Carrie Miles and Wayne Pelly landed in Kigali, Rwanda and were met by Frank Tweheyo and Ben Ward. Ben is an Englishman who works with Frank’s ministry in Kabale. It was a pleasant surprise to have him meet us. Although most of us Americans worry about safety when we hear the name “Rwanda,” the country is now at peace. In fact, Kigali has been rebuilt and patched up — it looks very nice. I (Carrie) have taken to flying there rather than Entebbe (Uganda), which is a traffic nightmare.)
This was Wayne’s first trip to Africa, and we threw him in head first. Since we came into Africa in the evening, we took our first day ‘off’ and went to two genocide memorials. I found the first overwhelming — a Catholic church where thousands of people took refuge, only to be massacred there. The church left the victims clothing lying on the pews, and the bones of many of the victims are on display in the open shelf bone repository. Someone told me that there is another church where they left the bodies themselves in the church. He felt that was too much as well.
We left this grim reminders of this incomprehensible event behind and drove to Kabale, Uganda that evening.
First thing Saturday morning: on the air live on Radio Kigezi, with Enid as our hostess and Frank as translator. I promised an overview of what the Bible says about the relationship between men and women from Genesis to Revelation, which, with Wayne’s help, we delivered. Everywhere we went for the next week, people (including the Anglican bishop of Kigezi) said, “I heard you on the radio.” I asked how they even knew who I was?
March is the rainy season in East Africa, and we had some cold days. I brought rubber rain boots and has been very grateful to have them. It starting pouring rain while we were teaching at the Pentecostal church, which has a tin roof. We all just sat for 20 minutes or so while the rain pounded down — couldn’t hear a thing. White Horse Inn, where we stayed, does not have heaters in the room. Wayne and I both had the experience of washing clothes, only to never have them dry. The day before we left, we met the general manager, who said they would bring us portable heaters. At that point, the weather had warmed up.
On Saturday, March 19 (after the radio show), Carrie conducted an executive session, ‘Redeeming the Changing Family.’ This one-day workshop looks at traditional African family practices and contrasts them with the changes that economic development has already brought to the West and is bringing to Africa. Then we explore the Christian solutions to these problems. It went very well — we learned a lot from the Bishop Barham University College faculty and top administrators who attended. We had a very good discussion and also some good laughs. The principal (equivalent of president) of the school thought the students should hear this, so we presented it again the next Saturday.
Sunday, March 20 – Attended services on campus (which lasted nearly 4 hours) and were introduced at the university chapel. The service seemed endless to me, but I realized after the skits and dance performance, that people were just gathering together to have a good time.
Participants for the master class arrived.
Monday and Tuesday 9:00 – 4:00
Master class for graduates of the New Man, New Woman seminar who have been teaching the material. This workshop answered questions, discussed training formats, explore local applications of the biblical materials, and deep understandings of the writings of the Apostle Paul. Wayne Pelly presented the latter. Participants also shared their experiences teaching the material and gave testimonies of its impact.The Empower/Uganda president and seven others of the Empower/Uganda board came all the way down from Kampala to attend, as well as members of the Kabale Empower chapter and pastors from the Christian Fellowship Church who attended the seminar last year. It was wonderful to see these friends again. We held an Empower/Uganda board meeting Monday evening by candle light.
Monday through Friday 6:00 – 7:15
New Man, New Woman, New Life seminar for faculty and students at Bishop Barham University College.
We are excited to be offering this program to young people and their teachers at a point in their lives when they are making important choices about marriage and family. As Reverend Pontien says, reaching these people can affect change very quickly. This was a great group of people, very responsive and excited..
Tuesday
Carrie spoke at Community Worship at BBUC on sexual morality.
Wednesday through Friday 9:00 – 4:00
New Man, New Woman, New Life seminar for a large church, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, in Kabale. We had a wonderful time with Bishop James and members of the Save Marriage community. The African Christian response to this material is amazingly positive.
Saturday, March 26
Once again, Carrie and Wayne (translated by Frank) were on the radio, this time with Phobice as our hostess. The topic was “Woman is the Glory of Man.” We gave our male listeners the assignment of going home and telling their wives that they were their husbands’ glory.
Sunday, March 27
Wayne preached at the Kabale Christian Fellowship church in the morning , then had lunch at Lake Bunyonyi, and traveled to Kigali, Rwanda so we could catch our flight to Burundi in the morning.
The Kabale Christian Fellowship Church is the one that Frank and Phobice pastor. They have two acres with a glorious view. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty heavily that morning, and the church is something of a hike up the hill on a dirt path. Once again, I was grateful for my boots and Wayne for his overshoes.
The church held a lunch to celebrate Frank’s travel and return from the U.S. We enjoyed our time with this group very much.
Phobice was determined that Wayne would not leave Uganda without a ride on a boda-boda (motorbikes that serve as ‘taxis’). Leaving church, we got the opportunity to put him on one. The driver took him down to the main road, turned the corner, and disappeared! Fortunately, Wayne got the driver to let him off before they got too far away. I have video, which I will post when I have time.
Monday, March 28
Pastor Francis and his wife Dorothy joined us for breakfast in Kigali and then took us to the airport for our flight to Burundi. Dorothy wrote us a very nice note thanking us for providing a market for the baskets woven by widows at their church. We sold a lot at Trinity United Presbyterian Church last church, and also at the fundraiser at the Sarkisian’s home in February. Elaine Burgess suggested that churches use them as offering baskets to keep the congregations reminded of missions. Don Hammond’s church promptly bought several for that purpose. Carrie suggested it to the missions committee at Trinity, and they will be using the ones Carrie brought home this trip for the Easter offering for Wycliffe in Ethiopia. These baskets will be available for sale at Trinity at Christmas.
We stayed in the capital of Bujumbura the whole time while in Burundi this time. We had a fabulous New Man, New Woman, New Life seminar for Seta Church, sponsored by overseer Bernard. We continue to be amazed by the receptivity of African Christians to the message of biblical equality. A disturbing note: on the last day of the seminar, Wayne asked the group what women’s lives would be like if all men followed Jesus’ admonition to avoid lust in their hearts. The ensuing discussion lasted 45 minutes and might still be going on if we hadn’t had to cut it off. They told distressing stories of what can only be described as sexual chaos and exploitation of women. I will write more on this later. Let’s just say that Burundi’s long-running civil war made the need for Christian love and concern in relationships even more pronounced, as many customary safeguards collapsed with nothing to replace them.
One delightful aspect of our visit to Bujumbura was our hosts, Renilde and Joseph, who opened the guest house adjourning their home to us. Renilde even took the week off of work to take care of us. We had a lovely time with them and truly appreciated their hospitality. Seta Church wanted to do something special in providing for us while we served them, and this was truly it.
We had a bit of a surprise with the master class scheduled for Thursday and Friday, when it turned out that most of the people in attendance had never taken the basic seminar. I thanked God for Wayne and for Empower/Burundi organizer Nibizi Jean-Marie, as their presence meant that we could divide into two groups. Wayne and Jean-Marie taught New Man, New Woman, New Life, and Carrie and Frank took the master class. On Friday, Wayne taught his Jesus/Paul material to the master class and Frank Tweheyo took over the seminar while Carrie ran an important errand in town.
We appreciated Rev. Pontien and Euliare coming all the way from Rutana to attend the master class, along with several people from Matana and from Bon Bergere. We had a lovely time Saturday evening with Revs. Esron and Imelda and their children.
On Saturday, Wayne and Carrie recorded two radio shows, with Nibizi Jean-Marie translating. As we did in Kabale, we spoke on “Woman is the glory of man,” and gave our male listeners the assignment of going home and telling their wives that they were their husbands’ glory. We encouraged the husbands to call the radio station and tell us what happened. We’ll let you know what they say after the programs air.
On Sunday, I preached at the Vineyard church, Wayne at Seta, and Frank at La Rochere. There had been an earthquake at 6:30 that morning. When I introduced myself, I said I was from California, which was famous for its earthquakes, and thanked them for making me feel at home that morning. It’s fun to make a joke when you are being translated — first the English-speakers laugh, then the people who don’t speak English but who know you said something funny laugh, and then finally the rest laugh after the joke makes it through translation.
Frank came to Vineyard just as I was finishing speaking, and led the congregation in prayer for me and for Don Hammond and his family. The 2011 Empower trips are in the memory of Don’s late wife, Norma. Having 500 people pray for you in quite an experience. I’m sure Don, several thousand miles and 8 time zones away, must have been jolted awake.
Our hosts Renilde and Joseph took us out to a beach resort for lunch. There was a drumming and dance troupe at the next resort — Joseph paid for them to put on a show for us! We all got a chance to beat the drums, along with all the little children in the audience.
Wayne came straight home (a long and grueling trip from Burundi to the West Coast, with lots of stops on the way to his relatively-small airport of Pasco). We flew Brussels air to Belgium, but could not get seats together because the flight originated in Brussels and still held passengers going on the Nairobi. I’m sure it is a big surprise to people traveling the Kenya to find their first stop in Africa is Burundi, a country that most people don’t know exists.
I stopped in Belgium for two nights because we had a facilitator training in Virginia the next weekend and I had a couple of days free in between. I found a relatively inexpensive place to stay, and really appreciated the rest, the hot water, and the bathtub.
The facilitator training, hosted by Sarah and David Nutter at their church, McLean Presbyterian, was exciting as we trained Dan and Francine Thomas on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, Sarah and David held a lunch for their donors and other interested people. Speaking with this group was a great experience.
Thanks to all of you for your support and prayers. I will amend this report with photos soon, so you might check back — you don’t want to miss Wayne on the boda-boda, or all of us drumming Burundi-style.