There's No Place Like... Burundi for the Holidays

Lake Tanganyika, Bujumbura, Burundi

The past few weeks have been filled with small adventures and holiday celebrations.  I continue to be amazed at the beauty of this land, the hospitality of my neighbors, and the support of my friends.  It's hard to be away from home during the holidays.  There have been some hard days as I have been both sick and homesick at times.  But as 2014 drew to a close, I couldn't help but marvel at the blessings the year has brought and I look forward to what this coming year will bring.  So I wish you umwaka mushya mwiza (a good new year) as they say here.  And I hope you enjoy some more snapshots from Rwanda... and Burundi.

A few weeks before Christmas I had the chance to visit my friend and fellow YAGM, Luke, and his host father, Pastor Martin, at his home in the village of Rukira.  Getting myself there was an adventure in itself.  After two buses and a motorcycle ride I ended up at Pastor Marta's church, NOT Pastor Martin's church. (Something was lost in translation.)  But with the gracious guidance of Pastor Marta and the people of the Pentecostal church, I was soon on the back of another motorcycle bound for Luke and Pastor Martin.  Luke teaches English to a jubilant bunch of preschoolers who absolutely adore him.  It was fun to see them show off the English songs and rhymes he has taught them.

Luke's kiddos

Their favorite activity? Chasing Luke

Christmas reunited me once again with my YAGM family in Kigali.  The Lutheran church in Kigali offers regular English services and they invited the six of us and our country coordinator, Pastor Kate, to lead the English services on Christmas.  It was such a treat to sing our favorite familiar carols together and to share some of our Christmas traditions with the people at church.  The best part of the night (and one of my favorite Christmas traditions) was the lighting of candles and singing "Silent Night." It was a holy night indeed!

At Christmas Eve service in Kigali

With a few days of a free time on our hands between Christmas and New Years, the six of decided to explore one of our neighboring countries.  We headed south to Burundi's capital city of Bujumbura and spent a day swimming at Lake Tanganyika.  It was fun to see the different kind of hustle and bustle of another African country.  The people where impressed when we spoke Kinyrwanda as it is very similar to their native language, Kirundi. They would exclaim, "Oh, you speak Kirundi!" And we would answer with a confident, "Yego! Yes!"

The water was great but beware of hippos.

Sunset over Lake Tanganyika

New Year's in Rwanda is celebrated with worship.  My landlord and his family invited me to share in their celebration.  We ate brochettes (sticks of grilled goat meat), ibitoke (cooked green bananas), and fresh papaya.  In the morning we joined hundreds of others at the Catholic church for New Year's Day mass.

The Catholic church in Rwamagana

Now things are falling back into their normal routine as the holidays draw to a close.  (Although most days my "normal routine" still doesn't feel at all normal or routine.)  I enjoyed seeing familiar faces again at church this morning.  I am beginning to learn the songs well enough that I find myself singing them the rest of the day.  As I write this, I can hear through my open window that the little boy next door has the same hymn stuck in his head as I do!

Some of our choir members

And in case you were wondering what my favorite snack is here in Rwanda - because I'm sure that is exactly what you were all wondering - I thought I better include a picture of that too.  There is nothing better than a cold glass of ikivuguto (a fermented, yogurty milk drink), chapati (a fried flat bread), and fresh mangoes.  Birayoshye! Delicious!