John's Guide to Texas

For some reason, this video popped into my mind this morning. If you're road tripping through Texas this summer, here are some ideas on how to maintain your sanity.

Bike 4 Burundi Documentary

Reflections on Living in Africa

2 weeks in the USA and I still can’t think of how to write a blog to summarize my experiences in Burundi. Part of this is because returning to America has forced me to put a serious wall up. This is a wall that God is thankfully breaking down, because behind it lie many emotions regarding my response to the question, “What the heck are we Christians with means really supposed to do about poverty and injustice?” This is a question that I think is crucial in following Jesus, a guy who said things like…

Luke 12:33. "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys."

Matthew 5:42. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

I think that the message of scriptures like these is extremely simple and straightforward; but it’s super tough to implement. While living in Africa, I would justify my volunteering and teaching as the best way for me to personally help raise the nation out of a state of poverty and despair. Yes, I do believe that education is the best way to equip future leaders to help lift their country out of an economic pit, but what about the people that are currently hungry today?

 In Burundi, probably 50 times a day, kids who looked seriously poor and famished would yell at me “Muzungu! Amahera!” An extremely loose translation of this means “Hey white guy! I’m hungry. Give me money because when I see a white person, I see a dollar sign!” It was tiring to constantly be begged for money, but I didn’t become upset about being singled out for looking like someone with wads of cash. I understand why they begged me, and if I were in their place, I would have done the same. But what became tiring to me was how much it hurt to deny money to probably 95/100 who asked. (Remember that verse, Matthew 5:42 that I just quoted?) So I could justify this feeling of unease by saying, well if I gave money to everyone who asks, I would be the one begging.  But when I thought about how 40 hours of minimum-wage work in my country would leave me with more money in my pocket than the annual Burundian per –capita GDP, I suddenly didn’t feel like such a “poor missionary.”

When I say things like this, I know that people will want to send me comforting Bible verses that essentially say “let go and let God.” Sure, I absolutely believe that God is in control, but I also believe that he wants to use us to help solve inequality in the world. I think that we, perhaps, too often look for “comforting” verses to appease our consciences, when the reality is that we might need to feel and marinate in this discomfort and anger.

Maybe as I reflect on situations where I rejected malnourished kids, God wants me to be flustered and ticked off. And I think he wants me to figure out something to do in addition to keeping people at a safe and comfortable distance by “praying for them.” I believe that God has grace to make up for the places where I’ve failed, so I don’t feel guilty. But as a citizen of the world and a child of God, I do feel a conviction and a responsibility to help bring light and life to those who need it the most.    

Even though the physical poverty was always heavy on my heart, I do believe that my time in Burundi was well spent as I helped Youth for Christ found Gitega International Academy.  The vision and mission of the school is simply fantastic. (Read more at www.gitegainternationalacademy.com). And in only 1 semester as a teacher, I could see that we were equipping young men and women with mental, physical, and spiritual tools to mold their nation. Wow! And I not only fell in love with the enactment of the vision for the school, but with my 92 wonderful students that I could see transforming before my eyes. (A quick praise for them: When they came on day 1, they knew zero English. After 3.5 months of classes, I was able to have a nice conversation in English with about 75% of my students! Incredible!) I hope that I was a fraction of the blessing to them that they were to me.

GIA Basketball Team

I am seriously pumped up about the impact that GIA will have on Burundi. But I’ll need to be patient, because corruption and sin won’t vanish in an instant. So as I’m being patient, I also want to be proactive in supporting the good work of the organizations that I’ve observed first hand in Africa. After reading the Bible and seeing what I’ve seen over there, I can no longer simply close my eyes in the comfortable American suburbs (yes, I realize that we have our own serious issues of stress, isolation, and depression) and continue to think that the world is at peace.

Thanks again to everyone who helped get me over to Burundi. The money that you gave towards this mission has forever changed me, and hopefully many others, for the better. Before I knew them, I decided to put my butt through a month of pain as we rode bicycles across the USA to raise funds for orphans, schools, and pygmies in Burundi. Now that I know and love them, I would ride around the world to tell their stories! 

Here is a great documentary about world poverty and the vision of Jesus. If you have an hour to spare, it’s VERY MUCH worth the watch.

Here’s a little short video of me with my running team. Fun times.

After falling even more in love with education while in Burundi, I decided to further pursue teaching as a career. I'm now back in the USA pursuing a Masters of Arts in Teaching (Middle School Science and Social Studies) at Clemson University. Thanks for all of the support along the way. I'm pumped up for the next part of the journey!

Busiga Batwa

Here are some good stories from one of the Batwa communities in Burundi. Sarah and I will be spending Christmas in this village :) Bonus points if you can spot the short clips that I am in.

Thanks Loveworks for sharing these stories.

I Love My Pet Chameleon

This is just a normal Saturday morning at home.

Below are a few glamour shots from a recent modeling shoot.

African Love Letters

About a month ago, I gave my grade 7 and 8 students the assignment of writing my girlfriend a letter. The objective was to work on their English skills by writing her about themselves and wishing her a happy birthday. I showed the students the picture of Sarah below so that they knew who they were writing to. I did not, however, anticipate the types of letters that were turned in...ha.

Yeah...if I was a 7th grader, I suppose I would have also
turned this assignment into a chance to profess my love

These letters were...

Cute. Absurd. Hilarious. Touching. Amazing. Ridiculous.

 Here are a few good excerpts. If you can't read the words in the picture, click on it to make it bigger.

Enjoy.

Good stuff.

Messi Visits DRC Refugee Camp

 Hawaii. Scottish Highlands. Rocky Mountains. Maine. Burundi.

These are the most beautiful and stunning places I have ever seen. Burundi was certainly already on my top 10 list, but after my trip this past weekend, “The Heart of Africa” has officially entered the top 5.

Click on this to make it bigger...such a sweet valley!

On Friday the boys and I headed up to the Muyinga Province of Burundi (in the Northeast, next to Tanzania) to visit a friend’s church and a DRC refugee camp. As we cruised around the Congolese UNHCR Refugee Camp, flocks of children swarmed. This was nothing unusual for us, but the funny thing was that this time the entire group was convinced that I was Lionel Messi (arguably the best soccer player in the world). There have been about 10 other people during my time in Burundi to tell me that I look like Messi. It’s hilarious because I look NOTHING like the guy. The only thing we have in common is that we’re both 5’7 munchkins. I look like I am straight out of Ireland, and he is Argentinian. 

So anyway, I thought it would make the kids happy if I went along with their idea and pretended that I actually was Messi. Their faces beamed with smiles and it was not long before 50 children started chanting “MESSI! MESSI! MESSI!” at the tops of their voices. Zack, JD, and I were all dying of laughter, and it was certainly a memorable experience.

The Kids who thought I was Messi

Refugee camps are renowned to be severely overcrowded and full of poverty, which is definitely what we found at the DRC camp in Muyinga. Poverty, however, is a very relative thing in Burundi. The people in the camp probably survived on something atrocious like $2 per day, which actually seems like a lot compared to so many others that I have seen here. Wow! I can’t believe that this thought even crossed my mind while in the camp, because these refugees still lived in tiny shacks with maybe only 2 pairs of clothes! But it was definitely a nice change to see that even though they were in terrible poverty, nobody looked severely malnourished. So even though these refugee camps still have loads of problems, I am definitely grateful for groups like the UNHCR, the International Rescue Committee, and the USAID.

Refugee kids

USAID Corn...lots of it was definitely being sold at the market

Batwa Boys

My little malnourished Batwa buddy in his house

Batwa crew that I had fun playing toss with

The same day that we visited the refugee camp, we had the absolute “pleasure” of attending a 7 hour African church service. Wow, the music was great, but I don’t have the endurance for that type of thing. My energy has hardly ever been so sapped, and all I did was sit and stand and sit and stand for 7 hours. I can definitely say that staying in the same place for so long is much more of a challenge than riding a bicycle 100+ miles in a day. During that 7 hour church service, JD preached on leadership for about 2 hours. At the end he tried to be smooth and end his sermon with a little Kirundi; but JD isn’t so hot with foreign languages. He wanted to say “Thank You,” which is “Murakoze,” but instead he said “Mwaramutse,” which means “Good Morning.” It was 2pm. Hilarious! Zack and I laughed about that one for a while.

Other than the stunning beauty of the area, visiting the refugee camps, playing with little Batwa (pygmy) children, and on the drive back all three of us having a delicious breakfast of coffee and 2 igitumbura (donuts) for the grand total of about $1.10 US, the best thing about the trip was that we found a pet. We originally wanted a chimpanzee, but then we figured we would choose a pet that isn’t illegal to obtain here. The smaller monkeys were pricier than expected, so we were hoping to find some sort of reptile. We saw a green mamba on the road a few days ago, but since their venom can kill you in 2 minutes, we decided to not keep it. This weekend, however, we found the best possible pet! It’s a 5 inch Chameleon. We named it Karma, you know, after the song that goes “Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma, Chameleon.” Chameleons move ridiculously slowly, so we don’t even need a cage for Karma in our house. It’s extremely hard to lose her. And watching her eat will probably never get old. Now we are almost hoping for more flies to infest our house so that we can have the amazing entertainment of watching her sticky tongue booyah flies from about 5 inches away. Thanks God for making such an incredible creature! And thanks for allowing me to come face to face with so many overwhelmingly good and bad things that I would have no idea how to process without your guidance. I pray for myself and the readers of this for more compassion, love, joy, and an intense hatred of injustice. Spur us on to good deeds.

The Snake

Karma

Karma came to school to booyah some locusts and flies

-jeff    

 

And We're Off!

Two weeks of classes at Gitega International Academy have been completed, and nobody has died! We’ve done it. The abstract idea has become a reality. The administrative brainstorming has been put into practice. This thing is actually happening, and loads of people in Burundi want to be a part of it. We were hoping for at least 20 students, but for grades 7 and 8 we now have 88 students! There is nowhere else in Africa I would rather be working, because this academy is an amazing tool for extreme long term changes.

Registration Day

Showed up to my classroom on day 1...no chairs or tables...this is Africa! Ha, I had tables and chairs by day 2

How do we think this school will change Africa? Well, based on many conversations, I have gathered that education in Burundi is extremely structured to teach students to be good robots. The teacher lectures, the student doesn’t ever ask questions, and they are expected to regurgitate the material for an exam. Yes, this same thing happens in some places in the US, but it is our objective to teach our students at GIA to think critically. They are already learning to ask questions, to think outside of the box, and to be creative in their school work. We’re hoping this helps them to become great problem solvers and leaders who can raise this nation from its current state as the least competitive economy in the world. Read Article Here >>

Doyen, one of my best students

Elsie, another great student

The best part about working for this academy is our emphasis on integrity. This has been a major theme, even in my science and typing courses, as we are in one of the most corrupt nations in the world (for instance, even though we have established the best boarding school in the nation, we still don’t have official approval from the ministry of education because it seems that they may want a little extra something from us), and because I have already caught a few students cheating. My students are grades 7 and 8, but they range in age from 11 to 20. This is because for many people, education had to be put on hold during the war. But it’s cool to have such a range in age, and I have already been able to start mentoring a few of my students. It is my goal to shepherd them towards a desire to develop solid character.

Zack teaching about the Abacus

Yesterday I caught 3 students cheating in one of my classes. It was extremely sad for me, and after the quiz the whole class and I had an amazing heart to hear about integrity. I then told them that I love all of them, and that this is why I must discipline those who act out of line. We talked about how sometimes God disciplines people because he wants them to repent and live full lives. So I think that the students are starting to get it. We don’t discipline them by hitting them, like most other schools in Burundi do, but we are hoping to engage their hearts through conversation and mentoring. This is how they will know that we love them. This is how we are hoping God uses us to raise excellent leaders of integrity. So we will give it our best shot. And we believe that we can change the world for the better. If you don’t think you can do the same, I think you’re listening to the wrong voices.

My tough quiz

Watch the Youtube video above about our vision

Oh yeah, and I’m also the running coach. We’re training for the Rio Olympics…no joke.

And we're still managing to have fun in our free time...

Relaxing at the Rutana Waterfalls

Grace and Peace!

-jeff

Don’t Waste Your Time Looking At This

Students arrive at Gitega International Academy on Monday. This is the first English speaking boarding school in Burundi, and I’m proud to be a founding member. The East African Community has adopted English as its official language, so GIA is making a huge step to develop future leaders for the nation of Burundi. At the Academy, I’ll be teaching Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Typing. Bring it on! But first, I need to be rejuvenated. 

Front Gate of the Academy

My Teaching Schedule

A group of 4 guys, who are recent graduates from Colorado University and who have been travelling the world for a year, just showed up to volunteer for 2 months. They have spent time in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Belize, Fiji, Australia, Singapore, India, Uganda, and now Burundi. In 2 months they will head to Zambia, and eventually South Africa, where they will end their trip. These guys claim that the prettiest place they have been is a tie between Fiji and Burundi. It’s gorgeous in Gitega. So I think I will sign off the internet and will go run up a few mountains with them right now. You should too. Go explore and hang out with God in nature.

Ryan, one of the Colorado guys, with a kid we found on the street wearing a U of Colorado shirt

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am—a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.” 

–Edward Abbey

On a small mountaintop in Gitega

Amen! Groly to God! Good Loves Jesus!

Love Isn't Efficient

Africa is a place where even the smallest things can remind the average Westerner how blessed they are.

Here are a few examples…

1)      It is wild to think that before I came here, my “low paying job” allowed me to earn more money in 2 weeks than the average person in Burundi makes in a year.

2)      Sometimes I am tempted to complain just because the power cuts off. We are currently in the dry season, and since most of the electricity is hydroelectrically generated, the entire country is having power cuts for about 8 hours a day. Not having access to power for just 8 hours a day is frustrating for me, but I am convicted by the fact that 98% of the population of this country doesn’t ever have access to running water and electricity.

3)      I wrote a couple weeks ago about a few “small” gifts I received for my birthday. But I heard a story yesterday that made me so much more appreciative that I have people in my life who are willing and able to give me even simple gifts. My lady, Sarah, currently lives at a University in Botswana, and so she has made tons of friends. A few weeks ago she found out that one of her friends, David, was about to have a birthday. Sarah somehow learned that David liked cinnamon cake, so yesterday on his birthday she gave him a card and a cinnamon apple raisin cake. David was overwhelmed with joy and said that it was the first birthday gift he has ever received. Wow! I can’t imagine the moment of seeing a university student accept his first ever birthday gift.

Where Sarah lives

Us

 This story so badly makes me want to learn how to be more grateful, and it also makes me want to take more time to show love to people in simple ways.

A few days ago I was chatting my friend Barton about frustrations that we have both had regarding a lack of efficiency in Africa. Barton improved my outlook by saying that a lack of efficiency is certainly a struggle while working in Africa, but she said that we Westerners can learn a lot from Africans about being “less efficient” in relationships. She said we can learn a lot from Africans about solidarity, and taking the time to slow down and engage in meaningful conversation. She then said something that I hope will mold my ministry in Burundi. It was simple, but profound. She said, “Love isn’t efficient.”

Wow. This is so true. It takes sacrifice, and sometimes the uncomfortable measure of taking a step back from our fast paced, results driven, Western way of life, to show love well. My wonderful girlfriend helped me learn this a bit better yesterday, and all she did was bake a cake…for someone else ;)