A Dangerous Obsession with Crocodiles

I’ll be honest; I have no idea how to start writing a blog. Unfortunately, English Literature A-Level didn’t explain it in much detail. I should start by saying that this isn’t my first blog entry. My first, however, wasn’t published due to obscene content. Clearly my graphic description of a skinny-dipping escapade to Lake Tanganyika wasn’t well-received.

Just to ruin the joke, I have not in fact been allowed to go and visit the infamous Gustav and his crocodile mates in their watery dwelling. In the words of my father ‘the lake’ll kill you before the crocodiles do’. Absolutely no sense of adventure.

Casa Del... me. 

Perhaps I should kick off with some news from the home front. We’ve been here for just over three weeks now, and I’d say we feel safe behind our razor-wire-topped walls and massive metal gate. We also have guards patrolling which – and people will definitely be surprised to read this – is new. It’s probably a good thing that the situation hasn’t arisen where they have to act thus far, because I’m not sure what would happen if it did. The assumption is that as Burundians, they would know exactly how to react in case of an emergency where we Westerners wouldn’t have a clue. The emergency number of Burundi? Who knows?

We tend to see the guards more as ‘helpers’, and they’re more worthy of that name than I can write. In the wise words, again, of my Father, on our night guard, Nestor: ‘that man irons a good shirt.’ Definitely worth a mention is our cook, Claude, who made a remarkable recovery from Malarial Typhoid to return to work and make some of the most amazing food I’ve ever tasted, often out of the most basic ingredients like rice, beans and cheese. His English, however, isn’t perfect, so it’s always somewhat of an adventure when Mum asks him to buy some ingredients and cook a specific meal. So far though, everything we’ve eaten has been delicious!

In terms of all of us fitting into a three bedroom house, so far it’s proved very manageable. Caspar (5) and Harry(11)’s staggered bedtimes mean that they’re not always crashing into each other, and I feel that I sensibly judged Felicity (3) as the lesser of three evils as a roommate. Our room is fairly girly, her bed takes up far more than half of it, and she occasionally wakes up noisily in the unspeakable hours of the morning, but it’s not all bad. I’ve been very impressed by her progress with her snoring problem.

Back to School

The other half of my Burundi life is spent predominantly at The King’s School, where my responsibilities to date have included music, sport, maths, English, French, reading with students in English, reading with students in French, sharpening pencils, sticking labels onto books and making thesauri. That’s right, thesauri. If you think that sounds like a lot, apparently my main responsibility from Monday onwards is going to be ICT, which I’ll teach alongside Louis, my fellow gap-year student who arrived this morning. Having never met him before, it was always going to be a bit strange as we suddenly became each other’s close work colleagues, but he’s extremely easy to get along with and our first meeting was a very positive start; what an answer to prayer.

A school day at TKS starts at 7am with a teachers’ devotion, which has so far led me to take up a role as a travelling musician, visiting every school building (secondary, junior, infant AND nursery) on different days with my guitar to lead brief sessions of worship. Finally got my head around the type of music which is used out here yesterday, having realised that my audience were probably a bit tired of ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Awesome God’. (The system tends to be if it’s about 10 years old and used in England, it’s probably well-known!) Similarly, in assemblies, I’ve been having a great time building up an ever-growing library of songs to use with the kids, ranging from classics like ‘Jesus’ love is very wonderful’ (awful grammar there, ‘wonderful’ is a superlative), to newer stuff like ‘Superhero’. The best song that I’ve taught the kids is ‘Holy Mission’ by Adam Parkes which, to the tune of the Hokey Cokey, yells ‘WOOAHH, WE’RE ON A MISSION’. I’m sure you can understand why it’s been popular. It’s a bit of a challenge teaching the kids songs without on-screen words, but they’re a bright bunch who love to sing and are keen to learn, so they’re picking them up at a rapid rate! The kids at the CRIB orphanage (Children Rescued In Burundi) are particularly excited to learn hundreds of new songs. Going to help these guys with their homework on Wednesday and Friday afternoons (although I’ve only done it twice so far) honestly brightens my day. After they’ve finished their work, I’ve been staying behind to play football, dodgeball and the like, and today took my guitar along, to their delight. I can’t express how fun they all are, and so keen to get involved in everything. Can’t wait to see God work through them.

Is that really all you do?

For those who are already in mourning for my sad, workaholic life in Burundi, I’ll comfort you with the knowledge that I do other things as well. I’ve been trying to swim at least three times a week, which has been a total failure this week as I’ve been bombarded with commitments. However, there’s nothing like swimming lengths with the sun beating down on your back. It’s a fabulous mix of relaxation and an ability to push myself hard because it’s so enjoyable, a sensation I never had when training in an indoor pool in rainy England at 6am. Plus, all of a sudden the bugs floating in the pool don’t mean anything, because the water’s so wonderfully refreshing. (Some pools are far nicer than others!) We spent Sunday by the pool at Hotel Club du Lac for one of the teachers’ birthday, and experienced the power of the African sun as it roasted my shoulders as I swam.

Sunday morning church has also proved a volatile experience. We’re at the most westernised church in Burundi, but the sung worship is still in a mix of French, English, Kirundi, Swahili and apparently once some Kenyan dialect unique to one small tribe. It’s fascinating to see the merging of styles as a medium band including a drum kit, bass and piano mixes with a six-strong gospel choir. Tomorrow, I’m booked in for a meeting with the pastor about becoming part of the worship team, which is exciting, a blessing, and a bit intimidating. There’s no way in the world that I want to embarrass myself by singing in any African language, since my vocabulary currently stretches to around 10 words. I’ll stick to English and French, and perhaps co-lead with someone.

We’ve had interesting (to say the least) experiences of the sermons at BICC so far. They’re always pretty long, stretching over an hour partly due to every sentence being translated as the sermon goes on. It’s also fair to say that different speakers are far easier to engage with than others, but where in the world is that not going to be true? Perhaps this is a challenge to listen harder and to stop being so one-dimensional and critical...

To Wrap Up...

Ok, so I haven’t been swimming in Lake Tanganyika yet, I haven’t ridden a hippo and I haven’t fed a live guinea pig to the crocodiles at Bujumbura Zoo, but I feel that a lot has happened in the past three weeks. Time has rocketed by, and before I know it I’ll be back in England complaining that I’m cold and that the pineapple tastes rubbish. That, along with many other things, is motivating me to treasure every moment in this beautiful country.  God is using me, and that’s more exciting than anything else. Pray that he can use me even more. Let me leave you with an extract from a song, which I hope will encourage you to seek God’s calling and to follow his will, which often seems impossible but brings a cornucopia of undeserved heavenly rewards.

I let go of all I have, just to have more of You,
And no matter what the cost, I will follow You,
Jesus, everything I’ve lost, I have found in You,
When I’ve finally reached the end, I’ll say
‘You are worth it all’. – Ben Cantelon

Follow me on Twitter @AndyWisdom141 for short, sharp updates on what I might be up to out here. I also urge you to ask me questions, there are huge gaps missing from the blog! For example, why do we have/need guards? What kind of food do we eat out here? Will Gustav the crocodile ever find love?

N’agasaga.