The Kepplewray Centre - Burundi Project

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Current News

A container with equipment, a jeep and some of Stephen and Lucy's personal belongings is on its way to Burundi, it has to pass through Somalian waters soon, so we are praying for a safe passage.

Stephen and Lucy are settling into life in Muyinga, Burundi having arrived there in January. They have found the change of lifestyle quite hard. They are busy planning for the work of the Bethesda Project there with the local Bishop and Project Manager.

Here is an FAQ prepared by Lucy:

Do you live in a mud hut?!

No! I've included pictures of our house in the next newsletter. It's built of brick with a tin roof. It's built on one level but is very spacious inside. It has a lounge, a kitchen, 4 bedrooms (one en-suite) and a separate bathroom.

The front garden is my favourite bit and is kept up by our lovely day guard Yaseen.

The house is very posh by Muyinga standards and mostly we like it...but is still quite hard to adjust to. It's very bare inside compared to houses in the UK, and pretty much everything here is poorly made and breaks very easily. For instance...most of our taps are broken or don't work quite as they should, many of the lights don't work and a lot of the door handles and locks feel like they're about to come off when you open the door!

My least favourite thing about the house is the floor which is painted red! I'm not sure who first decided that painting the floors red would be a good plan (probably it was a man), the reality is that when it gets a bit worn, as ours is, ANYTHING that touches the floor turns instantly red or at best vaguely pink – oh so annoying!

Do you have electricity?

Yes!! It usually goes off about once a day for a varying amount of time but it's more on than it is off.

The supply is not regulated very well so electrical equipment breaks fairly quickly unless it is plugged in through a AC voltage stabiliser.

Have you got hot water?

Yes! We have a water heater outside which we plug in when we need hot water.

The water supply is good at the moment though we are told it will be more of a problem in the dry season. Currently there is no shortage of rain!

Have you got a shower?

Yes! I made it a priority in the first week to work out how to make the hot tap work in the shower! For a few weeks the shower was a hot trickle which didn't do much in the way of cleaning – particularly not for my hair, however we have since worked out a way to make it a more enjoyable and productive experience which works most days at the moment!

Do you have staff?

Yes we have staff! A young girl called Gilbert who is our maid/worker and three guards called Gaspire, Yaseen and Mark. Gilbert is young and has much to learn about the English ways of cooking and cleaning.

We like all our staff, Yaseen is quiet but very nice and very good at gardening, Gaspire is our night guard and much more chatty. He's trying to learn English and teach us French and Kirundi at the same time! No small task! I am constantly trying not to laugh when I teach him a word and he repeats it in perfect Queen's English – reflecting back to me just how posh I sound!!

Is it hard to get used to having staff?!

Being constantly aware of people around is sometimes hard.

When the guard starts sweeping outside your room at 5.30 in the morning and you have to knock at your own front gate and wait to be allowed in – yes it's hard to get used to!

But on the plus side...when the toilet needs cleaning or the floor needs washing yet again – its pretty easy to handle having staff!

What's the food like?

A traditional Burundian meal would consist of rice, potatoes, beans, green bananas and maybe some stewed casava leaves.

- Very high on carbs and a dieting nightmare!

Thankfully....there is a huge variety of other foods available!

The country has a wide variety of delicious fruit and veg and a lot of raw ingredients are available – we can buy a fair amount in Muyinga market but other things need to be bought elsewhere.

Any packaged or imported food is mostly only found in Bujumbura and is horrendously expensive – (A small box of "All Bran" costs about £11). This makes cooking more challenging because if you want a pizza you can't just buy one it needs to be made from scratch!

BUT....you CAN find the ingredients to make one....and that brings us no end of happiness!

With planning and creativity we can eat a tasty and balanced diet! (Though that is not to say that we don't still miss convenience or chocolate and cereal!!!)

What's the weather like?

We're in the wet season now and it's lovely! The sun is out most days and is very hot when it's out. However it is not usually unbearable and the past 2 weeks have even been quite cold and rainy – I've thoroughly enjoyed being able to wear a jumper and jeans!

I have a feeling the dry season won't be quite as pleasant!!

Are there other ex-pats?

We've been getting to know some great people in Bujumbura. Alison Gill has been incredibly good to us and introduced us to lots of other people aswell. We've also enjoyed seeing Rosemary Cottingham who we met in England and who also works for the Anglican Church.

Most ex-pats in Burundi live in Bujumbura as that's where everything is based. However through various contacts we have discovered 3 other ex-pats in Muyinga who are kind enough to speak English with us!!

Karen – a German lady, Andrea – an English lady here for 6 months, and Celine – a Swiss lady. They are all really nice and we've been able to see one or two of them at least once a week which has been a lifeline!

Do people speak English?

Not really. If people have been lucky enough to go secondary school they usually speak a bit of English but it is functional not conversational.

Everyone assumes that we speak French because all the NGO's use French. Almost everyone in the towns speak fluent French as well as Kirundi but in the villages it is usually just Kirundi.

Can you get hold of most things that you need?

e.g. deodorant, kettle...etc

You can get most things in Bujumbura...BUT the choice is very limited, the price is as high if not higher than in England (shampoo and conditioner would cost about £10) and the quality is often so poor that the purchase is not worth making (the knife we bought in Buja broke after a day and when we took the packaging off a rolling pin we had bought it had huge cracks in it).

SO the answer is "Yes" in theory but in practice "No, not really"!

Do you manage to get some exercise?

The only leisure facility in Muyinga is a clay tennis court which belongs to the Catholic Church. We're hoping to be able to use this soon when we can find a way to borrow tennis rackets.

Running is not much fun because the Burundians find it weird enough that we walk places let alone if we're seen to run! We are also followed by constant cries of "Muzungu, muzungu" " Bonjour muzungu" wherever we go which doesn't make for a very relaxing experience.

We will be able to do more when our container arrives with our tennis rackets and bikes, however until then we have discovered Gymtonic (mentioned in the email) which we're really enjoying and is a good twice a week workout! As you can imagine aerobics in the African heat is a sweaty experience – I have finally understood why Africans always carry towels with them when they go to do sport!

Have you got a sun tan yet?

No! The term "Muzungu" which I mentioned above and which we walk down the street to a chorus of, means "white person", and sadly I cannot disagree with the sentiment as at present the term is not undeserved! (Though it still hurts to hear it shouted out loud!)

We do hope however that when the canoes come and the planning stage is over we'll have ample opportunity to work on bronzing our delicate skin!

If you would like to sponsor the project go to www.justgiving.com/muyinga.

Evariste is the project manager. He spent 10 weeks at Kepplewray in summer 2009 as part of the project planning and induction.

Evariste - Project Manager, Bethesday Project

History

Bishop Eraste Bigirimana, from the Diocese of Muyinga in Burundi, visited Kepplewray in February 2007, as part of a UK tour organised by Lambeth Palace. Whilst here Bishop Eraste heard about the work of inclusion undertaken here at Kepplewray and was impressed by the work done with disabled and non disabled people.

Bishop Eraste was inspired by the approach of Kepplewray to bring disabled and non disabled people together. Many disabled people view their physical or mental impairment as only part of the disadvantage they must face. How society views that disability is often a much bigger problem to overcome. Kepplewray addresses these issues by providing opportunities that promote the principle of inclusion. Using challenging outdoor activities to develop social integration and help breakdown prejudice and misunderstanding, developing a team spirit, encouraging self-esteem and the appreciation of others, we hope to be a catalyst in tackling exclusion. Bishop Eraste believes that this approach could be of great value in the process of healing a nation and people ravaged by warfare and racial division.

Communications by email then began between Kepplewray and Bishop Eraste and a link between Kepplewray and the Muyinga Diocese was established. The aim of this link is to share experiences and help each other develop an understanding of what it means to be inclusive, disabled and accepted and to start and establish a similar project to Kepplewray in Burundi.

Bishop Eraste has called this project The Bethesda Project after the Bethesda Pool in Jerusalem (John chapter 5 v1-9).

In June 2008 Peter Sanders and Stephen McIlhenny visited Burundi to see the site of the proposed project for themselves and to explore further the possibility of setting the project up. It is hoped that in 2009 the coordinator of The Bethesda Project, Everiste, will work at Kepplewray for a few months to exchange ideas and to learn from the experience. Stephen will then move out to Burundi in Winter 2009, with his wife Lucy, to help establish the project and work for a period of around two years.

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