Thursday, June 12th was a good day for us.  They opened our road after 19 days of us parking our truck a mile from home.  AND Gary and I both had haircuts at a local salon!  Thank goodness we didn't have to attack each other's hair with the scissors Ashley sent!  To celebrate these momentous events, we had the Van Wagoner's and Jonathan, the young Canadian who works for UNICEF, over for a bite to eat and to watch a movie.  We watched Secretariat because it's a good movie and because the Belmont Stakes, the 3rd race in the triple crown, was run the Saturday before.  Life is good!


     We bought these masks in front of our little grocery store.  They are now hanging in our house over our desk.

   
     Getting married is difficult in Burundi.  A great many young people cannot get married because they cannot afford to pay the "bride price" known as the "dote."  The prospective groom is expected to pay money for his intended, and the price is set by the bride's parents.  It used to be that the dote was paid in cows or goats or chickens, but now it is paid with money.   Most make very little money on a monthly basis, so it becomes a real hardship for the groom to pay this fee.  We have a cute, educated young man in Branch 1 who is engaged, but his fiancé's parents are demanding 6,000,000 BIFS for her hand.  That is about $4000 and includes money for a large party where both families invite many guests.  He doesn't know how he is ever going to come up with this money.  The wedding has now been postpones until August.  This is part of the local traditions that really needs to go!