Maribataire

The life of a bachelor in Burundi not at all uncommon this time of year.  It seems that many wives flee the country during the summer to get some R and R in their home country.  There are several reasons for this.  First of all, it is supposedly really hot here in the summer so they want to escape the heat during the dry season.  Secondly, the kids are out of school so it is a perfect time to go home and re-introduce them to grandparents and old friends.

Last Sunday at church there were three other men just like me whose wives have left them for their lands filled with milk (not powdered) and honey.  We are les maribataires as they say in French, which is a mixture of husband (mari) and single/alone (célibataire).

Dani told me that I could have a monkey when she is dead and buried…or if she is in Canada and I am in Africa.

The first night that Dani and the boys were gone I felt a wave of loneliness pass over me as I walked past John’s empty bed.  That was when reality set in.  It’s funny how you feel like you want some time alone sometimes and when you finally get it there is something missing. Or maybe that it was not quite as good as you expected it to be.  I have always been a very independent person—to a fault many times—but over the years I have become more dependent on those I love.  It makes sense to me that I depend on Danica for things, but to depend also on my children for things is a new thought for me because it feels like I do all the giving in our relationship.  All you parents out there I’m sure can relate to this.  To say that I need them is too strong, but to say that they give me something that I could not find anywhere else in the world would not be overstating it.

I feel exactly like this

So I am a maribataire in Burundi.  It actually has its perks.  Let me paint you a picture:  I wake up in the mornings to the sound of my  cook grinding coffee.  I sit and read the internet world news as I sip my  grade ‘A’ Burundian coffee and think about how hard life is.  I grab my materials and head out the door, getting into my car that my night-guard washed the night before.  This night-guard has already swept the driveway and fed the chickens by the way.  When I return home for lunch, I find that my bed is already made, my clothes are already washed, ironed and sitting in a nicely folded pile in my room.  The house is spotless because all the floors everywhere have been both swept and mopped and the windows have been cleaned.  There is a meal waiting for me on the table with my Franks Red Hot sauce, salt and everything else that I like prepared perfectly for me.   After I have finished my lunch—this is the best part—I stand up and leave the table!  Isn’t that awesome!  My whole life I have not been able to do that but here in Africa it is possible…no…more than possible…it is encouraged!  I try to remind myself that I have it hard here and that people that are called to missions have to make sacrifices that others to not.  I try to remind myself this as I am eating banana-cream pie that Gideon made for me personally.  Do I have any sponsors left?

All in all life here is definitely more difficult here in Burundi than it is in Canada, but this is not to say that everything in Canada is better.  It is pretty hard to beat Gideon’s banana cream pie!

We had a staff retreat last week and we had a great time with all the staff from Food for the Hungry Burundi. The other white guy is Shep Owen who is the regional director for FH East Africa

Prayer Requests/Thanksgivings:  Dani has a bad sinus infection that just won’t go away.  Pray that God would heal her and that she would be feeling better and would have more energy for the boys.  She also gets pregnancy insomnia which prevents her from getting the rest she needs.  For me, I will be studying French intensively over the next month then I have to teach Sunday School teachers how to teach Sunday School better in all the provinces.  Pray that I would be able to prepare and deliver my trainings in French very well so they are bien compris.