Tuesday - a day of beauty and laughter

There is so much to share about today. I will do my best to include as much as I can!

We awoke to a typically gorgeous African morning. The view across Gitega was beautiful in the early-morning sunlight. A peaceful start to a full day. 

Yesterday we worked out that the two lads running the Jambo Hotel (aka The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel crossed with Fawlty Towers) needed a bit of time to prepare the food. So last night we pre-ordered breakfast. William and Jean (the two easily likeable lads from the hotel) did us proud and we had breakfast on time. Result. 

Melody then led us in our Thought for the Day which was incredibly profound. I'm hoping that she will share what she said on here at some point. 

Today was the first day we were to see the Health Centre and the two homes for the street children, so after breakfast we walked down the dusty red road to the main road where Elvis met us in the Pickup. We were invited to jump aboard and we did just that, most of the team jumping in the back. 

The ride to the Health Centre was great fun. A special moment was when, after turning down the dirt track to the Centre, we were followed by a mass of running children. They showed great perseverance as they followed us down the whole track which was about a mile (?). 

As word spread that there were some Mzungu at the Clinic, a crowd of people (mostly children) gathered to say hello. It was a lovely welcome. We spent time shaking hands, saying "amahoro" and taking photos. The children loved having their photographs taken. Screams of laughter followed the reveal of their outrageously posed photographs. It was joyous. 

Dr Aline then showed us around the Clinic. The Clinic welcomes many, many children every day. They keep records of all the children so that their progress can be tracked. We saw one child being screened for malaria, which, as you can read about in another post, is a big killer of children.  

After looking around the small wards, we met the Paediatric Nurse (with whom Helen will be working) and saw the picture of St Mary's Church that they have displayed in one of the rooms. The money that folk from St Mary's gave to this project has a massive legacy and it is appreciated. 

The Maternity ward was next and we had the pleasure of seeing a baby that had been born earlier today. There are more babies due during our stay; in fact, one lady was in (non-noisy) labour whilst we were there!

Pigs were next on the agenda. Part of the programme that is running here is a small pig "industry". Groups of local people come to the Centre to look after some pigs. At the end of a year the pigs have each given birth to 8-10 piglets and the people get to take a pig home and a new group come in. 

I didn't know what to expect from our next stop: the boys' house. We were all warmly met with smiles, hugs and handshakes. The house is modest (by our standards) but perfectly adequate for the boys. We were shown around the place and then had a chance to hear about the boys and from them. Their stories are ones of despair and destitution to ones of hope. God has really used the team here at the Centre in Gitega to change lives. It is amazing. 

I will not do the boys' stories justice here, but I hope our team will help me by adding their memories of the stories they heard today to the comments or another blog post. 

A slight aside. Whilst we were at the boys' house we almost lost Jon. He went to go to the loo, pulled the loo door closed behind him only to realise that there was no handle on the door and he'd locked himself in. Jon has brought a lot of laughter to the team through his sense of humour. This time he brought much merriment by being locked in a toilet. 

As we made our way back to the hotel, we stopped off at the girls' house. We received an equally warm reception and the female members of our group soon had girls holding their hands and giving cuddles. The girls then delighted us with two renditions of songs with one girl accompanying them on a three-stringed guitar. 

We heard some of their stories (equally miraculous) and, just as we were about to leave, one of the girls asked if she could pray for us. People in Burundi have been extremely generous to us. They give what they have to give. We can learn from them. 

We walked back up to the hotel and enjoyed our pre-ordered lunch. 

This afternoon we split into three groups. Peter J (Obi-Wan), Helen and Melody went to the Health Centre where Obi-Wan delivered some training (and a baby or two if he had his way). 

Annette, Fee and Lorna went to the girls' house and played some get-to-know-you games. Again, I'll have to rely on my colleagues to fill in what happened there as I and the 'lads' (Peter C, Josh, Jon and Dan) went to the boys' house to do a similar thing. 

The afternoon was a lot of fun. We played various ice-breaker games on a field near the house with Elisé (Aline's son) doing a fantastic job at translating for us. Most games crossed the language barrier, some didn't! 

One game that seems to cross any language barrier is football and that's how we ended our activities. Pete C refereed, Jon fell over, Josh and Dan did more exercise than they've done in ages and someone else scored the winning goal. Modesty prevents me from telling you who that was...

Back at the house, we gave out some of the football shirts that people had donated. The boys loved that. Chelsea and Barcelona were the hot favourites and I managed to subtly deal with the lad who wanted to swap his England shirt for a better team. I don't blame him. ;)

So today has, again, been full, but the team, when reflecting about the day around the pre-ordered-meal table said that today had been the best day so far. And I agree.