Wednesday Morning

The teams arrived back from Gitega last night and all the teams were enjoying sharing their experiences with each other.

The Discovery School team (Bonnie, joy, Matt, Karen and Traci) had a great 2 days at Discovery School. Monday was spent touring the Primary School, the Deaf School, the clinic and the training area. They saw an 8- hour old baby at the clinic.

Each day, the Discovery School teachers start their day with a time of worship and singing in harmony and the team got to join them. All of the teachers speak English, Kirundi, Swahili and French. Tueday, the team taught 60 3- year-olds the story of David and Goliath. That night, one of the teachers hosted a dinner at their home for the team. They had cassava, goat, plantains, pasta, frieds, rice, fish, Fanta and Coke. It was a huge feast, even by American standards.

The ALARM team (Jeannette, Lacy and Courtney)are teaching 40 adults, several women with babies on their backs. The worship and singing was amazing! They are teaching the adults why and how to teach children. Monday ended with a rousing game of UNO with the video team.

The Orphan Care team (Lisa, Donna and JP) and the Tent Team (David, Heidi and Annabelle) traveled to Gitega. On the way, they stopped along with the ALARM team to visit Pastor Onesphore's tent in Muramvya. He uses this tent to serve members of the Batwa tribe, the most marginalized and ostracized of Africa. It was amazing to see all that they are doing for these people: feeding porridge once a day, a primary school for the children and a clinic was under construction. It was so special that Lacy got to meet Onesphore. Her life group sponsored this tent and they have been praying for and emailing each other for the past year.

They also visited Homes of Hope, where they have 4 homes of 8 orphans and a mom, the size of an average Burundian family. They also have a primary school, a treated water system for the community's use and a clinic in progress. The teams were able to have dinner with the children and after dinner, the children prayed for the team members. It was truly special. On Tuesday, they taught the teachers and the children. On the way back to Bujumbura, the team visited a memorial where 100 university students were murdered during the civil war.

The video team (Carl and Eric) traveled to Gitega with the ALARM, Orphan Care and Tent teams. They visited the tents in both Muramvya and Gitega, teaching with the ALARM team and Homes of Hope. They covered LOTS of ground over the past few days.

It's been an amazing 2 days! We are grateful to God for all the blessings we've experienced and to you for your thoughts and prayers.