Day 8

This morning was spent packing and getting ready for departure for several of us. Eight of the sixteen are now on a plane somewhere over Africa headed for Brussels and will then be arriving home sometime tomorrow.

Philbert, Hilary Greer, and I left Kigali by car on an eight hour drive to Bujumbura, Burundi. We stopped for lunch in Butare, near the border with Burundi. Butare is Rwanda's intellectual capital, with the national university there and several other colleges.

Crossing the border took about half an hour. And then we began the winding path through the Burundi countryside on a two lane highway. It is a strange experience for us to travel at the high rate of speed they do on these highways -- especially because there are people walking everywhere, sometimes little children even standing or walking along the edge of the narrow road as we whiz past them with maybe only a foot between the car and a child at speeds of sometimes over 100 kph. It is amazing to me that no one was killed today. We passed other vehicles including long semi-tractor trailers on curvy roads. It's just the way it is here, and was important to entrust ourselves into the hands of a very skillful driver.

We arrived in Bujumbura around dusk after a long and really beautiful drive through the mountainous landscape of what is by many UN measurements the world's poorest country. Deep poverty is obvious everywhere -- but so is beauty and strength and courage and joy. I watched men on bicycles hauling loads piled high on their bicycles up mountainous roads, sometimes grabbing on the back of a tractor trailer to pull them along. We even saw one young man clinging face forward about half-way up the back door of a trailer for miles and miles and miles. We watched colorfully clad women with strength and grace (and the most perfect posture you've ever seen) balancing huge bundles on their heads as they walked for miles down these highways.

After a decidedly more urban crawl through the chaotic landscape of Bujumbura, we checked into our hotel -- the Hotel Club du Lac on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. After settling in the room that Philbert and I are sharing, we went down to a large outdoor pool and patio area where our dinner was being served. I immediately saw the faces of friends I have made over the past four years of being a part of Amahoro. Friends from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Canada and other countries in Africa and around the world. I immediately felt the joy.

After a sumptuous buffet dinner at this very upscale hotel (Burundi's finest, I was told) we had an opening session of the gathering, at which Brian McLaren spoke. The topic this year is "The Bible: Library for African Transformation." Brian gave, as usual, a masterful talk on ways the Bible is used and misused, and focused on conflicts over how the Bible has been used around issues such as slavery, science, and poverty.

I'll be here until Thursday. Looking forward to seeing Jodi Mikalachki, our friend from Massachusetts who lives and works here in Burundi. She will be coming to Bujumbura within the next day or two from the countryside in the north.

It is such a privilege to be here.