We have now
been in Burundi, Africa for more than 7 weeks. We thank God and all of you our
partners who made our life and ministry in Africa a reality. For the past 7
weeks, Darla has faithfully written our blogs. But I thought I should also give
you, dear friends and family, this African-Canadian’s (my own) perspective.
First of
all, it is great for me to be back in Africa. Having been president of the ‘Council
for the Advancement of African Canadian’ better known as ‘Africa Centre’ and
the Executive Director of Christian Immigrant Support Services, I had in many
occasions preached to fellow Africans that the time had come for the African
diaspora to contribute to the development of Africa. I am thankful that I now have
the opportunity to be a pioneer in that movement.
It is
interesting to note that in some ways Africa has changed and yet in another
ways Africa has not changed. And both the change and the no change have their
advantages and disadvantages.
1. Comparing Africa of today and the one
we left almost 18 years ago sometimes the difference is like night and day. The
global impact of technology has its finger prints on the African continent. We
can now enjoy the internet in our homes. We can now skype with friends and
families back in Canada. The skype has been very helpful for our settlement
here as our kids are happy to still be in contact face to face (via screen)
with their family and friends back in Canada.
2. You can now rent a house with
facilities as good as our Canadian ones. We are even blessed to have an
Electrical stove and oven in our house. Such privilege enables us to give our
Cook a day off every Sunday because we can cook ourselves on Sunday. Darla even
baked a cake for our GIA guests last night.
3. But the gap between rich and poor is
so depressing. To see how some can live in mansions while others have no-where
to lay their heads. To see so many kids, old ladies, handicaps, and the poor on
the streets begging every day. Literally, for many of these beggars, that is
their only means of income. One day as
we were driving on the streets of Bujumbura, I saw someone packing a brand new
Mercedes and I asked the driver how much that car would cost. He told me about
150 million Burundi Francs. That is an equivalent of $100000 Canadian dollars.
I thought to myself; how can someone drive such an extra expensive vehicle in a
country where an average worker makes less than 60 dollars a month. If you ask
that same Mercedes owner how much he pays his cook, don’t be surprised that he
pays his house cook less than $40 per month.
4. The treatment of the poor by the rich
is quite something… We have just finished the study of the Book of James (a
very interesting and challenging book) and in chapter 5:1-6, James talks about
the abuse of the poor by the rich.
a. The rich did not pay their workers’
wages
b. The rich condemned the poor
c. The rich murdered the innocent poor
And why was the treatment of the poor by the rich so unfair?
That was my question to my Grade 9 Biblical Studies students. Why was it so
unfair? What makes it unfair is not just because they mistreated their workers,
that they didn’t pay their workers, that they condemned and murdered innocent
people. What made it so unfair, James tells us, is because the poor could not
even fight back or defend themselves.
Of the things I have hard time adjusting to in Africa, is how
little people pay their workers. Such a harsh reality is a great reminder of
how valuable the establishment of minimum wages in countries like Canada is.
One day I asked our House Guard when he was going back home next as it had been
3 weeks since he went home. He told me that he only goes home once every 2
months. I said, what; you see your family for 3 days once every 2 months? Why
wouldn’t you want to see your family often? He told me that it cost him 10000
FBU to go home and he can’t afford the cost of going home every month. So I
said, Eric, I would really want you to see your family at least once a month.
So I will take care of the 10000FBU so that the cost doesn’t deprive you of
seeing your family at least once a month. You should have seen the joy in
Eric’s face!! You should have heard how grateful and thankful he was.
AREN’T THOSE WHO WORK FOR US THE
SAME AS US?
You may need to understand the class system here in Africa to
appreciate the value of that question. Let me tell you two personal stories to
illustrate the point.
One day, as we did not have our van yet, I went to do some
groceries shopping with our House Cook, Ferdinand. On our way back we stopped
to buy chako for our African barbecue/stove. The guy who was selling the chako
noticed that Ferdinand was working for us. He also noticed that both Ferdinand
and I were carrying heavy groceries on each of our hands. He said to Ferdinand
in Kirundi, “Your boss is carrying groceries and walking with you? He must not
be a Murundi; he must be a foreigner. Wow, aren’t you lucky to have such a
boss?” Now, I understand quite a bit of Kirundi and I knew exactly what he was
saying. But I could also see Ferdinand’s joy as he giggled happily. But I was
surprised at how carrying groceries with your Cook is news-worthy here.
Here is another story: Every Sunday we give Ferdinand, our
Cook, a day off so he can also go to church and be with his family on Sunday.
So we usually have to make lunch ourselves or take our family to eat out after
a busy Sunday of me preaching in our GIA Chapel and teaching my discipleship
class of 24 students. So our House Guard Eric also needs to eat and we also
have to make arrangements for Eric to eat. One Sunday after service, we came
home to change and so we invited Eric to go eat with us. You should have seen
Eric’s reaction. He didn’t want to come with us, not because he wouldn’t want
to eat out but because he thought he wasn’t worthy of going to eat out with his
employer family. So we insisted, Eric, please come with us. Finally, he came
with us. In the restaurant, I heard people also saying to Eric in Kirundi,
“Wow, aren’t you lucky to have such bosses who would bring you to eat with
them!”
The class system as it is here is quite different from what
we are used to in Canada. No wonder, as good as life can be here in Africa,
some things have become too foreign and abnormal to even me, an African. Things
like the terrible class system here make me even more proud of being Canadian
and living in a system where all human beings have value and deserve respect
even from their employers.
The class system here is simply not desirable to say the
least. I know my wife Darla has written about her own feelings for being
considered superior just because she is Muzungu. Let me tell you a story of our
local restaurant experience. One day we
choose to eat at a very local restaurant. At the local restaurant food is more
than half less expensive than the average good hotel restaurants. So at this
local restaurant, it was quite a seen. You need to understand the fact that my
wife being Muzungu “White person”, certain places she is considered too
important to be there. The whole place was too excited and choked to see a
Muzungu and all her “Wazungu kids” come to eat at such a local restaurant. You need to understand that even our kids who
are half Black half White are almost always considered Whites in our context
here. The food was as good as the food at any other fancy restaurant. To us there was no big deal; we were hungry
and we just needed to find a place to eat. But to the local people, we were too
important to eat at their cubical restaurants.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO GIVE VALUE
TO EVERY HUMAN?
This question is an important one for us. It is a question we
wrestle with almost every day. The answer to that question, in a way, is partly
the reason we are here.
Personally, I believe that what James says in James 2:26, “As
the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” I think
that, as Evangelicals, we need to take James 2:26 seriously. We hide behind the
fact that salvation in Christ is by faith alone, so as to mean that our deeds
are not important to our faith.
We have labelled Faith with works as “Social Gospel”, as if
there is something wrong with the gospel being social. We have left the Social
Gospel to Catholics and the likes, making ourselves look more holier than them
because we have faith and they have works (we say to ourselves).
We really must find a way of us evangelicals being relevant
to the society we live in. Jesus Christ knew what to give the people depending
on the circumstance. He was always relevant to his audience. If they needed to
hear God’s word, He gave them God’s word. If they needed food, He fed them. He
didn’t say to them, “I don’t do social gospel; I only preach the gospel”. No,
He fed the 5000 people. His preaching was both in words and in actions.
So one of the joys of my ministry here is the impact we are
being privileged to make on the young students of Gitega International Academy.
Now you need to understand that GIA is designed to cater for the children from
affluent families. Most of our students have only learned to wash their own
clothes here at GIA. Most only know about being served and not serving. So for
me to be their pastor and to also teach them both Biblical Studies and
Leadership, I have a golden opportunity to literally change their thinking for
the better.
Let me actually make a slight shift and take a moment to
express my satisfaction and gratitude to Burundi Youth for Christ and to
Freddy, the BYFC National Director for such a great vision of catering for the
youth from richer families. You know that most people think that to be a
missionary only makes sense when you serve the poor. So missions should serve
the orphans, the widows, the handicaps, and the poor. Trust me, I totally agree
that all those causes are our Christian mission fields. So I agree 100% that we
ought to take care and empower the less privileged.
But I want also to demonstrate that ignoring or deliberately
excluding the rich does more harm to the very community of the poor we claim to
empower. The poor, who do they work for? You are not going to change the
community when your model ignores the rich class that offers jobs and makes the
economy function. Think of this; the impact we make on the current 172 GIA
students (from affluent families) has the potential to affect 172000 people on
a one to 1000 people and that is a modest estimate. It is not a secret that
most of these GIA students will become major players in Burundi and in East
Africa. They already have an advantage in that they are from prominent
families. You add to that the fact that they will be fluently bilingual in a
country that could become bilingual in the future and you will realize that it
is worth investing in these young people.
The Book of James which we just finished with the Grade 9
students has been nothing short of a revolutionizing truth. Because of the
truth in the Book of James and in order to apply James’ message, we have
started our “Love in Action”. With Love in Action, we take one class to go
practically serve the community. Having these kids from affluent families go to
Homes of Hope (YFC orphanage), wash orphans’ shoes, clean rice and beans, sweep
and mop the floors, wash the walls and play with the orphans, has become an eye
opener.
It is really rewarding to me to see that the GIA students,
kids who have only been familiar with being served, are now excited to serve
and to change themselves and their community. We had planned to do the “Love in
Action” with only grade 8 and 9 (as I only teach these two grades) but the
grade 7 students came to see me to ask me to include them. Love in Action is
becoming contagious. The Moms and the
kids at the orphanage are so thankful for the services from our Love in Action
students and staff’s team.
One Sunday, after service, one of my grade 9 students came to
talk to me. She was saying to me that the message from the Book of James is
challenging her so much that she has to apply it. She told me how guilty she
feels sometimes that she happens to be from a well to do family. She told me
that she wonders how fair it is for her family to have several houses while
many other families don’t even have a house. This student has been so impacted
by practical Christian living that she is now leading a plan to buy enough
bread to go share tea and bread with the poor in downtown Gitega.
In applying the Book of James, “Faith in Action” and to
exemplify the Leadership that I am teaching, I have asked students to write a
major paper on a “Cause” that they would like to champion. Students are so excited
about this assignment. The good news about it is the fact that this is not just
an assignment they are doing simply to get marks. No, the reason this
assignment is exciting is because these students are serious about making a
difference in their community and in their country.
Each class now we have two students present their papers and
it is encouraging to see the work/effort they have put in so that these papers
are real and that the solutions they are proposing, if applied, can actually
make a lasting contribution to Burundi. We have actually agreed with the
students that we might find a way to publish the students’ work. So it is very
exciting. All these students are buying into my challenge for Africans to start
depending on themselves to develop the continent. I have taught them that we
will always welcome the contribution of our friends and supporters from the
West. However we cannot expect Africa to develop on the basis of aid.
MINISTRY AND FAMILY LIFE IN
BURUNDI
One thing that is helpfully clear to us is that success in
ministry must start with success in family life. Our children didn’t really
choose to be here. Even though we asked their opinions and feelings about
coming to serve in Burundi, they were too young to make that choice. So really
we have to always evaluate if our life and ministry in Africa is being
beneficial for them now and in the future. Are they happy to be here? Is it
even good for them to be here?
We thank God that our children are now settling in and
enjoying their life in Burundi. Our 3 older children now have many friends in
our neighborhood. We are starting to get their friends’ visit as early as
7:30am (like it was today). On weekends, we have neighborhood kids almost all
day long. Our kids are realizing how blessed we are in Canada as they see other
children their age, on the streets begging.
But do they miss Canada? Yes, off course. Micah, our 3rd
born would really want to go back to Canada to finish building his igloo. It
was interesting to hear Savana, our first born answer Micah, telling him to
instead appreciate the African warm weather. She said, “Micah, you don’t want
to be in Canada right now. It is freezing there.” Our children in general are
having fun even though they miss Canada and all the good stuff there. Thank God
my wife Darla is very creative and finding ways to make Canadian food here.
I think the most creative thing Darla has done so far is the
making of Ice Cream. I can testify to it that it actually tasted like ice
cream. The kids and all of us were so happy to have Mommy made ice cream.
Hopefully she can perfect her ice cream so that we can turn it into a business
in Canada (hope you find there my sense of humor). Darla, actually Mama Savana
here in Burundi, has also made pancakes and syrup to go with it. Her pancakes
are as good as the ones she makes in Canada. As for the syrup, simply put, “No
Comment.” Darla has also baked a cake that was eaten by over 20 people. We
can’t thank God enough for Darla’s ability to make us Canadian food. Last night
she made popcorn and we all loved it. We had popcorn and pop and watched a
movie as a family just as we did it often as a family in Canada.
Darla has faithfully stayed home for the last 7 weeks to help
our children adjust; we thank God for my wife Darla. However she has done some
work too whenever she could. She is fully involved in Our “Love in Action”. She
has preached once and did an excellent job of showing that we are all created
equal regardless of skin color. Her most major work has been the workshop on
health and hygiene. She often sees sick students after our chapel services on
Sunday. She has now started officially her GIA Nursing job this week. Today I
am home with Joshua (Mondays are my official days off) while Mama Savana is
gone to serve as the Nurse at GIA.
Many of you would like to know how long we plan to be here.
We are enjoying being here enough that we would like to invest ourselves here
for about 3 years in order to really build a firm foundation and even structure
for what we intend to do and achieve. But we are limited in terms of support to
take us through for a long period. So actually we are coming back for the summer
to raise support. The support we have now is only enough to carry us half way
into our one year commitment. We are believing God to provide the finances
needed so that we can come back to finish the year and to possibly extend our
stay for a longer period.
If you would like to stand with us and support God’s work
with us in Burundi, you can support us through our two main organizations:
Youth for Christ Edmonton or Bridges of Hope International. You can make a one
time, occasional or monthly donations. Both organizations are charities and
will give tax receipts for your donation. Your donation will enable us to serve
in Burundi where it is obvious God has work for us here.
Youth for Christ Edmonton; you can donate on line through their
YFC Edmonton’s website www.yfced.com you simply need to mention that the donation
is for the Balenga Burundi Mission. If
you have any question on how to donate on line, you can contact Gary Higgs, the
Acting Executive Director at 780-993-9750 or gary@yfced.com
Bridges of Hope International; you can donate on line through
their website www.bridgesofhope.ca simply mention “Burundi Mission”.
I didn’t intend to write a book but I thought that you might
enjoy a few details about our life and ministry here in Burundi, Africa. We
thank you for standing with us. Together we can give glory to God as we make a
lasting difference in the lives of many here in Africa. Together we can present
a holistic gospel that speaks to both the spiritual and physical needs of
Africans.
Charles Balenga
