The richness of poverty and the poverty of riches.

It has almost been a year now that I have been living in Burundi.  During my time here I have learned many things that no school could ever teach me, except, of course, the incredibly under-rated school of experience.  I used to scorn experience when I was a late-teenager as a card old people played in order to get their way, but as I walk down the road I see it is worth more than any degree one can earn at university.  Experience is not something you have to study for or explain to others…it simply comes as easily as tomorrow, all you have to do is pay attention.

During our staff retreat a couple of weeks ago I mentioned to everybody that to travel outside one’s own culture is one of the best ways to educate yourself.  You cannot judge the validity of your thought patterns in your culture until you have put them up against other thought patterns of foreign cultures.  One of the best ways to do this is to get out of the house, out of the country, and out of the continent.  It is only after having spent time with foreigners as a foreigner that you actually begin to see the faults in our own culture.  It is a truly liberating experience.  I traveled for 5 months right after I graduated from high-school and I would recommend this to anyone and everyone who wants to understand the world better.

After explaining the value of travel to the FH Burundi staff, my boss Philip Mato came up to me and told me an old African proverb that found its roots in the Borana Oroma people of northern Kenya (NOT the tribe of Barack Obama by the way, even if it sounds like it).  They said, “There are two people that can tell you about life 1) someone who has traveled. 2) someone who is poor.  I really loved this quote because I completely agree…meaning I agree with the travel part.  I am not someone who can really comment on the poverty part because I have never been poor, but after a lot of contemplation I agree with this proverb..as far as I am able.

For some reason God has chose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, but I don’t think he has chosen them simply to implement a law that becomes a great ‘equalizer’ when it comes to balancing out the whole world for the sake of fairness.  I believe that God chose them due to their innate qualities, not because God was just playing fair.  What qualities do they possess that warrant such a blessing?  As I have said earlier, I have lived with the poor of Burundi for almost a year now.  Not as the poor of Burundi, but with them, which is something only half as good.  I have noticed that they do have a faith that is real and vibrant.  I often catch the night-guard or nanny reading their Bible and praying…and they ALWAYS go to church or mass.

But there is something more substantial about the poor that make them rich.  God not only gives them faith, but also the capacity to have faith, which is something that deserves some observation.  A capacity for faith comes not from having things in your life, but from not having things.  The things that divide the rich from the poor are mostly material–from a literal point of view–and when we add these material things into our lives they create noise that prevents us from hearing God…AND from responding to him.  The poor have to trust God for the future.  When they pray for their baby that has TB, they pray as if medical treatment was not an option (which it sometimes isn’t).  I have found that they usually believe what educated people tell them without really questioning it  because they have not developed the capacity of an analytical mind due to their lack of education.  We in the west value this as one of the most important things in academic life, but the Burundians pass on this opportunity of questioning…this opportunity for criticism…to simply obey.  While the educated are debating the validity or precise nature of Biblical mandates, the poor are living them because that’s what they learned.  The highest quality of a good student in Burundi is obedience, not critical analysis, and in turn this has created humble obedient servants.

The poor know how to trust one another, take time to think, and to rest better than westerners do.  They have worked the spiritual disciplines of meditation and silence into their lives.  Many of them walk miles and miles each day, which gives them time to think and reflect on their life.  Our cook used to walk 28km each day…14km to our house and 14km home.  He is probably pushing 70 years old and I bet he has had more time to think about life than many people.  I remember the days when I would have a commute in and out of the city when I had a job in construction and I remember how much I loved that time to play worship music and connect with God.  Alas, the time is gone and getting it back is something we have to fight for because these times only come for those who “seek it with all their heart.”

So the poor are rich, and we are poor.  The poor still lack education, health care, and many other things…some of which are really necessary for life and don’t create the noise that I was referring to earlier.  This is the reason why I am here.  To teach them, from a rich person’s perspective, what faith in God really means.  You see the irony here I hope.  It is like the rich young ruler preaching to the 12 disciples…or worse still…like the Pharisees preaching to the common folk.  I know many things about ‘proper’ theology that they don’t, and they know many things about faith that I will never know because I will never be poor.   Unless I choose it.  I’ll have to talk to my family about that one hehe.  Shortest conversation ever.

Another dynamic that I need to talk about here is the history of Christianity in Burundi.  I come from a country that has had a rich tradition of Christianity.  Our constitution was written by Christians and before that our ancestors were Christians in Europe.  Perhaps there have been thousands of years of Christian influence influencing the government tradition as well as at the grass roots level.  Now that we find ourselves in the 21^st century, Churches in North America are slowly dying due to lack of attendance while secular humanism is on the rise.  In Burundi we find the exact opposite.  Christianity is only around 100 years old here, and you can still see traces of animistic worldview in the practices of the people here.  Despite this fact, around 80 percent of the population go to church on Sundays and call themselves Christians.  I don’t know if there is even such a thing as an atheist here.  You are either Muslim or Christian.  Due to the fact that there have only been about 100 years of Christianity here, it has not permeated the culture as much as it has in North America.  This is most evident in the governing bodies which are among some of the most corrupt in the world.  Infidelity is a problem and questionable morals are found in even some of the most devout.  In Canada, whether the atheist wants to believe it or not, he/she hold many Christian values without knowing it, such as the fact that it is wrong to steal, wrong to accept a bribe, and wrong to be unfaithful to your spouse.  All of these things may be seen as legitimate to some Christians in Burundi, depending on who you talk with.

So yes the poor are rich in faith but also in their potential for developing a country that may one day surpass our own as being a model of integrity and righteousness (If things continue on their current trajectory). From a strange theological viewpoint, their poverty at this point in their development is one of the best things that they have going for them.  I think the Boran people are exactly right when they say that it is those who are poor and who have traveled that know the most about life.  I am the man who has traveled and they are the people that are poor.  Perhaps between the two of us we can find our way.