Wednesday and New Hope

Breakfast was at 9am this morning - a luxurious late time for us young'uns and meant most of us were able to get a full 8 hours sleep...a rare occurrence here! After a hearty breakfast, we adjourned outside where Peter shared his thought for the day. He focused on Job 42 . 5 and also shared a strong message about how we should think about not so much what we have achieved (although that is important), but how it has changed ourselves which can allow us to go on to do greater things and develop the person we will become. After breakfast I then put the team through their paces (again) as they took part in my morning workout/stretch involving many extra moves from karate and Irish dancing. Sadly, some members of the team still have a lot of room for improvement. 

After lunch we headed to the New Hope orphanage where we would visit the children there. The orphanage currently has 62 children and is divided into smaller sections, each with their own ''Mama''. We listened to the story told by the pastors wife, the main Mama, as she told us about how the orphanage started. It was set up when her and her husband took in the children who's parents were victims of the ongoing civil war in the Congo, and they took them in to wash the blood of their parents off of them. Many had watched their parents being slaughtered, including a baby who was being breastfed by her mother when her mother was then murdered. The couple built the orphanage when they ran out of space for mattresses on the floor of their house and in August 2004, New Hope orphanage was opened. It still continues to take in orphans who are refugees from areas of civil war. 

Many children would not remember these sights as they were very small, but what was startling was the way children were talking, some yawning or getting on with their own things while the Mama told this story. Perhaps for some it had been repeated too many times and became almost fictional, or for others it may have been taken in their stride by their thick skin. We've heard a lot of stories and they are always challenged by the soon to follow smiles and playful activities by the children, who to be really honest, are probably the happiest children I've seen. 

The children in Bujumbura are similar yet different to those in Gitega. The conditions are both poor, as in the orphanage it was fly and rat infested in areas such as the shocking kitchen and the living conditions are cramped, 2-3 children to a bed. But through this the children yet still smile, rejoice and praise God. A real mixture between a mystery and an inspiration. But the difference between the two is that in the city (Bujumbura) the children look their age. In Gitega, an 11 year old girl seemed to be stuck inside a 6 year olds body, where as in Buj, age estimates are usually correct and this is probably down to better nutrition and diet. The children in the city also seem slightly more mature, possibly down to their experiences or that they all went to school, and many had lived their whole life in the orphanage, which again differs from the street house in Gitega which changes children yearly.

We then were shown round and had an opportunity to play with the children and leave them with clothes and toys. A particular child who won't be forgotten was a little girl called 'Queen', who bears a shocking resemblance to Dora the Explorer, and is extremely cute, and she knows it! 

We are now acclimatizing to the familiar setting of Bujumbura and life without the orange children, and realizing this is the final leg of our trip before we start the journey home. Something I've really learned from the trip that I'd like to share on a more personal note is that God can be present absolutely anywhere and I have loved being a witness to that. We may have seen poverty and sadness at extreme levels, but looking into people's hearts and seeing their joy, along with watching sunsets on top of waterfalls, makes me realize the world isn't at all a bad place. There is hope for every situation, and thousands of beautiful moments that definitely compensate for negative ones. Overall this is down to God and a way of keeping and spreading the happiness is to put Him at the centre.

We are now about to enjoy our last (sleeping) night in Burundi after a multitude of card games, and look forward to all tomorrow has to offer.

Thank you everyone for your continued support throughout this trip - it has been very much appreciated and we look forward to sharing more in depth stories with you when we are back.

With love
 
Lorna