Unexpected Gifts

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Kelley Nikondeha

You might recall the old broken down school room with no desks and few students. You might remember that ten desks were delivered… then ten more. You might even recall that enrollment soared as parents and children alike saw the prospects for education improve almost overnight!

A few months later and we can report that the parents, so motivated by the arrival of desks, have built two additional classrooms with their own hands. These are adobe structures which provide some shade and space, but are not durable considering the harsh elements of Bubanza. Yet these parents did what they could with what they had – and we were able to move in desks generously donated by many of our friends.

The news of these developments traveled all the way to the governors office. He was so impressed that these families build their own classrooms and showed interest in education. He has never seen this community take initiative like that before – ever!

So he gave a great gift. He offered an additional piece of land to the families of Bubanza so that they could build a proper elementary school. He envisioned a school with multiple classrooms, a principal’s office, bathrooms… And he promised us that if we built it, he would send the teachers and even a headmaster to staff the new school!

So our families, in partnership with Claude, wasted no time in turning this vacant lot into a work site, into the future site for an elementary school that can educate all their children!

You can see the progress just over a few weeks – from foundation to brick walls. The Batwa of Bubanza and Community of Faith are working together to bring an exponential increase in education right into the heart of the community!

It brings to mind a verse from the New Testament – that when we are faithful with little, more will come. Our friends were faithful with what they had… using their hands and local mud to build two classrooms for their children. And God opened wide the doors of heaven and gave them more land and the promise of a full elementary school and staff! More than they ever dreamed of or dared ask for… but we know God to be that generous and extravagant!

Construction on the school will take some months. There are six large classrooms to build, bathrooms and an office, even a multipurpose room and maybe a playground. But we have construction engineers leading the build so it is done right and with the best materials we can get. We are building a school to last with our friends in Bubanza.

We are, together, changing the story of this community. There was a time when school was too far away, children could not walk that far. Now there will be a new school right in their neighborhood… and teachers will be the ones walking to them! God often engineers such grand reversals!

And to think – this all started with a nudge of the Spirit and the impromptu gift of a few desks!

Of Rain and Replanting

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Kelley Nikondeha

Good land is a gift. But even good land, even gifted land is susceptible to the elements. In recent weeks the land of Matara has been drenched with unprecedented rains and our hearts flooded with heaviness.

The rains began to increase in frequency and intensity during what would have been the harvest for season C. (Agricultural specialists divide the growing seasons into A, B and C to track various seasons of planning, cropping and harvest.) The most direct impact was that crops of beans and corn were compromised or diminished resulting in less food to harvest to feed the families or take to market.

But the rains kept coming. As the season A planting season began, the rains did not let up. When cropping would have been in full swing, there was hail that damaged all the remaining crops. The region had been hit especially hard. Our friends in Matara lost most all their crops as did all the neighbors.

Agricultural experts and national leaders are fearful of what this means for the food security of the entire country, as season A represents 35% of the food for a given year. Those in Matara share that concern… how can they lose so much of their food and survive?

We are all grateful that those permanent homes are completed, providing protection from the heavy rains for the families. Originally the men had constructed temporary homes when they first moved to Matara, and they became kitchens for the families once they moved into the better structures built over this past summer. As you can see, the rains demolished many of the old rooms. Even though it is only the loss of a kitchen now, destruction is still demoralizing.

The region is reeling after two bad bouts of rain that have crippled food production for the foreseeable future. Now everyone scrambles to use what little money they have to buy food to feed their children, but there is little available. And the cycle gets worse – less food means weakened immune systems. It means kids staying out of school due to illness but also the help the family forage for food. Government health officials are worried, they have already seen 5,000 children drop out of school in one province.

The families in Matara have suffered some of the side effects of the rains and food shortage. The increase of water means more mosquitoes and more malaria. The last three months we have seen more children home from school with malaria.

While their businesses are strong, the economy has seized. No one is buying anything since they are using any available money for food. So our friends who make soap, shoes, baskets and such have no demand, no market for their goods for the time being. Their income has been cut off, too.

The good news for our friends is that there is a safety net for them – they have friends who are walking alongside them amid the highs and lows, the sun-kissed days and the rain-drenched nights. We have bought food from other provinces to keep our friends from deep hunger. We are making sure they have access to the health clinic to get treatment for malaria. We have purchased seeds from other places to allow them to start over. They are grateful – and they know that their friends are a great grace to them in this time of trouble, a grace their neighbors cannot claim.

So this week the men and women of Matara take to the fields once again to try and salvage what they can, and to make the most of the remaining season. They hope that if they can plant quickly enough, there will be enough time for the seeds to mature for harvest. They are praying for more sun, less rain and continue to lean on God’s goodness and the grace of their friends near and far.

Please pray for the families of Matara. Pray with them for the weather to cooperate and the food to grow. Pray for the other Burundians who also struggle in these hard times. Our God is in the bread business – and we pray we can see His surprising abundance this season and that we can be part of His distribution team!

Look what they accomplished!!!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Kelley Nikondeha

Before he even made his way to the top of the mountain he felt the ground shaking and he heard the drumming. When Claude stepped on the Matara road he saw the dancing had already begun, everyone in their best attire and singing with such full-throttled joy. No one was waiting for him, waiting for the certificates to arrive or the teacher. The celebration could not wait, their accomplishment had to be celebrated right now in the morning sun!

It was six months ago that the adults of Matara kissed their children good-bye for a day at school and then stepped into their own classroom. Twenty three men and women were willing to try to do something they’d never done before… learn to read and write. Some had terrible memories of attempts at school before, when they were ridiculed out of the classroom by students and teachers alike. Some recall not being able to go often enough to learn anything due to circumstances at home. Others just never got the chance to ever try. But that morning they met their teacher and decided to try to learn.

Today they were all dancing… even while they were not all graduating. So much happens in the life of a community over six months: homes build, crops planted and harvested, cows and rabbits to tend, pregnancies and little ones to care for and… and.. Not everyone could maintain the study required for this level one literacy training. But today they all gathered to celebrate the 7 who completed the class and who passed the final exam. Everyone knew that this was a huge accomplishment that demanded a communal party!

So here is your graduating class: Jean Bosco, Jean Claude, Nathaniel, Leonie, Didace, Francois and Rita.

All of these friends completed level one literacy training. They can now read, write and do simple math. Practically speaking, they can read the signs! They can do math in the marketplace and basic accounting for their businesses. Imagine what this means for Francois, the community leader, for Nathaniel as he represents all of Matara before the governor of the province, for the men who run their soap enterprise, for the Leonie as she does her pottery business and Rita as she bargains in the marketplace? Imagine what this means for the entire community – they now have members who can read and write! This empowers all of them and is another big blow to the vulnerability they used to embody. Literacy is their new strength!

Here are the proud graduates with their certificates. (We take the space to show all seven as each one is a story of great endurance, hard work and catalytic accomplishment.)

(Learning to read and write and do math is hard work. Imagine doing that with a baby on your hip? Leonie and Rita did just that! Talk about strength… you have to admire these woman!)

So what is next for the literacy arc in Matara? The graduates will progress to level two training. Now all the other friends want to try again, so there will be level one training offered again. And this time… they have invited the neighbors to join them! So once again the blessings that come to Matara grow and include the entire neighborhood. Next term there will be two levels of training, multiple classes and many students working together to become stronger.

But for today – we dance! We celebrate the accomplishment of seven men and women who passed the test and can now read, write and do math. We celebrate a community that is less vulnerable because they can read and do the math. We celebrate the good news that they are blessed and a blessing to the larger neighborhood, turning their village into a learning center for all who would come.

Wherever you are… dance! Join in their celebration!