Searching For The Heart Of God In Africa

Kids running when I tried to take a picture

         We went to a GIA staff get together a couple of weeks ago at one of our local teacher’s houses; he lives in a suburb of Gitega. The area where he lives is across a valley and is an area where white people do not go. As we started up the mountain, there was the usual “muzungu” yelled from the kids on the sides of the road. Most of these kids are young, dressed in dirty and ripped clothes, and are unsupervised.  As we headed up the mountain to where we were headed, the concentration on the “muzungu” intensified. We had kids chasing our van as they yelled “muzungu, muzungu” over and over.  At one point, we had to stop to find out directions and people began to just stand outside our van, watching and waiting to see what we would do. 

Brave kids that entered our compound

Micah playing soccer with the kids

        We found the house that we were headed to and when we exited the van, we instantly had an entourage of kids around us. Even when we headed in to the compound, the kids found a way to be able to watch us overtop the fence! As time went on, the kids got braver and braver and eventually started poking their heads into our compound…..just to watch the “muzungus”, and if they were lucky, they would even be able to touch our white skin.  Time continued on, the kids got braver and started coming in, just inside the gate, and just to watch us. We started playing soccer with a ball made out of plastic bags. As soon as a couple of kids started coming in, more and more kids joined the group. These kids were eager to see the white skins, and no matter their fears, they took the risk. When I pulled my camera out to take pictures, they all ran away! As well, Burundian kids are told that “the white skins will eat you”, so many are curious but scared of us.

            As these kids pursued us eagerly, I got to thinking about Christianity and our faith. We are instructed in the Bible to actively search for God. We are instructed to seek God, but do we? Do we read our Bibles, do we listen to what God is saying to us when we pray, do we take time for Him?

 “O God, Thou are my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly; My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have beheld Thee in the sanctuary, To see Thy power and Thy glory. Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise Thee”. Psalm 63:1-3 (NASB)  

   Just as the village kids pursued us, the muzungus, and even though they were afraid, they eagerly watched everything we did. As we get caught up in life, do we continue to seek after God’s own heart? It does not matter how we look, how we are dressed, or the language we speak, we all are to seek after God and to know Him. Deuteronomy 4:29 states “You will seek the Lord your God from there, and you will find him^[a] if you seek him with all your heart and with all your being.” (Common English Bible). It is my challenge to you to actively seek who God is. Even if life is difficult for you, come before God, the living Prince of Peace and He will give you rest.

        I wanted to share one of my challenges and frustrating situations I had this week here in Burundi. My school phoned me early in the morning and asked me to meet them at a local clinic as there was one students who was very sick. I met them at the clinic to find one of our girls in full body muscle contractions....very similar to grand mal seizures but she was completely coherent! She even translated for me. We asked for electrolytes to be checked only to be told to "wait". After a day or so, their answer to what was happening was "it is psychological....because when she is awake the movements are bigger but when she sleeps (with phenobarbital on board) the muscle contractions get much less. It must be that when she is awake that she is thinking of school, tests, problems, etc". I was so angry because this girl is one of the top girls in the school! I asked again about having Lytes checked only to be told they don't have the equipment to check electrolytes. Meanwhile, the girl has been in full body muscle contractions for over 48 hours! After this, she complained that her abdominal muscles were hurting....so they wanted to do an ultrasound of her abd to see if that was the problem. In the end, I spoke to the parents to tell them this issue is not "psychological" so they ended up taking her out of this clinic and went to the capital city, Bujumbura.....which is 2 hours away. Buja is the only place in the whole country where there is capability of having your electrolytes checked! We are in Gitega which is the second largest city in the country....about 50,000 people.....but it has very limited capabilities healthwise. 

     I have also since learned that doctors here do not even know how to interpret electrolyte results. They only do tests here that are definitive....malaria, typhoid, amoebas, etc. Anything else is pretty much ignored. It is a real eye opener to see how privileged we are in Canada. I pray here almost every day for God to keep us safe from sickness or injury because I do not trust any of the local clinics to be able to treat appropriately.

Continue to pray for us…..for safety, for wisdom in dealing with situations that arise with the GIA kids, and that we would grow closer together as a family and to God.

God Bless,

     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