Pictures of our home

This is our cook/houseboy, Renavah. He speaks a tiny bit of English. We don't store anything in our kitchen, due to the fact that any food/crumbs left on the counter for about 2 minutes, literally, is crawling with ants. He deep fried bananas for us today. They were pretty awful, not because Renavah isn't a good cook, in fact he trains other cooks, and when our "team members" learn that he's our cook, they all say how good he is. You see the 2 charcoal pots he cooks on. The charcoal is a type of wood that's been slowly burnt/charred over a long period of time.

This is our main living area. It was furnished when we moved in. Here's a little carport beside our house. A vehicle would make our time so much more useful. Notice the high fence all around. In the front it's about 8 feet high, in the back 10 feet; it's made of cement/brick. Beside the side walk that runs right around the house is a ditch that runs out into the street ditch. Every street has a fully paved ditch on both sides, ranging in depth from about one and a half feet to about 4 feet deep. This is not a sewer ditch, but water used to wash the outside cooking utensils, laundry water, etc. is disposed of via this ditch.

Isaac and Colton vegging on our front porch. Today when we came home, Renavah was ironing on the porch; jeans, underwear , tea towels, pretty much if it's been washed, it gets ironed. Notice the lack of grass; it's the dry season right now, and the house was vacant for a time before we moved in, so without adequate water it dies till the rainy season. Our back yard has grass all over.

Front yard and the cook and guard's living quarters.

Front yard. My boys under the passion fruit tree.



Colton climbing one of the palm trees with "scivvies" and things drying in the background. The mango tree is behind the palm tree.

This is our yard entrance. Junavard is our guard/gardener. He's a delight to have around; he's got a smile spanning from side to side that he flashes when ever we see him. He absolutely loves Colton, and when ever we come back home after being gone, he wraps his arm over Colton's shoulder as they walk up the drive way. They play soccer together, or just sit and "communicate" using their hands and actions, or Colton seranades them on his guitar. In the other, more close up picture like this, Junavard was holding Colton's hand, which is very common here. The gate has the small door that is open in the picture just for walking through, and the whole thing is opened for vehicles. We live on the corner of 2 streets as you can see, with the sign in front of the fence. The problem with the sign is that whatever was ever written on it has long been bleached by the sun. I've seen I believe one street sign so far that was legible. This makes it much more difficult to navigate your way around, as you rely on land marks only.
Our home has 4 bedrooms, and 2 washrooms, so to have visitors is very "do-able."
You know how the Word says, "let everything that has breath praise the Lord"? Well, let me tell you, the birds are very, very obedient at 5:30 in the morning. You could probably set your clock to it. It truly is beautiful hearing all these new bird songs, I'd just prefer to hear them later in the day. After they've sang for about an hour, they quit.
I finally saw a dog today for the first time, but I was acutely aware of their existence. Every night it sounds like there's a pack vying to out do each other in barking volume.
I'm seriously not complaining, I'm just informing you of some "Burundi Happenings".
We haven't had hot water for over a week. Isaac's done what he can, but without so much as a screwdriver or hammer, there's nothing he can do till the landlord comes. Showers take on a whole new cooling experience!!!!
Speaking of the heat, God is so faithful!! We've been praying for months that especially I, (Rosel) would feel the heat to a much lesser degree than what the actual temperature is. Most people that know me well, know that I have what my Dr. calls a near allergy to the sun. So when the Lord called us here, just a short jump from the equator, this was a huge prayer item!! Friends, we serve such an awesome God!! When He calls, He equips. Yes it's hot, but I don't find it as hot as I did often in Manitoba in the summer time. During the night it's usually 26-28 degrees,and we can't use the fans due to no power, and it seriously is not bad.
It's almost 10:00 P.M. and we still have electricity!! That's fantastic!! It's been shut off before eight in the past, so I'm running on bonus time. Generally it comes back on again between 6 and 9 A.M.
Let me tell you about the driving. It's chaos to the max. There are no traffic lights in a city of approx. 700,000 people. There are some stop signs that are completely disregarded. It seems people have both hands on the steering wheel for two reasons; one, to steer obviously, and two, to honk. Taxis and motor bike taxis make up a very large portion of the traffic. The motor bikes wind their way through what is supposed to be narrow two way traffic that probably more times than not is 3 lanes, at break neck speed. Bicyclists with passengers or massive loads of Fanta or sacks of charcoal share a very narrow lane with vehicles. We saw one pedestrian accident the second day, and where told by Everiste that that is a daily occurrence. Imagine all the families that lose loved ones so tragically. Pedestrians are everywhere. It truly is not boring going up town. Neither Isaac nor I have driven so far. Pastor Ray, Maryanne or Everiste have very graciously relieved us of that so far, taking us where ever we've gone.
We met a couple at the CRIB home today from........... Winnipeg of all places. Sheila, you may know Kyle (don't know the last name), he taught in Secondary two years ago. They came for holidays.
It's late by Burundian standards, so I'll quit for today; but I still want to give you a run down of days 3 -6, as I want to introduce you to some very key people/places we'll be working with that we met during days 3 - 6. Till then, please keep on praying for us; we would not be doing as well as we are without your prayers carrying us. Believe me!! We love you; The Froese's