A New Time, A New Season in Burundi

            Well, we arrived safely in Gitega, Burundi last Saturday morning. This trip was a bit more challenging as we had an extra flight with extra layovers, and the kids seemed to have a lot more energy! Adjusting to the 8 hour time change has also taken a bit longer this time. The kids are still waking up at 3:00am ready for the day. I am looking forward to a time when we can all sleep normally again J Please pray for all of us to adjust to life in Burundi. It is now the rainy season so most of our days are filled with rain. It actually gets very cold....I could see my breath in the air the other day!

            Sunday was the opening day for Gitega International Academy (GIA). This year there are 237 students registered and they all arrived yesterday. The village people seemed to just line the streets to watch the entourage of cars headed in and out of GIA throughout the day. There have been many changes at the school….staff changes, building changes, and protocol changes. Charles has his own office space for meeting with students, and I have my own Nurses office where I can talk with students more privately! It is nice to have my own space where I can keep my record books and medications.

            Monday morning I was kind of dreading as it was the first day of school….Kids were awake at 1:30am but the day went very well. Even Joshua went to school and not a tear shed. I told him, “Mommy is proud of you.” and he responded, “I like when people tell me that, can I get a candy?” Oh such sweet innocence and manipulation! This year has started out better than when we arrived in January. Savana is starting grade 3, which she loves but oh the difficulty to get her to try to do her homework. The other day she woke up at 3am and sat in our hallway doing her homework by headlamp because she failed to do it the night before. Elijah and Micah are starting grade 1. It was nice to see Micah walk into his class without a big temper tantrum. It helps that his best friend from last term is in his class. Elijah is so proud because he is one of the fastest writers in his class…that is a big deal here. Joshua is starting prematernelle 1….a room of thirty-two  2 1/2 – 3 yr olds for one teacher with 1 helper….a big challenge.

            We are just finishing our first week at GIA and things are underway intensely. Charles has started teaching his two classes and starting the process of getting some “love in action” events planned. His leadership group from last year all came to him and said how much they appreciated his work last year! A good way to start the year off. We had the first chapel service today! Wow, so many kids this year....many faces are familiar but there are lots of new students.

           I am starting work on the kitchen and the hygiene policies that will be incorporated there. Some of my health and hygiene suggestions were incorporated for this term, hopefully we will see a sharp decrease in malaria, typhoid and amoebas! I am currently doing lots of work researching requirements of handling food, etc. in a large kitchen.  Not everything applies as when one does not have a fridge, one cannot keep things at a cool temperature…..this is not even mentioning what should be frozen!

            I will end here for now. Thank you for everyone who opened their homes and hearts to our family this summer. Our time went by very quickly….too quickly! We made many new friends and we are looking forward to keeping contact with you all. 

  Darla Balenga

If you would like to donate to our mission, you can donate through the Youth for Christ Edmonton website or Bridges of Hope website earmarked "burundi mission".

http://www.yfced.com/index.php/donate/how-to-donate
http://www.thebridgesofhope.com/index.php?p=Donate