Surviving in Africa

                      One thing that has grabbed my attention here is the number of families who live separately, just to have work. A pastor friend we have met, he is here in Gitega, Burundi but his wife works in Rwanda and they have a young daughter…they are hoping that she can find work here but it is very difficult. She travels back to Gitega once every 2 weeks to see her family. Another guy we know travels back to see his family once every two months for a weekend…and he has 6 kids at home. It seems to be a common characteristic that many who hold jobs live as a separated family. This may also shed some light as to why some immigrants are more susceptible to divorce when they immigrate to developed countries. Not only are they dealing with new cultures, language, food but also having to adjust to living together! And to think, in Canada,  I would complain when my husband would work late. There are much different standards of the familial

roles.

Our cook, the Butcher and the goat!

GIA staff

                        We had a group of teachers and staff from GIA over to our place last evening just to hang out.  We had goat, chapatti, homemade fries, and cabbage salad. We had a great time getting to know more of the teachers, and even of some of the struggles they face. One teacher had just found out a couple of hours before that his grandmother passed away in Uganda. He was unable to attend because he could not afford to fly, and if he took  public transportation, leaving Friday, he still would not arrive in time for the funeral on Sunday. Instead, he will grieve separately from his family. Our prayers are with him during this difficult time.

Last Sunday I did a teaching on hygiene with the students at GIA. I did separate teaching with each grade and we covered hand hygiene, oral hygiene and body hygiene. 

Oral hygiene was a complete new experience for them…I talked about using dental floss. Only a handful of kids knew what I was talking about! One boy asked if he could just use a string from his clothes to floss his teeth. There is still much more education to do, and with teenagers, things will have to be repeated! There is also more education I need to do with the school, so they ensure kids have water bottles and hats to help protect them from heat exhaustion or sun stroke.