Last week was a busy one here at Turame. With the board meeting on Friday, the week was spent finalizing the business plan, compiling the financial projections, and gathering promotional material for the shareholders. I spent a few days in the meetings for the financial projections as I focus on learning the software so that I will be able to teach it when I get to Goma.
Then I travelled “up country” Burundi for the first time on Thursday with another intern to finish gathering stories from our clients for Turame’s investors. The community bank meeting out in the country had a much different feel than the ones in Bujumbura.
It was good to see the contrast between the city and the rural clients. The money is well used in the city and keeps people from becoming beggars or criminals. But in the country, a very small amount of money can drastically change someone’s life. In Gitega we were told a story of one man in his 50’s. He received a loan that is equivalent to about $50 for his business. After he received the loan he broke down crying. When they asked him what was wrong he told them that he had never seen this much money in one place in his entire life. Not only had he never had this much money in his life, but he had never seen this amount anywhere. Now it was his.
I was also excited to hear the stories of spiritual conversion and renewal as a result of the loans that we give out. Many people live with so little that when an institution like Turame comes along and provides for them it is a powerful example of God’s love. That love, coupled with the training that Turame does about peace and reconciliation, has opened the door for many of our clients to receive Christ. Others have been strengthened by the stability that the investment brings to their lives and several are now giving back to the community, both physically and spiritually.
We met with our local manager (below) and had lunch before returning the same day to Bujumbura.
On the way back we had just passed the Gitega city limits when a truck full of military guys came up the road in front of us and flagged us over to the side. Then another truck, this one with a mounted 50 cal on the front, pulled up on the other side of the road. We sat there wondering what in the world was going on until an official looking car drove by so we figured it was over. We went to pull away but the military guys started yelling at us as soon as we moved.
We sat there for another couple minutes until we saw a very slow moving procession coming up the hill. As it got closer we could make out a single figure riding a bike in front of yet another armed truck. Closer still and we could make out his full body biking uniform and sleek metallic helmet. Finally, as his face came into view, one of our Burundian friends leaned over and told us that it was THE PRESIDENT OF BURUNDI! The drive from Bujumbura to Gitega takes about 2 hours in a car, up some very steep and winding hills. The president, a former sports minister, apparently makes this trip at least once a month on his bicycle! Just try to picture the US president taking a three hour bike ride up the same route through a known rebel area at least once a month…. It was pretty cool.
Last week I had the chance to travel to Rwanda with a colleague of mine from World Relief. The 40 minute flight from Bujumbura to Kigali would hardly be worth mentioning if not for the beautiful countryside over which we flew. Burundi’s mass overpopulation means that almost every inch of available land is cultivated. That includes straight up the side of every hill and mountain in the entire country. From above it looks like one big checkerboard of cross-hatched plots. We arrived in Kigali just in time for dinner with the Bennetts, a WorldVenture couple that was nice enough to take us in for the time we were there. The next day we caught the 9am bus from Kigali to Gisenyi, right across the border from Goma. The ride snaked through the hills for almost three hours before depositing us onto the shores of Lake Kivu.
Sam Ferguson and his wife Dawn had been staying a hotel about 400 yards from the border with Bruce and Anita Paden so this is where I first met all of them. Gisenyi is a very scenic town with many resorts and a beautiful view onto the lake that belies the troubles that simmer right across the border. We all sat and talked most of the afternoon and it almost seemed more like a vacation than an evacuation. But the topics of conversation and the stories they had to tell, quickly shattered that image. Many of the Baptist ministers in the area have been displaced in the most recent fighting and several of the Hekima (my micro-finance office) have family members that are missing. The people of this area have been living on the run for almost two months now.
This is the volcano right outside Goma. An ominous sight to see as you fall asleep huh?
In the morning Sam and I crossed the border into Goma with my World Relief friend from Burundi. My first impression was that this is not as bad as I have heard. I was picturing bombed out buildings and shell casings on the street. As we went further, however, I got a much better picture of just how dreary life is in this place. When the volcano erupted six years ago, the people where not equipped to deal with removing the lava that it deposited throughout the town. Gravel was hauled in and dumped on top of the lava to form roads and houses were rebuilt with the lava serving as the foundations. As the roads have eroded the lava is prevalent all over the city and huge chunks of it line every walkway and yard. Some neighborhoods that did not get gravel for the roads commute daily on what equates to a cobble stone road, without the cement filling. There is almost no color at all except the gray of the lava.
I met briefly with the World Refief staff and also with the staff at Hekima. They seemed in good spirits and happy to be returning to work for the first time in a week. I also go to see the house where I will be living with the Padens. It is a small building on the back of their property with two rooms and a bathroom. It is going to a good place to escape sometimes but nothing extravagant. About one in the afternoon we received a call from the Embassy that some shelling had started outside of town so we quickly crossed back into Gisenyi. That same afternoon we caught the bus back to Kigali. The rest of the weekend I toured several of the ministries that Gary Bennet is involved with in Kigali. I visited the Biblical training center that he helps run and discussed their plans to turn it into a full university soon. We also got the chance to travel into eastern Rwanda to visit a goat keeping ministry with an organization named “Send a Cow.” They give goats to people with AIDS and create a support group for them to meet and share their successes. I also got to enjoy the Bennett family’s many creations (such as a solar powered water heater, and a “Tilapia tank”) and see downtown Kigali.
I am very grateful to have had the chance to make this trip. Having met Sam and the Padens I am excited about the work they are doing in Goma. Crossing the border was definitely worth the hassle as it allowed me to get a mental image of where I will be living and working. The trip renewed my conviction that the Lord has a ministry for me in Goma and I am continuing to pray that the door will be opened soon. Until then…. back to waiting. =)
* I had to borrow a couple pictures in this post because we could not risk getting out a camera with the present situation in Goma.