification: The art of backwards sanctification.
Banctification: The art of backwards sanctification.
This one is for Doug, the champion among friends here in the heart of Africa. I’ve not been that graceful these past weeks in my attitude, and work. At times I feel like there’s nothing good in me. My patience seems to be at an all time low... daily trials, defeating me. I ended up mentioning to my buddy Doug... that I don’t think I’m being “sanctified,” and if I am, I’m being sanctified backwards. Doug, like me is tired of his faults lately. But, he can turn his stuff into a sweet song, on the guitar, and somehow he always takes the higher road. I told him maybe I’ll write a song, or make a video on the art of “backwards sanctification.” Well, I already have more than enough video work, and I’m horrible at writing songs. Although, my covenant friend Jonathan and I both enjoy the song “it’s just me, and the 3 of you” which is a 3 chord banger I wrote almost a year ago, (you can actually see the music video of the song here:
http://www.sermonspice.com/search?fpage=1&q=small%20group%20music%20video just click on the little icon with me and my guitar, which reminds me, the video features my sweet martin guitar and a pitcher of milk!)
its about a guy, Clay Fitz who starts his own “small group.” Aside from that song/music video, which really is kind of a joke, I can’t do music. So here is a little diddy, for Doug.
Am I getting better, Or am I getting worse?
I feel a lot more selfish now, than I did at first.
Though I’m getting older, my inner man’s renewed.
But then I think unto myself “where is this inner dude?”
All I feel is anger, depressiveness, and doubt.
Where is this mighty inner man, and what is he about?
Why won’t this inner man respond to my daily trials,
Forward seems one step I take, then backtrack several miles.
It’s me who fights police, when they stop me for no reason.
Inner man should then come out and start some people pleasin’.
But alas, he never does, he just leaves me to myself,
And takes with him those saintly acts, I’ve only read about.
Daily is the grind I work, and hourly the sinning.
The race I run against this man, I everyday am winning.
The sin of self within my being is worse than rush-hour traffic,
The inner man seems weak and small when faced with Sethly tactics.
Too much Seth doeth fill my life, and man does it sure suck.
The crap I fight and feel each day could pack a semi truck.
So then I have to ask myself: Am I being sanctified?
The things about myself I hate, are lavishly applied;
seasoning my words and deeds and, woe my daily life.
It doesn’t ever seem to me, I’m “fighting the good fight.”
I know the one, who when he lies will speak “his native tongue,”
My daily life can often seem, like some sweet song he’s sung.
Though the songs I weekly sing are to his enemy,
I think this liar’s found some sweet and mighty friend in me.
One day I hope and I do pray to meet this inner man.
If he has daily won in life, I’ll gladly shake his hand.
Until that day should I believe, I’m inwardly renewed…
Grace, and, Faith the fight I live until my flesh subdued.
So there it is Doug. Banctification. Possibly a video to come if something comes to mind.
This one is for Doug, the champion among friends here in the heart of Africa. I’ve not been that graceful these past weeks in my attitude, and work. At times I feel like there’s nothing good in me. My patience seems to be at an all time low... daily trials, defeating me. I ended up mentioning to my buddy Doug... that I don’t think I’m being “sanctified,” and if I am, I’m being sanctified backwards. Doug, like me is tired of his faults lately. But, he can turn his stuff into a sweet song, on the guitar, and somehow he always takes the higher road. I told him maybe I’ll write a song, or make a video on the art of “backwards sanctification.” Well, I already have more than enough video work, and I’m horrible at writing songs. Although, my covenant friend Jonathan and I both enjoy the song “it’s just me, and the 3 of you” which is a 3 chord banger I wrote almost a year ago, (you can actually see the music video of the song here:
http://www.sermonspice.com/search?fpage=1&q=small%20group%20music%20video just click on the little icon with me and my guitar, which reminds me, the video features my sweet martin guitar and a pitcher of milk!)
its about a guy, Clay Fitz who starts his own “small group.” Aside from that song/music video, which really is kind of a joke, I can’t do music. So here is a little diddy, for Doug.
Am I getting better, Or am I getting worse?
I feel a lot more selfish now, than I did at first.
Though I’m getting older, my inner man’s renewed.
But then I think unto myself “where is this inner dude?”
All I feel is anger, depressiveness, and doubt.
Where is this mighty inner man, and what is he about?
Why won’t this inner man respond to my daily trials,
Forward seems one step I take, then backtrack several miles.
It’s me who fights police, when they stop me for no reason.
Inner man should then come out and start some people pleasin’.
But alas, he never does, he just leaves me to myself,
And takes with him those saintly acts, I’ve only read about.
Daily is the grind I work, and hourly the sinning.
The race I run against this man, I everyday am winning.
The sin of self within my being is worse than rush-hour traffic,
The inner man seems weak and small when faced with Sethly tactics.
Too much Seth doeth fill my life, and man does it sure suck.
The crap I fight and feel each day could pack a semi truck.
So then I have to ask myself: Am I being sanctified?
The things about myself I hate, are lavishly applied;
seasoning my words and deeds and, woe my daily life.
It doesn’t ever seem to me, I’m “fighting the good fight.”
I know the one, who when he lies will speak “his native tongue,”
My daily life can often seem, like some sweet song he’s sung.
Though the songs I weekly sing are to his enemy,
I think this liar’s found some sweet and mighty friend in me.
One day I hope and I do pray to meet this inner man.
If he has daily won in life, I’ll gladly shake his hand.
Until that day should I believe, I’m inwardly renewed…
Grace, and, Faith the fight I live until my flesh subdued.
So there it is Doug. Banctification. Possibly a video to come if something comes to mind.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Trina's Birthday
It's that time of year. Trina is super excited about her birthday (Dec 19th). Of course I didn't plan well, so I'll be doing my shopping in Burundi. I hope to find something... yet this is a bit of a challenge, I'm open to suggestions. One of those birthdays that is five days before christmas... tragic! I've met, I think, two people with these types of "birthdays close to Christmas," they had a venting empathy session in front of me, which really caused me to ponder the importance of family planning. I decided after listening to these Christmas babies talk about their hardships, that nobody should give birth during the month of December. It seems like that is the best solution to the situation. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season thus far, and hopefully you're not giving birth. Tangent. I have yet to do any Christmas shopping myself, but I don't expect there will be any sales or last minute shopping rushes to deal with this year. The only Christmas music I hear is Sara's new Bebo Christmas CD, and some mixed Christmas CD that Trina has. Somehow, Trina found a fake christmas tree (I don't know how she does stuff like that), which the new cat keeps destroying. Cat's cannot resist Christmas Trees, which brings up another situation: cat's should not celebrate Christmas. They simply don't "get it" as it were. If you happen to have a cat, and you want to get a Christmas tree, you have a critical decision to make. You can either send the cat away, on some sort of "holiday away from Christmas," or simply refuse to put up a Christmas tree. But the two cannot coexist. It's a recipe for disaster. Fact: More cats break their legs on Christmas than any other holiday. Have you ever seen a cat in a cast? I have. They look ridiculous. A co-worker brought her cat to work last year after the cat broke it's leg messing around on the Christmas tree. If there is such thing as a "cat heaven" I bet the place would be full of Christmas trees, and cats could play in the trees freely without fear of injury. Also, there would probably be lots of catnip, and milk... and mice. Wow. That's a weird place. So back to Trina, if Pat and Rakel, have any suggestions on what to do about Trina's birthday, I'm listening. What did you guys do? I always imagined that you didn't celebrate birthdays. I've never been much of a birthday celebrator. If you happen to be one of those december birthday folk, feel free to leave angry comments. Or possibly you like having your birthday in December... I don't know. I suppose it's possible.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
AIDS AWARENESS DAY
Another strange awakening… I have been aware of the disease since seventh grade. I know, a little late. But I remember a kid in my English class doing a report on AIDS, and I was a bit nervous thinking it was going to wipe out the human race. He was a dramatic kid and he told the class that likely one or more of us in the class had the disease and didn't know it. I looked at the teacher after he said that, and she looked at all of us, as if trying to guess which one of us had AIDS. I’ve remained fairly distant from learning or doing much in the way of "making myself privy" to global AIDS crisis, I'm no Bono. AIDS was a part of the world, but not part of my world. Now, again... I come to Africa, and all the sudden it’s AIDS day, and I completely forgot about the fact that I was supposed to shoot a sort of commercial/promo for Burundians. I get a call four days before reminding me of the commitment I made a month ago at a get together type soiree at our house. No problem, four days, is plenty of time to plan. First time making a video completely in a foreign language though… I didn’t work that out. Just decided to start videoing. I brought a assistant with me, and we were scheduled to attend three events. Two conferences. The first ever conferences in Burundi of a Network of Churches that all decided they were going to encourage their congregations and communities to get tested, as well as work alongside anyone who tested positive. I was also going to get tested, and so was my Burundian camera assistant… and all the pastors who are a part of this network to encourage testing… they were also supposed to get tested (though first they laughed at the idea of themselves getting tested, the kid in my seventh grade class would have reported it as "nervous laughter"). Initially they agreed to make their results public (which I thought was cool) then they took a vote at the conference and decided that they would not go public with their results (which I thought was normal and lame, but the kid in my seventh grade class would of called it "telling"). I don’t have to tell you AIDS is one thing. But getting tested… it’s a whole other situation with pride, and well, life on the line. Today, the president of Burundi was supposed to get tested, and I was supposed to video the whole process. I show up two hours early... Lame, but I did get a great position. Only to find all the rules would be broken. There was a red carpet from the street to the clinic (which I remember thinking was really weird, thematic maybe as blood is red, but I kept thinking, red carpet affairs I always associated with award ceremonies). I figured, nobody but the star of the show… the major players... are going to be on this carpet. The Carpet forked to two separate entrances to the clinic. And there was a guy who was constantly sweeping the red carpet.I set up my camera right at the fork, getting a perfect view of the Presidents entrance into the facility and the sweeper guy. I do remember thinking “it’s not gonna be this easy… this probably won’t work.” I was right: 4 other tv journalist, cut off my shot completely along with 5 photo journalists, and then an entourage of Presidential people. The wall of journalist blocked any hope of a decent shot then literally crashed into my camera set up. I released my camera from the tripod and jumped into the chaos of following the president. It was super lame. I was getting elboed, grabbed, pushed against walls, two journalist had no problem hitting me, not super hard... but there was no love. One journalist crawled on all fours to get in front of me then stood up knocking my camera away, and then he blatantly stole the shot that should have been mine. I was officially ticked. I’m bigger than all the journalist. I start shouldering them out of the way. I cut them off, and box them out. Only, I stop shooting just to accomplish my football like moves. I miss two video opportunities. I see the President duck into the testing room, I follow, I’m the first camera man in, the others I’m blocking behind me in a small hallway, one of them is pulling my shirt preventing me from going forward, and this shirt was my favorite shirt so I didn't want to rip it, I just swung my free arm back at him in vain… they’re hissing at me grabbing my belt, one of them is trying the crawl move on me. I check him perfectly, yet concerned enough not to destroy his camera, I still had some class. Then all the sudden, a security guy grabs me and pins me against the wall, allowing all the other journalists to get their shots. President walks right by me, he even smiles at me. All the journalist follow him. I miss every conceivable shot. The president chose not to get tested (which didn’t surprise me at all) then he gave a speech about how Burundi needs tons of money. The president video plan, didn’t work out at all. Not even closePlus, it was going to take too long for me to get tested because, about 100 people signed up before me, and I didn’t feel like waiting a few hours. I did end up going back in to video some people getting tested if only to get some footage of something, and I think I might be able to put a little diddy together… but my experience of AIDS AWARENESS DAY… even though I’m in Africa in a Country dealing with an AIDS crisis… had virtually nothing to do with AIDS. It was like an M. Night Shyamalan film: “Signs” for example, "Signs" has aliens in it, and most people thought it was a bad alien movie. Actually the movie is about faith, and everything happening for a reason… and Aliens are the backdrop for telling the faith vs chance story. AIDS Awareness day happened to be the backdrop for the real drama, the fight of the 5 journalist, who chased down a President of a small no name African Country who was supposed to set an example by getting tested for AIDS. Well he didn’t, and I wasted 30 minutes of tape and two and a half hours of time in the Burundian sun brawling with a couple a journalist I hope I’ll never see again (one of them asked me for a job as I was leaving...I wanted to punch him, instead I said "no, you can't have a job with me, buddy). I still plan on getting tested, maybe sometime next week. I’ll video it, and make my results public, setting a good example for… I don’t really know, maybe Trina. Not sure.
Friday, November 30, 2007
I don’t care what flag you’re waving
War movies impact me a lot more now. It’s weird I know, and a pretty stupid sentence on top of that to be sure. I remember when America went to war after 911 (don’t worry, this isn’t a political post). A boss, and friend of mine asked me: “what did you do last night?” I responded: “I caught a movie with my girlfriend. What did you do?” He told me: “I watched war on TV.” I knew what he was talking about. I remembered coming home that night and watching the news to help me fall asleep… it was coverage of the war in Iraq. Baghdad was in flames after a major air strike. It was super distant from me and my life at the time. I thought about it some, but it hit me a little emotionally and that was it. Fast forward. I move to Burundi, and now down the street, there’s AK 47’s firing round after round. You feel a bit nervy, nothing crazy. But I wonder, somebody has a gun aimed at them, bullets are fired, people are getting killed… right down the street. It hits passed my emotions… passed logos… it hits the core of being human, and afraid, and living in complete fear… Not me, Burundians who live near me. I’m alive. Nobody is gunning me down. If I get killed it’s because I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m not an innocent by standard, and I've never been innocent. I just happened to be the guy down the street, who wasn’t getting gunned down. Cliché, maybe… true, definitely. More to it? I’m sure there is. I’ve been to four official refugee camps. Three of the of the four camps where Refugees from Congo, and one housed refugees from Burundi, in Tanzania 10 milles over the border... Mind blowing… Tragic… seemingly hopeless. I saw them in movies first (refugees)... Distant, almost fake, completely intangible… Now, living and active, crying, begging, disease infested, starving, unwanted, unwashed, in your face real asking you to save their lives, and the lives of their children (50 or more at a time). Dying right in front of you… I got money in my pocket as I shake their hands, talk with them, video them… hurt because I see their hurting. Angry at so many things… powerless. Part of me thinks everybody (especially if you have a biblical world view) should visit a refugee camp, and spend some time serving there. Realistic? No. Movies amaze me, I think that’s why I love making them, or trying to make them. They evoke emotions you didn’t know you had, and show you things that you’ll likely never experience. They show you the life that you wish you lived. The dreams you gave up when you graduated college. The dreams you had as a kid play out on the “silver screen” with actresses, and actors that are way better looking than you’ll ever be. “Children of Men” is one of those unbelievably well made movies. I can’t figure out how they shot most of that movie. Mind blowing film making... Great script... And… and!!! Michael Caine… come on! I actually watched the movie three times. It was “one of those movies” for me. It’s in my top five. I had to bump out one of my favorites. I’m still mad about it. Ever since I met Mark Lundeen, I’ve been into war movies. I used to hate them. Now, everything has changed.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
How much do we serve? Check out this Rwandan Servant
I had the opportunity to visit a church volunteer, in NW Rwanda, close to the border of Uganda. There I met Franciose. We talked and she showed me her life as a volunteer at her church, and in her community. Take a look, at how a mom, who took in orphans, and whose income is less than 80 dollars a month (gross) no car, and no formal education, and she still joyously serves her church and community (I think she does have a cell phone though). It honestly put my most diligent serving years to shame.
for the full screen version you can follow this link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7939448987626925538&pr=goog-sl
for the full screen version you can follow this link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7939448987626925538&pr=goog-sl
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Street Kids of the AGL
Some have been requesting the streetkids video as well as the Church Volunteer video. I wasn't able to upload the Rwanda volunteer video yet, but I was able to manage the streetkids video. Here it is for a quick view, but I think google, compressed the aspect ratio as usual. I don't know why they do that. Here is the linke to the full screen version:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1839572636683477315
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1839572636683477315
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
a new video
A month ago, I visited a refugee camp in North Kivu Congo, and I was able to video a sort of snap shot of life there. I think it's a good piece to watch and meditate on a bit. It's also good to be aware of the Congo trajedy that's been going on now for over a decade on the international level. The link to the large version is here, but you can view the video below:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4412052351457972720&pr=goog-sl
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4412052351457972720&pr=goog-sl
Monday, October 08, 2007
Renegade general abandons eastern Congo ceasefire
Here's the most recent news on the conflict related to the refugees I've been talking to here in Burundi, though they've now been moved, and their number has increased in Burundi to 7,000. We're taking a team of Frontliners to them next month. This also has the documented fact that I think escapes most western audiences that aren't looking for this sort of news, and that is that an estimated 4 million have died do to conflict in this region between 98-2003 alone. This is one of the more beautiful regions in the heart of Africa, but the level of suffering is un paralleled. I'm hoping to have a video up showing one of the camps soon.
KINSHASA, Oct 8 - Congolese renegade general Laurent Nkunda on Monday abandoned a month-old ceasefire in an eastern border province, blaming attacks by the government which in turn accused him of pushing the country towards war.
Nkunda's announcement heralded more conflict and suffering in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, where fighting between his soldiers and government troops have already forced tens of thousands of civilians from their homes.
The province, has long been a tinderbox of ethnic tensions and clashes between the army and rival rebel and militia groups.
After fighting in the east in August and early September, the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) announced on Sept. 6 a limited truce between the rebel Tutsi general and the army.
But fresh clashes between the two sides broke out last week and over the weekend, and U.N. military sources said fighting continued on Monday in several parts of North Kivu.
Nkunda accused the government army, which said it killed at least 35 of his fighters last week, of attacking his positions.
"There is no ceasefire. ... We have told ourselves we will no longer stand with our arms crossed while people are dying. We must react. We are soldiers," Nkunda told Reuters by telephone.
"MONUC thinks there is a ceasefire, but we've abandoned it."
In response, Congo's Defence Minister Chikez Diemu accused Nkunda, who says he is defending the interests of Congo's Tutsi ethnic group, of trying to "Balkanise" the country.
"He's playing a dangerous game. Now he's pushing us towards war," the minister told Reuters.
He added Congo would implement measures agreed with its Great Lakes neighbours Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. He did not spell these out but the states have been discussing cooperation to counter rebel groups operating in eastern Congo.
ETHNIC ENMITY
Some of the recent North Kivu fighting took place in Virunga National Park, Africa's oldest park, forcing rangers to flee and putting endangered mountain gorillas there at risk.
Nkunda, who led a 2004 rebellion, accuses Congo President Joseph Kabila's government and armed forces of supporting Rwandan Hutu rebels -- traditional ethnic enemies of the Tutsi.
The largely Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels are accused of involvement in Rwanda's 1994 genocide that saw the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by a Hutu-led government and ethnic militias.
Kabila denies supporting the FDLR.
The North Kivu fighting has displaced tens of thousands of civilians and foreign relief agencies have warned of a fresh humanitarian catastrophe in Congo, which is still recovering from a 1998-2003 war that killed some 4 million people, mostly from hunger and disease generated by conflict.
KINSHASA, Oct 8 - Congolese renegade general Laurent Nkunda on Monday abandoned a month-old ceasefire in an eastern border province, blaming attacks by the government which in turn accused him of pushing the country towards war.
Nkunda's announcement heralded more conflict and suffering in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, where fighting between his soldiers and government troops have already forced tens of thousands of civilians from their homes.
The province, has long been a tinderbox of ethnic tensions and clashes between the army and rival rebel and militia groups.
After fighting in the east in August and early September, the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) announced on Sept. 6 a limited truce between the rebel Tutsi general and the army.
But fresh clashes between the two sides broke out last week and over the weekend, and U.N. military sources said fighting continued on Monday in several parts of North Kivu.
Nkunda accused the government army, which said it killed at least 35 of his fighters last week, of attacking his positions.
"There is no ceasefire. ... We have told ourselves we will no longer stand with our arms crossed while people are dying. We must react. We are soldiers," Nkunda told Reuters by telephone.
"MONUC thinks there is a ceasefire, but we've abandoned it."
In response, Congo's Defence Minister Chikez Diemu accused Nkunda, who says he is defending the interests of Congo's Tutsi ethnic group, of trying to "Balkanise" the country.
"He's playing a dangerous game. Now he's pushing us towards war," the minister told Reuters.
He added Congo would implement measures agreed with its Great Lakes neighbours Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. He did not spell these out but the states have been discussing cooperation to counter rebel groups operating in eastern Congo.
ETHNIC ENMITY
Some of the recent North Kivu fighting took place in Virunga National Park, Africa's oldest park, forcing rangers to flee and putting endangered mountain gorillas there at risk.
Nkunda, who led a 2004 rebellion, accuses Congo President Joseph Kabila's government and armed forces of supporting Rwandan Hutu rebels -- traditional ethnic enemies of the Tutsi.
The largely Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels are accused of involvement in Rwanda's 1994 genocide that saw the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by a Hutu-led government and ethnic militias.
Kabila denies supporting the FDLR.
The North Kivu fighting has displaced tens of thousands of civilians and foreign relief agencies have warned of a fresh humanitarian catastrophe in Congo, which is still recovering from a 1998-2003 war that killed some 4 million people, mostly from hunger and disease generated by conflict.
Anniversaries
Moi belle femme et moi celebrated four years of marriage. We had our anniversary celebration just one month after the actual date. This is a gross improvement for us, as we used to be celebrating our anniversary with different people all together. I would go camping with Andy Whipps, and Trina would go camping with a bunch of High school kids. This year we had a team from a church visiting, and I was with them and Trina was busy with her new job, then we split off to different countries for a while, then we both landed back in Burundi, and committed ourselves to the idea that we should go out and celebrate our anniversary if we get some time and aren’t too tired. The day finally came, (though Trina was very tired) when we were both free (we had to make the choice to be free) and we went for an excellent steak dinner and talked about our lives, our plans, how we don’t feel like grown ups, and how we don’t really know what’s in store for our lives, because our plans keep changing, or we don’t have any plans. It was a good time, with some good food. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of Trina and I. Usually we’re both behind the camera so we don’t have shots of ourselves (Trina, maybe you can send me the shot of us that’s on your desktop.) But this anniversary got me wondering. What do other people do for their anniversary? What was a favorite anniversary memory for someone? What do people like to do for their anniversary? Do most North American married people celebrate their anniversary, give me a percentage maybe? Go ahead, and leave a comment with your thoughts, or give me some suggestions on good things to do for anniversaries. I want some good thoughts and suggestions fellow bloggers. I want to hear from you single bloggers too. Lay it on me. I’m ready. Trina, we’ve talked about Zanzibar for year five. Let’s stick to that plan. Oh, and if any of you have pics of Trina and I together, you can email some to me if you like. You guys are a bit of alright.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Refugee Update
I've checked out Myal's blog and he's updating on the congolese refugees of North Kivu quite well, and unfortunately the situation is getting worse. There is a link to his blog on my blog. I actually have video from both refugee camps, and it's not easy footage to watch. It will take me some time to edit, and I don't know if I will be able to post it, but I will somehow get it out there. I thought I should update you on the Refugees from South Kivu who are coming over the border to Burundi. Many of you got a letter from Trina and I about these refugees, and I've been blessed to meet them and spend time among them. This crisis is continually making the news in my neck of the woods, so I just thought I'd report it to my friends and fam in the West. Here's the latest:
"BUJUMBURA, 19 September 2007 (IRIN) - Hundreds of asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo who had been camping in a playground in front of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) offices in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, have been moved to Northern Ngozi province, officials said. "Starting tomorrow [20 September] no asylum seekers will be camping here," said Didace Nzikoruriho, the officer in charge of refugees in the Burundian ministry of home affairs. "The immigration service agents are present here to ensure that even newcomers get their papers." The Congolese who were boarding trucks early on 19 September, were being taken to Musasa transit site, said Bernard Ntwari, UNHCR information officer. Carrying their meagre belongings, some of the Congolese said they were happy to be leaving. One of them, Igumba Bine Bikwaya, told IRIN he expected better living conditions in Musasa. Some of the asylum seekers had camped in the playground for two months. Ntamatungo, a woman in her thirties, who had camped with her two children for 24 days said, "My children will go to school now". Upon arrival at Musasa, the asylum seekers will receive food, shelter, medical care and protection, confirmed Ntwari. Nzikoruriho said there were plans to set up a new refugee camp at Giharo in the eastern province of Rutana to host 30,000 refugees. "All the Congolese refugees will be moved there," Nzikoruriho added, saying the camp should be ready in two months. An initial plan to build another refugee camp at Samvura, in the southern province of Makamba, was abandoned after it was found to be too expensive, he said. Several hundred Congolese nationals started arriving in Burundi early this year, fleeing violence in the South Kivu region of eastern Congo. The numbers have since gone up. Nzikoruriho said 50 to 100 asylum seekers were now arriving each day. The asylum seekers, however, complain that they spend many days before being given papers that would entitle them to assistance. Nzikoruriho said granting asylum was not an easy task. "We take time to identify the asylum seekers, their children, and particularly the reasons for fleeing their country of origin," he explained. There were delays in being able to house the refugees at Musasa due to work being carried out to enlarge the camp. The site is currently at capacity with 5,000 residents. "
"BUJUMBURA, 19 September 2007 (IRIN) - Hundreds of asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo who had been camping in a playground in front of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) offices in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, have been moved to Northern Ngozi province, officials said. "Starting tomorrow [20 September] no asylum seekers will be camping here," said Didace Nzikoruriho, the officer in charge of refugees in the Burundian ministry of home affairs. "The immigration service agents are present here to ensure that even newcomers get their papers." The Congolese who were boarding trucks early on 19 September, were being taken to Musasa transit site, said Bernard Ntwari, UNHCR information officer. Carrying their meagre belongings, some of the Congolese said they were happy to be leaving. One of them, Igumba Bine Bikwaya, told IRIN he expected better living conditions in Musasa. Some of the asylum seekers had camped in the playground for two months. Ntamatungo, a woman in her thirties, who had camped with her two children for 24 days said, "My children will go to school now". Upon arrival at Musasa, the asylum seekers will receive food, shelter, medical care and protection, confirmed Ntwari. Nzikoruriho said there were plans to set up a new refugee camp at Giharo in the eastern province of Rutana to host 30,000 refugees. "All the Congolese refugees will be moved there," Nzikoruriho added, saying the camp should be ready in two months. An initial plan to build another refugee camp at Samvura, in the southern province of Makamba, was abandoned after it was found to be too expensive, he said. Several hundred Congolese nationals started arriving in Burundi early this year, fleeing violence in the South Kivu region of eastern Congo. The numbers have since gone up. Nzikoruriho said 50 to 100 asylum seekers were now arriving each day. The asylum seekers, however, complain that they spend many days before being given papers that would entitle them to assistance. Nzikoruriho said granting asylum was not an easy task. "We take time to identify the asylum seekers, their children, and particularly the reasons for fleeing their country of origin," he explained. There were delays in being able to house the refugees at Musasa due to work being carried out to enlarge the camp. The site is currently at capacity with 5,000 residents. "
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
A so called life
I recently did a trip around the AGL region (Rurundi, Rwand, Congo). It was a media trip and the purpose was to capture media about the various ministries we are doing in the region. In fact all these pics are from Bryn who was on the trip, one of the pictures is from Myal who comes into this story later. While in Congo we were told to make a stop at a recently formed refugee/IDP (internally displaced peoples) camp just out side of Goma. We were able to talk with the Chief of the camp as well as the IDP's/refugees. We had with us a rep from World Relief headquarters, and a new friend Myal who is serving in Rwanda. Myal went to talk with some of the residents most of whom were teenagers, while I talked with the Chief. One boy, named Leik, was 16 he was living in the camp with his
father and his older brother. But he was pretty much on his own. Neither, his brother or father were around, because they regularly left the camp looking for ways to get money or food, and his mother was, “in the ground,” his way of saying she was dead. He was staying in a small hut made out of branches and banana leaves. He sleeps on the ground, he has nothing to eat, has dropped out of school and has no one looking out for him.In all, there were about 2500 families in the camp, which opened about a month ago. The residents of the camp were run out of their village in a different part of Congo by insurgent forces fighting in the on going conflict. As the conflict in the region is still ongoing, there is no predicting when they will return home. All of the inhabitants have to fend for themselves to find food, and there is no reliable source of water anywhere near the camp. There are no sanitary toilet facilities, and they were borrowing the bathrooms from a nearby school, but school started the day after we left (sept 1st 2007)so the school will no longer be an option. The kids in the camp have been pulled out of their schools, and there is nothing to do for work. Most of the IDP's walk 10 kilometers into Goma to beg, or carry bags for people or any number of menial tasks to get a buck. As we left congo our bags were searched, and once we cleared, a boy eagerly grabed my bag and carried it about 15 feet to the car. I tried to stop him because this happens all the time, and I
didn't want to encourage this behavior. I knew he wanted money, and I was completely capable of carrying my bag, then I thought, he may be one of the refugees. I paid him, and said a quick prayer for these people. That is always a tension. One couple birthed a new child the same day we visited the camp. The husband approached me for food with about 50 others. I told him I didn't have enough food or water to give to everyone, and that it wouldn't seem fair to give food to just him. The others listening in said that they didn't need food or water as bad as him, and that it would be okay for me to give what I had to just him. I was shocked, mainly because this has never happened to me since I've been in Africa, starving people accepting the fact that I can give food to one family and not all the others. We gave the new father some food and water, and there was no rioting or fighting from the other refugees, they seemed a bit relieve that the man recieved some help though they were starving and without water themselves. It was a heart wrenching situation. Myal prayed openly with the people. I prayed silently, as I hurt openly for them. 
Life there is about as hard as I have seen it in the AGL region so far. Everyone there has been completely uprooted from their lives and landed in a crowded camp with meager shelter, no food, no water and little prospects for being able to generate any kind of income to help provide for themselves. Refugees and IDP's also face the brutalities of being an unwelcome and unwanted burden on those around them, and consequently become severely discriminated against. They have little to rely on other than the basic human survival instincts and the hope that they will one day be able to return to their homes. I was told in a training program that Refugees are the fourth world. Currently in a province just across the boarder in Rwanda there are over 650,000 refugees because of this conflict. Here in Congo 4 million people have been killed in this region of Congo since 2003. The people in this camp just want to go back to their home in Rushuru which is about 100 kilometers west but the rebel faction leader NKunda and his troops are raping and pillaging all the towns in the area. So now they are displaced here, with little hope. Myal asked them for their prayer requests and promised them that he would have in in America join with in praying for them. So please pray for the following:
-for peace in their home area of Rushuru so that they can return home
-for food and clean water in the camp
-that the children would be cared fot
-God would show his love for the people in the camp and that they would be reminded of his care for the oppressed and the suffering.
There is also a refugee camp forming about a mile from my house in Bujumbura. I am hoping to visit with them soon, and talk with them. They are returning from Congo, and are in equally desparate need. I will keep you updated on this situation as it is very near to my heart as I can't imagine the challenge of being a refugee, let alone being a refugee in one of the poorest countries in the world... I don't know.
Journaling isn't helping
I think blogging is starting to cause me to journal less. Journaling is less exciting for me now. I realized this the other day as I was staring blankly at my mosquito net. I wasn’t feeling very well, so I opened my journal intending to write, but instead I just started reading my journal. I was fascinated by my self. Excited all over again by my engaging thoughts which were recorded for my convenience by my own hand. Self affirmation of the purest variety. I also noticed myself thinking how smart I thought I was. For instance, this thought entered my mind as I read an entry from March 7th 2006: “Wow, this entry is over a year old! I can’t believe I knew all that about life back then. Incredible.”
It’s worth mentioning that I started journaling in the first place so that I could notice unhealthy thought patterns, or emotional habits that may be reoccurring so that I could start changing for the better once I recognized them. I don’t know if that makes sense. I wanted to see bad patterns in my thinking so I could then change once recognized. But as I read my journals, I found myself completely agreeing with my former self. In some cases cheering my former self on, excited about my thoughts at the time, and my thoughts in general about all things. Sometimes I wanted to edit some of my thoughts in some entries giving new insight that I’ve since learned, that further supports what I then already suspected. But before I made the edits, I stopped myself. It seemed weird editing my thoughts/journal entries (I wondered if anyone else thought about editing their journal… what are the implications of such a move)… but I didn’t want to make a new entry… So I just sat there. Staring. It was then I realized that journaling isn’t going to help me see those bad patterns I was looking for; it was only going to feed my self, and build even more narcisism. In addition to this journaling would then solidify my self in me. Oh what a wretched man am I. This could be my personal rendition of Rom 7, only completely different. Yes, definately different than Rom 7. I'm not going to give up on journaling yet. That's what I've just decided. I'll keep journaling, but I won't use it at a intervention for change.
It’s worth mentioning that I started journaling in the first place so that I could notice unhealthy thought patterns, or emotional habits that may be reoccurring so that I could start changing for the better once I recognized them. I don’t know if that makes sense. I wanted to see bad patterns in my thinking so I could then change once recognized. But as I read my journals, I found myself completely agreeing with my former self. In some cases cheering my former self on, excited about my thoughts at the time, and my thoughts in general about all things. Sometimes I wanted to edit some of my thoughts in some entries giving new insight that I’ve since learned, that further supports what I then already suspected. But before I made the edits, I stopped myself. It seemed weird editing my thoughts/journal entries (I wondered if anyone else thought about editing their journal… what are the implications of such a move)… but I didn’t want to make a new entry… So I just sat there. Staring. It was then I realized that journaling isn’t going to help me see those bad patterns I was looking for; it was only going to feed my self, and build even more narcisism. In addition to this journaling would then solidify my self in me. Oh what a wretched man am I. This could be my personal rendition of Rom 7, only completely different. Yes, definately different than Rom 7. I'm not going to give up on journaling yet. That's what I've just decided. I'll keep journaling, but I won't use it at a intervention for change.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Jack Franklin
A quick update before I get to my friend Dan Franklin. First, Paul and Bryn, from frontline are checking out the region, and it's great to have them with us. I'm taking them to Rwanda, then Congo, after spending a few days checking into our world relief programs in Burundi. I'm thankful they came to check out the work being done here, so they can strategize about how their church wants to work with child survival in Burundi, and how media artists can function strategically in the region.
Now about Dan Franklin. I've just started watching 24. Dan tried to get me into it when I was back in the states but I just didn't do it. Probably because I thought it would be like CSI... which I never really got into. So I decided to watch "lost" which i got sort of addicted to, I think because it was so crazy. Then I tuned out for season three. Then I come to Burundi, and as entertainment in the evenings we have a very limited selection of movies and tv shows. I finally caved after 4 months of being here and checked out 24 as it was one of three tv shows Sara had purchased a few seasons of. Instantly I was addicted. Every time I see Jack Bauer I think "dan franklin" not because they are the same guy, rather, Dan loves the character that is Jack Bauer. I myself prefere Tony, and I did really like Chase, as well. Season one... I thought Nina was the perfect person, like the only other perfect person to walk the planet. Even when I found out she was bad, I still thought... "man, what a woman." She still ranks as one of my favorite tv personalities." I have a few questions for Dan that I'm wondering if anyone knows the answer to. You know how pastors use stories from everyday life or things they are excited about and work them into their sermon whether it fits or not. I'm wondering: Has Dan ever used examples from plot lines from 24 and worked them into sermons? Has Dan ever dropped the name Jack Bauer in one of his sermons? Does Dan where a ctu badge when he preaches? I went to a church that did a whole series on the movie: The matrix. Crazy. These are the things I think about when I'm watching 24. I think one: is Dan using any of this material? I also think: Did Dan see that plot twist coming? I've predicted a few things, and I gotta also say; I'd never be able to watch this show on TV, to wait one week for an episode would be excruciating punishment to put oneself through. I also wondered if one could talk about attributes of God, and compare/contrast with attributes of Jack. Occasionally as I watch the show it seems like there may be some similarities. For a while I was tempted to Say that Jack was omnipotent until at the end of season one, he was stopped dead in his tracks by what... A faulty seatbelt in a ford explorer!!! If you don't believe me go back and watch the final episode of season one. Sherry Palmer of all people had to cut him free! Crazy. Sorry Jack, you're not God... but you are a very incredible fictional character. Faulty seat belts aren't a problem for the God of the universe. Another great thing about this show is many characters are very likable, even the Bad guys. Most of them I really like and identify with on several levels. Now I don't think Dan would really identify with many of the bad guys, he's to good for that so we may part ways there. Another thing I keep hoping as I enter a new season... I keep looking to see if Dan will show up as a character in CTU... like maybe he'll be Edgar's assistant. Or maybe he'll be the new director. I've seen Dan's acting abilities, and while I think he's got some talent, I don't think he's cut out to be the CTU director just yet, but I do think I might be able to pull it off. I do think Dan would do quite well as some minor character that works at CTU. All this to say, I can't separate Dan from 24, and when I watch 24, or see Jack Bauer, I'm thinkin: Dan Franklin. And that is something I don't think most people could boast about, and if they could... why would they... honestly. This is just a Seth thing. Just check out the picture of Dan at the top of this post. Now, when you look at that picture, are you thinking, Jack Bauer? I didn't think so. But I am, that's what I do... so you don't have to.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
the bujual
We are back in Burundi and have been back for about a week. Things are going well. I'm thankful for the Frontliners, Mars Hill team, and Good Shep as well for their continued encouragement, info, support, and prayers. It's great to have you all aboard with us on this venture. I must include my family as well, and of course, Mark Peter for all his encouragement kind words, prayers, and interest in the region... I do hope you can make it out someday, Mark, and know that you are always welcome at our Burundi abode. I like naming names sometimes because you guys are so great and supportive. I will be traveling to Rwanda in just over a week, then hoping to go to Congo before heading back to Burundi. I will be documenting some of the things we are doing in these two countries in addition to Burundi, and I will be taking two others with me, Paul, who is from frontline and will be doing some videography, and Bryn who will be doing photography. So that will be happening soon. Ciou for now.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The Last Day
This is our last day in Kenya. We had a great time with the country director Jean Paul, and we did a lot of video photo and had several meetings, and Trina did some Grant proposals for the Child Survival and VST (vocational skills training) programs. Though we have hours of video and hundreds of photos, I think it will be a week or so before you see media pop up on Trina's blog. I'll see what I can do to make video available. I haven't got that hammered out yet. Also, to our wonderful, and fantastic support team Trina and I will be updating you with our monthly update very soon. Within the next two weeks for sure. We've discovered that the electricity is far superior in Kenya as are the roads, but that's no suprise. The class gap between the rich and poor is staggering in Kenya. I'm told Kenya is in the top 4 worst coutries in the world for income gaps. Nairobi is also home to the second largest slum on the continent. The largest is in South Africa. I'm confident I will be back in this neck of the woods for future projects. World relief is working in one of the slums partnering with churches helping provide moms with orphans jobs to allow their kids to eat and go to school, they also help AIDS victims with medicine and education, and income generation. There is also an orphans and vulnerable children program for kids in the slums. There is a lot more in the works, and we'll keep you informed with what all we are doing in Kenya. Trina will in fact update you on that very soon. So tomorrow we're off to the airport.
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