Friday, July 25, 2008

Catching up

Well we've had some adventures the past few days which is why I've been unable to post til now.

On Wednesday night the power went out early in the evening and didn't come back on til well into Thursday. So I got my wish to write by candle light after all. And eat dinner. But since we didn't know how long it would be out, it seemed wise to save the computer batteries for actual work. It wasn't the whole city's power this time, just our compound. It was funny actually. The youth church service was in full amplified swing and didn't miss a note when they lost power. Just kept on singing and playing. Then as soon as that song was over someone ran out and cranked up the generator and they were back in electrified business. But just them, the rest of the compound went about their affairs in the dark but it was deemed essential that the choir be amplified, even though attendence at the Wednesday night service is less than 2 dozen and everyone could sit close enough to hear acoustically. It's something I've noticed in all the churches we've been to. They may have tin roofs or be made of earth bricks but they also have a mixer, speakers, electric guitars and at least 3 wireless microphones. Given Sunday attendence in the hundreds to over a thousand, depending on the church, I guess it makes sense. Just chalk it up to another thing I wasn't expecting.

Thursday we went up country for a day trip to the Source du Nil with a bus load of our fellow workcampers and FWA people. I'll tell more about that in a separate post. The thing was that we made a wrong turn on the way back which took us very far out of the way. This meant we couldn't make it back into Bujumbura before the roads close at 8pm. So we stopped 2 hours outside of Bujumbura in a town called Rumonge and stayed the night in a Pentacostal guest house.

Rather than do one huge long post, I'm going try to do a couple tonight as I leave in the morning. Yes, it's my last night in Burundi. And what better way to spend my last long sequesterment than churning out tales of the last few days?

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