A Congregation of the
Free Church of Scotland
Free Church of Scotland
Portree Free Church
The following newsletter from one of our members, Dr Hannah MacLeod, describes her recent trip to Burundi
Portree Free Church
Elders
Rev Donnie G MacDonald
Dr Charles L Crichton
Mr John Angus Gillies
Deacons
Donald John MacDonald
Peter MacDonald
Duncan Mackinnon
Rolf Napoli
Alistair Turner
Treasurer
Dr C L Crichton
Sunday School Teachers
Chris Crichton
Catherine MacCrimmon
Rena Macleod
Margaret MacKinnon
Debbie MacDonald
Creche Leader
Anne Gillies
Rev Donnie G MacDonald
Dr Charles L Crichton
Mr John Angus Gillies
Deacons
Donald John MacDonald
Peter MacDonald
Duncan Mackinnon
Rolf Napoli
Alistair Turner
Treasurer
Dr C L Crichton
Sunday School Teachers
Chris Crichton
Catherine MacCrimmon
Rena Macleod
Margaret MacKinnon
Debbie MacDonald
Creche Leader
Anne Gillies
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body."
1 Cor 12 v 12
1 Cor 12 v 12
Burundi 2011
Burundi - where is that? Before going on my first trip there in 2009 I knew no more than ‘somewhere in Africa’. Burundi lies in the very heart of Africa, in the Western Rift, on the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika.
Burundi Some children we treated at the clinic
Sandwiched between the DR Congo to the west and Tanzania to the east, Burundi shares it northern border with Rwanda. Burundi has been referred to as Rwanda’s tragic or forgotten twin. It is a small country with an equally tortured history of ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi. Since the departure of the Belgian colonial powers in the 1960s there has been political instability with military rulers, several coups and presidential assassinations. This along with malaria and HIV, results in Burundi being the poorest country in the world in terms of GDP. The touch paper which ignited the Rwandan genocide in 1994 was the shooting down of a plane with the Rwandan president on board. This plane was also carrying President Ntaryamira of Burundi. In fact, events in Burundi in 1993 contributed directly to the happenings of 1994 in Rwanda. A military coup had led to the death of Burundi’s first democratically elected Hutu president and a double genocide in Burundi. Hutus in Rwanda took note. Since 2005 however, things have stabilised and the country is working hard at finding its feet. It is a country of great beauty. From the shores of Lake Tanganyika where the capital Bujumbura is situated, you can see over to the hills of the Congo. As soon as you leave the capital, the road winds and climbs for literally thousands of feet to the central mountain plateau. Tea, coffee, bananas, pineapples, cassava and avocados grow everywhere and the humidity as well as the worst of the mosquitoes are left behind.
A tea plantation in highland Burundi ‘ Muzye’ - the locals helped us with a puncture repair
As part of the 2011 ‘Mission International’ Burundi team I travelled with Chris a dentist, Nicola a dental student and Aimable (a Burundian law graduate who translated for me) to the province of Rutana near the Tanzanian border. The rest of our eleven strong team stayed in Bujumbura to work at ‘The Hope Centre’ - a housing project for orphans, sponsored by Mission International. We stayed in the town of Rutana which at an altitude of over 5000 feet had a pleasant climate compared to Bujumbura down on the lake shore. From here we commuted each day (about a 40 minute drive) to a clinic in the village of Nyembuye.
Medical and dental services are in very short supply, especially in rural Burundi. The population of Rutana province is in excess of 680,000 and there are only three doctors at the local hospital. There are no dentists. In fact there are less than ten dentists in the whole of Burundi which has a population of 8.7 million.
The clinic at Nyembuye has three nurses and a manager. It is run by REMA ministries, a Christian organisation which partners with Mission International in Burundi. They are very busy every day with routine and emergency medical problems. A project is currently running to build a pipeline to pipe water from a nearby mountain spring so that the clinic and the community can have running water. This is being overseen by a man called Isaac and it is hoped the project will be completed in 3 months.
Each day large queues of people gathered to receive medical and dental care. Every morning we were able to speak to them about Jesus, read the bible to them and pray with them. They were eager to listen and many joined us in prayer for physical and spiritual healing. It was such a privilege to be able to share in this with them.
The queue at Nyembuye clinic State of the art sterilisation of dental instruments!
Chris and Nicola were able to see 40-50 people with dental problems most days and I was able to see around 30 people. In the absence of electricity our work was limited by daylight. The care we provided was free and I was able to obtain a large amount of medicines at a hugely subsidised cost though an organisation called International Health Partners. The money for this was kindly donated by friends, family and the Portree Free Church ladies bible study.
On Sunday we attended church in the village of Kabingo. This church was the one attended by the manager at the clinic - Japheth. He had planted it 2 years ago when he returned to Burundi after many years as a refugee in Tanzania. There was a tangible joy during the praise. It is so obvious that these people breathe gratitude to God for literally everything that they have. I felt I had so much to learn from them.
Hard working Burundian women Church!
The band consisted of a man playing an African drum and an electric guitarist who had his guitar and amp hooked up to an old car battery. It sounded pretty good considering! We were treated as honoured guests with mats on the mud floor at our feet (even if they did have the UNHCR motif on them) and coloured pieces of cloth on our chairs.
Japheth entertained us in his house with a Sunday lunch of bananas, pineapple, rice, beans and cabbage. It was so obviously lovingly prepared and the very best they had to offer us. I have never felt so honoured and humbled. We were the first white people he had ever had visit his house.
I love Burundi and Burundians and would ask that you remember them in your prayers. They have suffered much and continue to do so, though thankfully things are improving. Some of the happiest days of my life have been during the weeks I have visited this country. God is obviously working in the hearts of Burundians and the fact that people from such vastly different cultures can feel like family together can only be due to our shared love for an amazing Saviour. As our Burundian brothers and sisters would say - Imana Ishimwe! - Praise the Lord!
Hannah MacLeod
Portree
August 2011
www.mission-international.org
Burundi - where is that? Before going on my first trip there in 2009 I knew no more than ‘somewhere in Africa’. Burundi lies in the very heart of Africa, in the Western Rift, on the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika.
Burundi Some children we treated at the clinic
Sandwiched between the DR Congo to the west and Tanzania to the east, Burundi shares it northern border with Rwanda. Burundi has been referred to as Rwanda’s tragic or forgotten twin. It is a small country with an equally tortured history of ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi. Since the departure of the Belgian colonial powers in the 1960s there has been political instability with military rulers, several coups and presidential assassinations. This along with malaria and HIV, results in Burundi being the poorest country in the world in terms of GDP. The touch paper which ignited the Rwandan genocide in 1994 was the shooting down of a plane with the Rwandan president on board. This plane was also carrying President Ntaryamira of Burundi. In fact, events in Burundi in 1993 contributed directly to the happenings of 1994 in Rwanda. A military coup had led to the death of Burundi’s first democratically elected Hutu president and a double genocide in Burundi. Hutus in Rwanda took note. Since 2005 however, things have stabilised and the country is working hard at finding its feet. It is a country of great beauty. From the shores of Lake Tanganyika where the capital Bujumbura is situated, you can see over to the hills of the Congo. As soon as you leave the capital, the road winds and climbs for literally thousands of feet to the central mountain plateau. Tea, coffee, bananas, pineapples, cassava and avocados grow everywhere and the humidity as well as the worst of the mosquitoes are left behind.
A tea plantation in highland Burundi ‘ Muzye’ - the locals helped us with a puncture repair
As part of the 2011 ‘Mission International’ Burundi team I travelled with Chris a dentist, Nicola a dental student and Aimable (a Burundian law graduate who translated for me) to the province of Rutana near the Tanzanian border. The rest of our eleven strong team stayed in Bujumbura to work at ‘The Hope Centre’ - a housing project for orphans, sponsored by Mission International. We stayed in the town of Rutana which at an altitude of over 5000 feet had a pleasant climate compared to Bujumbura down on the lake shore. From here we commuted each day (about a 40 minute drive) to a clinic in the village of Nyembuye.
Medical and dental services are in very short supply, especially in rural Burundi. The population of Rutana province is in excess of 680,000 and there are only three doctors at the local hospital. There are no dentists. In fact there are less than ten dentists in the whole of Burundi which has a population of 8.7 million.
The clinic at Nyembuye has three nurses and a manager. It is run by REMA ministries, a Christian organisation which partners with Mission International in Burundi. They are very busy every day with routine and emergency medical problems. A project is currently running to build a pipeline to pipe water from a nearby mountain spring so that the clinic and the community can have running water. This is being overseen by a man called Isaac and it is hoped the project will be completed in 3 months.
Each day large queues of people gathered to receive medical and dental care. Every morning we were able to speak to them about Jesus, read the bible to them and pray with them. They were eager to listen and many joined us in prayer for physical and spiritual healing. It was such a privilege to be able to share in this with them.
The queue at Nyembuye clinic State of the art sterilisation of dental instruments!
Chris and Nicola were able to see 40-50 people with dental problems most days and I was able to see around 30 people. In the absence of electricity our work was limited by daylight. The care we provided was free and I was able to obtain a large amount of medicines at a hugely subsidised cost though an organisation called International Health Partners. The money for this was kindly donated by friends, family and the Portree Free Church ladies bible study.
On Sunday we attended church in the village of Kabingo. This church was the one attended by the manager at the clinic - Japheth. He had planted it 2 years ago when he returned to Burundi after many years as a refugee in Tanzania. There was a tangible joy during the praise. It is so obvious that these people breathe gratitude to God for literally everything that they have. I felt I had so much to learn from them.
Hard working Burundian women Church!
The band consisted of a man playing an African drum and an electric guitarist who had his guitar and amp hooked up to an old car battery. It sounded pretty good considering! We were treated as honoured guests with mats on the mud floor at our feet (even if they did have the UNHCR motif on them) and coloured pieces of cloth on our chairs.
Japheth entertained us in his house with a Sunday lunch of bananas, pineapple, rice, beans and cabbage. It was so obviously lovingly prepared and the very best they had to offer us. I have never felt so honoured and humbled. We were the first white people he had ever had visit his house.
I love Burundi and Burundians and would ask that you remember them in your prayers. They have suffered much and continue to do so, though thankfully things are improving. Some of the happiest days of my life have been during the weeks I have visited this country. God is obviously working in the hearts of Burundians and the fact that people from such vastly different cultures can feel like family together can only be due to our shared love for an amazing Saviour. As our Burundian brothers and sisters would say - Imana Ishimwe! - Praise the Lord!
Hannah MacLeod
Portree
August 2011
www.mission-international.org
