What a Day! (2-16-14)

What a Day! (2-16-14)

We have just returned from the longest Sunday service we have ever attended!  We were left the campus at 7:45 am, and returned at 6:15 pm.  The service itself lasted 7 hours!!

The occasion was the “promotion” of one of the Free Methodist pastors to District Superintendent in a rural area south of Bujumbura.  Bishop Nzigo was present for the formal “installation” of Evariste Harerimana.  So too was the Superintendent of the Western Conference (one of two in the General Conference of Burundi) and 16 District Superintendents, plus numerous pastors.  We estimated the total audience at ca. 2,000.  It was a BIG event!

The honoree of the occasion, Pastor Evariste, has been my student for the past six in the Masters of Theology program at Hope Africa University.  More especially, I have served as his Thesis Director for the degree.  He personally invited us to attend this event as his “special guests” and even arranged for our transportation. 

The service was held outdoors on the church grounds.  It was all nicely “staged.”  We sat on plastic chairs under a canopy.  Midway through the service, however, a significant rainstorm blew in.  Several canopies got blown over.  Ours did not, but the wind blew under the canopy, and rivulets washed through.  We got thoroughly wet, from head to feet, and eventually (along with many other guests) ran through the rain itself to take cover in the church.  As the outdoor seating areas were a wet and muddy mess and it was already after noon, we thought the service might be terminated,  Not so, the ceremonies resumed and continued nonstop until after 4pm! 

The service itself included dozens of choir numbers, and multiple sermons and prayers.  But the most interesting part for us came at the end, when the various churches presented gifts to Pastor (now also Superintendent) Evariste and his wife Goretti.  More than a dozen live goats and a dozen live chickens were included among the gifts, each brought in with dancing.  There were also numerous baskets of fruits and vegetables.  At the end of the service, these were all loaded into a big truck: goats, chickens, fruits and vegetables.  These gifts filled the entire bed. 

Following the service and these ceremonies, all the people were served a sumptuous meal in the church.  The Burundians had sat out in the sun all day without anything to eat or drink and very few had left the service to use the toilets.  (We had brought water, which we drank sparingly, and had used the outdoor, hole-in-the ground toilets mid-way through the day during the rain break.) 

Back to the meal….  The food was delicious and plentiful.  The main entrees, typical of the daily diet here, were rice, beans and peas.  But there also were lots of meat dishes: chicken, beef and goat.  (We both chose a skewer of beef.  Cooked over an open fire, it was quite tasty though a couple of pieces were too tough to chew).  The buffet included more than a dozen salads: most were made of cabbage and carrots, but also some of lettuce and tomatoes; all were beautifully arranged.  I chose from a plate of sliced cucumbers, since I had not had any since arriving in Burundi: they were fresh and very good. 

We did observe (as we have in the past) that while Burundians can go a long time without eating, when food is available they can really eat a lot!  At this meal most of their plates were piled three times as high as mine.  Seeing this, I was made to realize that Burundians do not get to eat like this most of the time and are really hungry.  

This was for us a long day but a special one, a uniquely African experience, and a first for us!