Friday, November 28, 2014

     The other day, we were driving in the car with Jean Rene, and it was overcast and rainy.  The temperature was still warm, as we still had the air conditioner on in the car. President Jean Rene said,  "Oh!  It is so cold today!  Just like where you live!"

     I explained to him that our weather got so cold we had snow, and that water on the road would freeze and become ice.  He was surprised.  "Oh!!  Do people live there?"  he asked.  I told him many people lived there in the cold, and he then inquired, "How do you eat?"  This is not a question I had ever considered, but for him, people eat what grows.  His reasoning was that nothing grows in the cold, so how do people eat?  Totally different mindset, nest-ce pas?

     President Jean Rene came to our house a few days ago, and what he said really floored me.  He told me  that he and his wife had named their new baby girl for me because I was so kind.  Seriously?  I have never had a baby named for me before and was speechless.  Humbled, honored, and speechless.

Here I am with my namesake.

Baby Susan is currently in physical therapy.  During the delivery, the doctors pulled on her arm to help get her out and damaged/stretched a nerve that controls her arm.  We hope it will recuperate and that she will have the use of her arm.


     We have had a series of different couples visiting Bujumbura, each one involved with a different humanitarian protect.  The first one was the Hunsaker's.  They are here to establish an eye clinic out in the interior, which will be capable of doing cataract surgery.  The second couple was the Langland's.  He is a retired OB/GYN who is trying to set up a program to teach the medical community about neonatal resuscitation.  What is kind of funny is that we discovered over dinner one night that his brother and his wife live about 3 doors from us in a new home on Ridge Top Circle.  Small world!
The third couple is here doing a wheel chair program.  They did this here in Bujumbura several years  ago, and this time around they will be bringing 300 wheelchairs to donate to people who need them.

1 comment:

  1. I have so many questions about people we knew when we served in Burundi in 2010. As I read your blog I find more and more stories of people we new and love who were the first members and places that were a part of our Burundi experience. How would you feel about chatting occasionally by email? Gary has my email address.Let me know if you wouldn't mind chatting now and then. Lorraine

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