Welcome to our house!

 Makyla asked some very good questions, so I decided I would do a blog on our house here in Bujumbura.  There are many houses like this, cement construction, inside of a big wall with a locked gate. This is our patio.  We eat breakfast here most days.  Dinner not so much as the mosquitos are out then and there are no screens on the patio.

 This is how it looks from the street.  You can only see the upstairs where the  four Elders live.  They are really cute boys who speak French and Swahili.  They are learning English so we practice with them. One night we taught two of them to play Rummikub.

 This is the view from their deck one direction and the other.  Our yard is very nice.  Remy takes care of it.  David planted beans, corn and chard.

 Here is our kitchen.  The cabinets are pretty short, but we don't spend much time here, so it is okay.  This is our cupboard for dishes and our food storage.

 Our refrigerator is like the one in Romania.  See the family pictures on it?

 This is the Burundi Country Welfare Office, our den, We spend lots of time here on the net writing emails and writing up projects on the church program for Humanitarian work.

 When weather doesn't permit us to eat outside, we have this nice little table and chairs inside.

 Making our bed includes, fluffing the pillows, straightening the sheet and tying up the mosquito net.  Our bed is great since we took the extra matress off the guest bed and added it to ours. :)

 Our bathroom has lots of variety in tile. This is our sink and shower.

 There is also a second shower that we never use.  It is lower.  Both bathrooms have one of these.

 One of the two guest bedrooms.  Neither has a matress because we use one of them and the Elders upstairs have one for visiting elders.

 The second bath room which we never use has the same different tiles.

 This is our laundry room.  It opens up the the outside.  What you see is the back yard and the sink and counter where Remy prepares his food.  The dryer is the clothes lines you can't see because they are hanging above in this picture.

This is our living room.  David plays the keyboard here.  He decided to just stand.  It is easier than finding a sit down place to play.  Our "air conditioning" is in the foreground.

That's it!  It is comfy and safe and very open.  The air from outside blows through all of the time.  Last night when it rained, we loved it.   You can hear it and smell it like you were sleeping outside. We enjoy being at home.

Shopping Spree

David wanted to buy a chicken but he thought 50,000 was too much for one.  They were still alive as he carried them down the street, but they were not making a sound.

I loved this beautiful face pressed so close to his mother's back.  These babies seem never to be distressed. 

 We were so excited to find this wonderful shop.  The Library Saint Paul is Bujumbura's answer to Office Max.  They have envelopes, markers,  even card stock!  So Exciting!

 We tried a cultural feast today.  We had Mokeke at the newest hotel in town.  It was delicious.  David tried the eyeball which was not his favorite.

David watched so many people walking with a shovel or a hoe on their head, he wanted to try it. 

This scene at a school was so picturesque.

Burundian Drummers

 Who would think That The U.S. Ambassador would sit next to us, and who would know that's who SHE was?   Dancing last night was a cultural experience.   Lake Tanganyika Hotel / Club was a busy place.   We met an entourage from Russia; a saxophone player, beautiful white girl from Germany who works with a company here to keep the peace; a businessman from France who is a bank consultant and another group from Italy. We also met the singer ,Natacha, the owner's wife.   Who knows how many other countries were represented along with the Burundians and two American Missionaries in a quiet little restaurant where the band played good dance music.  The only reason we knew "Who's Who" was that a member of the Branch Presidency and his fiancé (Amabile & Freida) went with us. He would whisper to David, "That woman is the U.S. ambassador, there is the owner, etc. .."  The only person with enough confidence to talk to every one of them was, you know who, Elder Van.   He had a hay day learning all about these interesting people and the dancing was good too. We got a Samba, Rumba, Swing, and a line dance.

The Burundian drummers, who have put Burundi on the map, were there when we first arrived. We walked over, but it was a private party.   However, Amabile saw someone he knew who invited us in to watch. They were amazing! One of the the dancers was jumping so high.  He could fling his feet over his head and still land on his bare feet on the cement floor.  Google "Burundi Drummers". There are pictures and videos online.   

 My good husband turned around and went back so I could get this picture of this beautiful woman working over her sewing machine. I just loved the complete scene!

 This very young girl was walking on the road with her little charge on her back.

 We love the flowers and trees!  And watching these crowned cranes that live in an outdoor restaurant!  So fun to watch!

 We have been trained by the best!  These are our fearless leaders!  Amazing, dedicated people!

 Being at the temple was a treat!

 Don't you love this pottery at the airport in Johannesburg!  I'll take two!

 This was just today at the airport in Bujumbura.  These two families from the DR Congo are going for their first plane ride.  They are on their way to the temple to be sealed as eternal families!  They were so excited.

 I was amazed by this man with his bananas on his bike.  Have you ever hefted a bunch of bananas?  They are so heavy!  What muscles!  What a bike!

 Yes I Took That picture with my iPad from the window of the plane. We are in the air over Kenya. We are returning from a very productive week in Johannesburg. If we arent Good, It Is not because we did not get training from the best. We did!

The Purposes of the Humanitarian arm of the church is to relieve suffering, to foster self-reliance, and to give Opportunities for service. "How do you do that?" occupied MOST of our time.

This is an education!


We recommend a book by Dambisa Moyo called Expired "Dead Aid why aid is not working and how there is Another Way for Africa." We Both Read it on the flight and found it very enlightening.

Burdens

 I never cease to be amazed at what they transport on a bicycle!  I wonder where they get these bikes!  They hold more than a pickup truck.  If it is too much they push it instead of ride.  We've seen, bed frames, goats, bamboo, hay (or something like it), and of course multiple people.  I  am looking for a great picture of the women riding side saddle.  They are so unruffled as they ride a (taxi) bike wherever they need to go wearing a nice dress, through traffic made up of every kind of vehicle.  They are fearless!

 I have not seen a person with bad posture!  I can't stop taking pictures of people with things on their heads!  Kids, adults, women, men, baskets, buckets of cement, bunches of bananas, folded blankets, a hoe or shovel, bunches of sticks, a purse -- I am thoroughly amazed!

Beautiful Bujumbura

 This is theTulip hotel.  We pass this many times a day.  It is not far from where we live.

 There are so many beautiful trees!  So many that are different from the trees in Utah.  Everything is green, green, green!

 This mosque has a speaker system that is so loud we can hear it from our house which is almost this far away from it.  They start about 4 a.m. with their songs and chants.  We have learned to tune it out. I wish I knew what they were saying.

 This is Bujumbura from up on the hill.  The fenced in portion is a monument to some National Heros.  We were not allowed to go inside and walk around.

 David got so excited to see the pole beans along the road.

 The mountains on the east of the city are like this for miles.  The people who live here have to go way down into the valley and carry their only water from the river back up to their houses.

The fans palms are so amazing.  They are all over the city.