We leave Wed, Dec. 31 and arrive in Burundi on Fri, Jan 2. The flights include a short hop from Rochester to Detroit, then a long overnight to Amsterdam, followed by another long flight to Nairobi. Arriving in the evening (8:30 pm), we will overnight (at the airport?) and in the morning (7:05 am) take the short hop to Bujumbura.
Packing is nearly completed. More than half of what we are carrying consists of books and medical equipment for Hope Africa University. So we will be much lighter coming home at the end of February!
We request your prayers for safe travel and good health.
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Hope you had a safe an uneventful trip! I look forward to reading about your adventures! Love, Dorcas
ReplyDelete1/3. We had a safe trip and all our goods arrived intact. We are now moving into our apt. and getting set up.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that all your luggage made it. I got a good briefing from Gerald yesterday and it sounds like a lot is going on at HAU. I'm sure yoyu will have more to add to the activities.
ReplyDeleteI'll enjoy following your blog. Blessings.
We got settled in yesterday: setup e-mail; exchanged dollars; bought groceries. Still getting acclimated to heat/humidity (probably 90/90 yesterday afternoon) and time change. Today (Sunday) we going with the bishop to the big FM church downtown.
ReplyDeleteWe enjoyed a wonderful day Sunday. The church service was in Kurundi. The church had two pastors, one male and one female: the woman preached and did a very good job.
ReplyDeleteToday, the president of Burundi visited HAU! We got the Nursing lab set up (in a temporary fashion for his visit). It was very impressive. He came into the lab with his entourage and shook Darlene's hand!
We are trying to get our classes arranged today (Monday). All of this happens here as you move along, not by pre-arrangment. I expect to meet with my students this afternoon; they are trying to put together the class list now and contact them! Darlene does not know yet when and where and with whom she will be meeting!!
Sounds familiar. Once you get going, though, things should level out. I hope the nights are cool enough that you can sleep well. Have a wonderful time.
ReplyDeleteJohn
We are glad that you are there, safe and sound. We look forward to reading your updates.
ReplyDeleteNous prions pour vous.
We are still trying to get our classes arranged and underway! I am going to teach a second course, in Systematic Theology! That will be a double challenge, as it is not my primary field, and I came unprepared for this assignment.
ReplyDeleteWe continue to work on our French, and now have the opportunity to use it in oral conversations. That too is a challenge!! Over the weekend, I read Dan. 1-6 and I am now reading Deut in French. I am also reading The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard.
Thanks for your prayers!
It’s morning in Burundi! Located 2-3 degrees south of the equator in central Africa, days and nights are nearly equal in length: the sun rises (and so do we, to the singing of many birds) ca. 6 am and its sets ca. 6:30 pm (we stay up until ca. 10 pm!). There are no “seasons” here as far as temperature is concerned, only “dry seasons” and “rainy seasons.” January and February fall into one of the “rainy seasons.” We have had rains every day this week, but we have not yet any really hard (torrential) rains. The temperature has hit the high 80s every day, and so has the humidity.
ReplyDeleteIt cools down at night (65-75 degrees?), but we keep comfortable using a fan. The work day begins ca 7 am, while it is still somewhat cool. At this moment, it is 7:10 am. The girl who helps us with laundry and shopping has come in wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up, because she is “froid” (French for “cold”). We all laughed, and took some pictures of her! Dr. Barbara Rose is heading off to class. She is teaching Calculus II to a class of 30+ undergraduate students, most of whom are pursuing degrees in business, economics or computer science. Darlene and I have classes beginning at 8 am. Darlene is teaching Physical Assessment to ca. 20 students these first three weeks, and then will repeat the course with another 20 students the following three weeks. (This was the only way for her to handle, in a hands-on laboratory course, the cohort of 40 Nursing students who want/need this course.)
As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have taken on a second course. So I am teaching Biblical Hermeneutics in the mornings, 8-10:30 am. Twelve students are enrolled in this course. I will begin teaching Systematic Theology this afternoon (1-5 pm), and expect 12-20 students. Last evening, I wrote the syllabus for this course (which I have never taught previously!) and prepared the first lecture and 4-hour class session. Both courses are part of the required curriculum in the MA in Theological Studies program here at Hope Africa University.
Our living situation here on campus (we are in one of four “guest apartments” in the dorm), while spartan, is much improved over last year. We have water, and can take showers! Also, while we have lost electricity several times every day this week, none of the outages has lasted more than 10 minutes (compared to last year when we lost power for up to 24 hours at a time).
As you can easily discern we are hard at work, but we are delighted to be here at HAU. Yesterday, as I mentioned in a previous blog, the president of Burundi visited the campus. That was a BIG event for the entire HAU community (and we were privileged to be part of it!).
Thank you for your prayers for us. We are grateful that none of us has experienced any significant health problems thus far. And to date, we have not yet run out of patience! (But those are two areas in which we need daily grace!)
Dorcas: Pleas send us a private e-mail at mccownw@nes.edu so we can get your correct e-mail address. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteToday, all three of us had a very rewarding day in the classroom with our students following difficult challenges yesterday…arising from differing attitudes about time, quality of education, and academic administration. I have 17 students enrolled in my second course in Systematic Theology; they include a number of significant church leaders. While most come from Burundi, I also have students from Kenya, Rwanda, and the Congo. I feel privileged to be their “professeur.”
ReplyDeleteSome of you have asked about our e-mail connection. It works through a cell phone device attached to the laptop via the USB port. We purchase time on-line by buying phone cards, which have scratch-off PIN numbers. Using the software program, we then dial up and receive voice instructions (via an ear piece on the device) to enter a 12-digit PIN. The phone cards cost 10,000 Burundi francs= ca. $10 (one can buy smaller amounts). I am not sure how many minutes we will get off one card (presumably ca. 50).
The Internet service itself works very well, although it is a bit slow.
I am working to learn how to conserve minutes on-line. I find that on the first dial-up, if I simply open select e-mail messages and minimize the windows, I can then disconnect to read and print them. I have also learned that I can compose our e-mail responses and this blog off-line. I have to dial-up a second time, to paste our messages and send them off…but this method process saves minutes on-line.
I realize that I am not posting my messages correctly on this blogspot! Dorcas gave me a couple of “pointers” that I will be pursuing as I get on-line this time to post this message. So I hope to “do it right” today! (PS: I can’t find a way to post as the primary blogger!! HELP!!)
We just lost electric power, so now I am on battery power! We brought our “old” laptop, which has limited memory as well as battery power. So I had better sign off and get this sent off.
Thanks for your continuing prayers.
We are doing well. Thanks for your prayers.
ReplyDeleteWe had a torrential rainstorm last evening as we were preparing for dinner. Barb Rose took a nasty fall en route to our apartment across the slippery concrete patio between the two apartments. We are grateful that she suffered no ill effects, except for a bruised ego. Darlene had invited one of her students to eat with us; after dinner, he helped us with the correct pronunciation of certain French words and phrases.
Last evening, ca. 7 pm, the electricity went off; 20 minutes later, it came on again, but only briefly. After trying to read with pen lights, Darlene and I finally and gave up took chairs out to the patio, where we sat in the dark enjoying the rain fall. We ended up going to bed early, 9 pm or so…and slept well. When we awakened, a little before 6 am, we still had no electricity.
Rainstorms and loss of electric power are simply part of daily life here in Burundi.
We are enjoying our students and classes immensely. By the time I finish both of my classes, however, I find myself completely exhausted. Today, I did not even get a break between classes because I had two new students arrive and so spent the break (and myself!) orienting them to my two courses.
Another fact of life here (which is disconcerting to us) is that--even in intensive 3-week courses such as we are teaching--students enter mid-stream, come late to class or leave early (some on a daily basis), request special concessions on assignments and due dates, etc.
Contributing causes to this phenomenon include: the lack of good means of communication (e.g., to inform a prospective student up-country or out-of-country as to what course will be offered, when, etc.); the lack of means for transportation (I do not know of any students who have a car and drive to school; I do know of several who walk more than 5 miles to class); the demands of daily life, even survival (e.g., when a torrential rain prevents walking to class for 30 minutes or so; or, the loss of electrical power which disrupts the completion of assignments as well as normal life routines); a different attitude about time and timeliness; and (in the case of my graduate students) the demands of family (two of my students had young children in the hospital yesterday), work life and ministries for which they are also responsible.
We are looking forward to the weekend. Tonight (Friday evening) we are going out to eat with the other missionaries (“expats”) who are here on campus. I conclude by saying, once again, Happy New Year…as that continues to be part of the greeting here, through the month of January.
So good to hear of all your experiences. We are finishing our holiday in South Africa and leave tomorrow 10 Jan for Kenya. God bless!
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