If you have ever seen a World Vision commercial, you have probably questioned whether or not it was an exaggeration of poverty. Looking back, I remember multiple occasions when one of those guilt-tripping commercials came on, and I rolled my eyes and changed the channel. It’s really easy to brush off poverty when you are sitting on your nice couch eating a snack and watching it from afar, but poverty is a lot harder to brush off when the innocent kids standing right in front of you are suffering from its wrath. I wish it was all an exaggerated lie, but it’s not. Poverty is real, and I can no longer roll my eyes, change the channel, and pretend that it’s a joke.
A few days ago, we teamed up with an organization called Harvest for Christ. They are a wonderful organization working hard to improve the quality of life for the people in Burundi. They help with numerous things from giving lectures on hygiene/preventing basic diseases to teaching how to build better houses. They are currently finishing up a clinic, and they have plans to build a university for the kids who are currently going through grade school. Harvest for Christ has worked a lot with the Batwa people, a small tribe of people in Burundi who are considered outcasts. Unfortunately, these people have been treated badly their whole lives, and they live in some of the poorest living conditions in the world. Harvest for Christ started a primary school that pushes to get the Batwa educated, and about 40 % of the students in the school are Batwa.
When we partnered with Harvest for Christ, we went to a village and got to help them build houses. Unlike houses in North America made of wood and nails, in Burundi, they build houses out of the earth. They take the dirt out of the ground, mix it with water, and then shape it into bricks. Everyone comes together to help make these bricks, so we got to join about sixty people standing in two lines passing handfuls of mud from the mud pit to the person standing next to them. The mud would make its way down the line-person by person- until it was passed to the brick maker who had a tool to shape the mud into bricks.
Despite the overwhelming heat, brick making was so much fun. The people in the village taught us songs and laughed as we tried to join them. Even though we couldn’t really communicate with words, just being with these beautiful people-with smiles on our faces and a willingness to be silly- was enough to start a friendship. As we waited for more mud to be made, a large group from the village circled around us, and we had a dance party. It was amazing to see that though they didn’t have much, they still had joy.
Before Harvest for Christ’s help, the houses in the village were pitch black and consisted of one giant room where the whole family lived, played, ate and slept. The houses that Harvest for Christ taught them to build are about 20 feet by 12 feet with four rooms separated by walls and openings for doors and sunlight. They have to keep everything they own in their house to prevent theft, so they live in their house with their goats and animals. Besides beds and a kitchen table, they don’t really have much else inside. They don’t have water, bathrooms, showers, stores or vehicles near their houses, and people don’t have jobs to go to. These people literally have nothing, but they are very thankful for what they do have.
I think the hardest moment for all of us was when an extremely sick and malnourished baby was brought to us, and there was nothing we could do. This baby was literally dying in front of us, and we felt completely helpless. Even though one of our leaders agreed to take the child to the hospital the next day, we realized that the hospital is only a temporary solution to a range of problems. For every one kid you take to the hospital in a village, there are six more that you are leaving behind. The problem isn’t just the one sick kid, it’s the lack of education, the need for better processes, the need to access clean water, the need for a better government, and the need for people to be treated with respect. On that day, we realized that we can’t fix Burundi.
I love the quote by Edward Everett Hale that says, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” It’s easy to get overwhelmed when we see problems, and many times on this trip I have wished to erase the things that I have seen. However, we must not let that stop us from doing something. This trip has encouraged me to grab hold of the one thing that I can do, and to do it to the best of my ability-here in Burundi, Africa, and even when I’m back home.
Janette
If you have ever seen a World Vision commercial, you have probably questioned whether or not it was an exaggeration of poverty. Looking back, I remember multiple occasions when one of those guilt-tripping commercials came on, and I rolled my eyes and changed the channel. It’s really easy to brush off poverty when you are sitting on your nice couch eating a snack and watching it from afar, but poverty is a lot harder to brush off when the innocent kids standing right in front of you are suffering from its wrath. I wish it was all an exaggerated lie, but it’s not. Poverty is real, and I can no longer roll my eyes, change the channel, and pretend that it’s a joke.
A few days ago, we teamed up with an organization called Harvest for Christ. They are a wonderful organization working hard to improve the quality of life for the people in Burundi. They help with numerous things from giving lectures on hygiene/preventing basic diseases to teaching how to build better houses. They are currently finishing up a clinic, and they have plans to build a university for the kids who are currently going through grade school. Harvest for Christ has worked a lot with the Batwa people, a small tribe of people in Burundi who are considered outcasts. Unfortunately, these people have been treated badly their whole lives, and they live in some of the poorest living conditions in the world. Harvest for Christ started a primary school that pushes to get the Batwa educated, and about 40 % of the students in the school are Batwa.
When we partnered with Harvest for Christ, we went to a village and got to help them build houses. Unlike houses in North America made of wood and nails, in Burundi, they build houses out of the earth. They take the dirt out of the ground, mix it with water, and then shape it into bricks. Everyone comes together to help make these bricks, so we got to join about sixty people standing in two lines passing handfuls of mud from the mud pit to the person standing next to them. The mud would make its way down the line-person by person- until it was passed to the brick maker who had a tool to shape the mud into bricks.
Despite the overwhelming heat, brick making was so much fun. The people in the village taught us songs and laughed as we tried to join them. Even though we couldn’t really communicate with words, just being with these beautiful people-with smiles on our faces and a willingness to be silly- was enough to start a friendship. As we waited for more mud to be made, a large group from the village circled around us, and we had a dance party. It was amazing to see that though they didn’t have much, they still had joy.
Before Harvest for Christ’s help, the houses in the village were pitch black and consisted of one giant room where the whole family lived, played, ate and slept. The houses that Harvest for Christ taught them to build are about 20 feet by 12 feet with four rooms separated by walls and openings for doors and sunlight. They have to keep everything they own in their house to prevent theft, so they live in their house with their goats and animals. Besides beds and a kitchen table, they don’t really have much else inside. They don’t have water, bathrooms, showers, stores or vehicles near their houses, and people don’t have jobs to go to. These people literally have nothing, but they are very thankful for what they do have.
I think the hardest moment for all of us was when an extremely sick and malnourished baby was brought to us, and there was nothing we could do. This baby was literally dying in front of us, and we felt completely helpless. Even though one of our leaders agreed to take the child to the hospital the next day, we realized that the hospital is only a temporary solution to a range of problems. For every one kid you take to the hospital in a village, there are six more that you are leaving behind. The problem isn’t just the one sick kid, it’s the lack of education, the need for better processes, the need to access clean water, the need for a better government, and the need for people to be treated with respect. On that day, we realized that we can’t fix Burundi.
I love the quote by Edward Everett Hale that says, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” It’s easy to get overwhelmed when we see problems, and many times on this trip I have wished to erase the things that I have seen. However, we must not let that stop us from doing something. This trip has encouraged me to grab hold of the one thing that I can do, and to do it to the best of my ability-here in Burundi, Africa, and even when I’m back home.
Janette