Day 6 - October 6th

October 6th wasn't too terribly exciting so this isn't going to be too long of a post.  This was going to be the third and final day of surveying.  We started off with the standard breakfast and then we got a list of things to survey.  We asked the other engineers what they needed to know on the site so that we had everything covered.  I did learn more about surveying even though we didn't have to work the entire day.  One of the highlights of the day was being followed by a bunch of kids.  Here is a picture of the situation.  

We had a devotional later in the day that was quite impactful to me.  The scripture reference was 1 Corinthians 12:12-31.  We are many members all part of the same body.  I was experiencing this in two ways that week.  First, I was part of a team of engineers and architects all working towards a common goal.  We all had different functions.  No one could have done all of the work by themselves.  It was great to see the teamwork throughout everyone on the team.  The second way that I saw this scripture working itself out is through the bigger picture of the ICM Burundi site.  We (the eMi team) were part of God working in Burundi.  I could see how Painito was coordinating lots of different things, how other important officials were getting other things to happen, and how we were providing the needed plans to make this site happen.  It is great to be part of a team.

Day 5 - October 5th

This day was very similar to the previous day.  Larry and I headed out to the project site to get the contour map made.  This is important information for the civil engineers because it tells them where buildings can be built as well as the types of wastewater systems that can be used.  The idea was to create a grid of data points.  In order to accomplish this efficiently, we recruited the help of a local kid.  His name was Dioday.  We gave him some simple directions and we were able to get things done much quicker.  A lesson that I had learned from the day before is that I still get sunburnt in Africa.  I solved that issue by wearing a tshirt on my head.  See the picture below.

We made it back to our unofficial office to process the data that we got while surveying.  Here is Larry and I processing the data into something that everyone else could use.

Day 4 - October 4th

We started off with breakfast at the Ambuka's.  Breakfast consisted of an omelet type thing that we would put on a piece of bread.   It was good stuff.  There was also hot things to drink like tea, coffee, hot water, and cocoa.  I don't know why anyone would want something hot to drink because it was already hot out.  After that we all piled into the vans to head out to the project site.  On the way to the project site we had to go through a poor part of town.  That was an eye opening experience because I had never seen anything like it before.  Here is a picture of what we saw.  

On that first day of surveying, Larry and I were able to get the entire boundary along with a few other important landmarks.  Here is a picture of Larry running the TotalStation.

Day 3 - October 3rd

October 3rd was a Sunday.  We didn't do any real work on the project other than some conversations with Painito during the afternoon.  We went to church after breakfast.  This was the longest church service that I had ever been to: 3.5 hours.  It was a great experience.  The preacher spoke in Kurundi and the interpreter repeated everything in English.  There were even a few songs that were sung in English which was a refreshing thing to hear.  The songs that weren't in English were normally songs that I've heard before just with words translated into the native language.  The main thing that I took from this church service was the passion of everyone there.  It was infectious and I couldn't help but feel God's presence there.
There were lots of details discussed during the conversation that we had with Painito.  We were going to be working with ICM whose vision it was to disciple leaders and mature the African church.  This is a huge need because only about 4% of pastors in Burundi have any sort of training.  Painito began his ministry in 2000 when he was a pastor in Burundi refugee camps.  Burundi has suffered a devastating 15 year civil war which was based on the same problems that Rwanda had between the Hutu and Tutsi clans.  In 2008 the Burundian government granted this land to ICM.  There were stipulations that came with the land.  One such stipulation was that there had to be multi-story buildings on the land because Burundi so small and there isn't much land for future development.  Other important aspects of the site was that it was going to be  an interdenominational center so that future rifts between church denominations could be avoided.  The first phase of the project is going to be training for pastors and then later on there will be more training on the site for practical skills to help the economy in the area grow.  After hearing all of the various things that the site would eventually accomplish, I knew that Painito had been given a huge vision.  It was then our job to plan that out to the best of our abilities.  Below is a picture taken during that conversation.

Day 2 - October 2nd

Day 2 started off with more traveling.  We left London late the day before and landed in Addis Ababa at about 7am.  We waited for the next flight which would take us to Burundi.  Little did I know but the plane was going to stop in Rwanda.  Unfortunately I didn't get the passport stamped so I can't say that I've officially been there.  We landed in Bujumbura Burundi and made it through customs.  Here's what the inside of the Bujumbura airport looks like.

I've noticed that I'm becoming more at ease with custom agents.  On the trip to Burundi I would always think to myself "Did I fill out the form correctly?  Do I have all my important papers that I need?  There must be something that I'm forgetting..."  On the way back to Canada I wasn't nearly as uptight about the process of going through customs.
We met up with Painito, Rose, and Constantine.  Painito is the head of the ICM operations in Burundi.  Rose is his wife.  Constantine is a liaison between ICM and government officials so that things happen how they should.  We loaded up into the vans and headed to our home for the next week and a half.  We didn't do much for the rest of the day since most of us were quite tired from all the traveling and jet lag.  Se had supper and went to bed.  Sleeping was an interesting experience.  Bujumbura doesn't cool off much at night.  Also there isn't much breeze to speak of.  Put those two together and sweating while sleeping was a common occurrence.  Eventually I became accustomed to it so the heat wouldn't keep me up at night.

Day 1 - October 1

It has been quite a while since I've updated the blog and I apologize for that.  My intent is to create a blog post for each day that I was in Africa.  It may take me a couple days to do all of that but we'll see how it goes.

Day 1 was spent flying.  I had never been on a plane for that long before so I was looking forward to the experience.  In the hours leading up to our departure we found out that our first flight had been delayed.  I had the thought that this was just one of many travel delays to come.  It also reminded me of stories of other project trips that traveled through Africa.  Through all of the travels to and from Africa we ended up not having any other travel issues which was a huge blessing.

I met up with with a few of the other team members at the Calgary airport.  It was a good time of telling stories and getting to know one another.  We safely made it to London and met up with two more team members.  We had planned on leaving the airport and seeing some of the sites in London but because of the delays in Calgary we weren't able to do that.  We did manage to go just outside of the airport so that we could get some fresh air and get our passports stamped.  After that we waited for our next flight to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.  The remaining flights that we had to Burundi were on older airplanes.  There wasn't much leg room so movement was limited but we survived.  We got to see an African sunrise from the plane.  It was great.

End of Burundi

Yes it has been a while since I updated the blog but I have been in Burundi.  Internet access is limited which means that I’ve only been on the internet once since being here.  Our time here is coming to an end.  Two days ago we wrapped up the work part of our time.  We designed a 1000+ person seminary in 5 days.  This is a major accomplishment because we started with not knowing anything about the site on Monday morning.  God’s hand has been at work for years preparing this site.  I’ll expand more on this later.  One of the scripture passages that stands out most to me right now is 1 Corinthians 12:14-26.  This is the passage about the body of Christ being composed of many parts.  This was evident throughout those five days while we were working on the project.  Everyone had a specific aspect that they needed to focus on.  The surveyors had to obtain information (size, slope of the ground, location of existing structures) about the project site.  The civil engineers had to determine locations for waste water management, fresh water supply, water demand, electrical needs, and power supplies.  The architects had to design buildings and the site plan layout so that the vision of the ministry could be effectively achieved.  There wasn’t one person who could have done it all.  We all had to work together.  Below is a picture of the project site from the highway.  There will be more pictures coming.