Africa photos
I've been a bit sick for the last couple days - but feeling better today than yesterday.
Several folks on facebook have posted photos of our time in Africa. Here are some links:
This is one especially for all my critics ... maybe you think this is the closest I'll get?!
I'm standing at the entrance to a new "fair trade" restaurant in Kigali, Rwanda - with me is Annemie Bosch - missiologist/theologian David Bosch was her husband. What a delightful lady - she added so much to our time in Rwanda. Thanks, Mike, for posting these.
This one is in Burundi. We had visited the beautiful orphanage run by Freddie and the Jeunesse pour Christ team in Gitega. The kids were clean, well-cared for, so happy ... As we left, directly across the street was this little group of guys. I tried out one of my very few Kirundi lines - "My name is Brian. What's yours?" And the guys started introducing themselves to me one by one. It's an amazing thing to connect with people - however simple the connection may be.
Aussie friend Fuzz Kitto - who among his many talents is a professional photographer/artist - posted his shots on flickr.
A big part of my heart is still in East Africa! I'll add other links as I learn of them.
Next year, amahoro-africa will meet in South Africa May 5-12, and then another gathering will take place in Burundi May 12-18.
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a poem from africa
One of the highlights of our trip to Africa was a quick visit to a Batwa village in Bubumba, Burundi. We had hoped to bring the whole group there - I wish we could have - but the road to Bubumba passes through an area where the last Burundian rebel group had been active (with gunshots fired the previous night), and we felt that a bus full of mazungus (whites) might have been too big a temptation for them. So just a handful of us went.
I tried to capture the experience in this poem ...
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Back from Africa – 5 quick updates
Grace and I are back home from our amazing trip with amahoro-africa.org - I'll post more on the trip later, but for a preview, see #3 below ...
Some quick updates:
1. Have you heard about Envision 08: The Gospel, Politics, and The Future? It's happening at Princeton University June 8-10. I'll be participating, as will a number of good friends. Good news! Because of some generous donors, the conference is now being offered for only $99. And if you're coming from out of town, you can get on-campus housing for three nights at a sharply discounted rate. I hope you'll go to www.ev08.org and sign up today ...
2. Want to make a difference for the environment? Our friends at ECI have created a convenient way to support an important upcoming vote in Congress. Check it out here.
3. My friend Tim Keel blogged our amahoro-africa.org gathering last week. You can read his postings here and get a flavor for the time we shared in Kigali.
4. Someone recently sent this provocative quote from Buckminster Fuller: "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change things build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
5. My friend Byron Borger, the wisest bookseller in the nation, offered some kind words about Finding Our Way Again here.
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off to africa
I'm not sure how much email access I'll have in the next few weeks, but I'll be with many good friends - old and new - at the amahoro-africa.org gathering in Rwanda between now and the end of the month.
Quite a few folks from the emergent network here in the US will be coming along. My guess is that several people will be blogging.
Grace will be staying in Rwanda, and I'll be going down to Burundi, political unrest permitting. Just fyi - here's where I stay abreast of African news.
Our friend Jen Lemen is traveling with us - you can read about her parallel adventure here.
If you'd like to support the good work of amahoro - here's a link where you can donate.
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Reflections on the Everything Must Change Tour, Part 3
We have a growing list of potential hosts who would like us to bring "Everything Must Change" to their city, and we're considering doing so in Fall 2009. Stay tuned ...
In the meantime, if you haven't yet signed up for our regular newsletter, I hope you will, and let other folks know about it as well. You can sign up here ...
In the months to come we'll be sending out resources to help you put the EMC message into action - in your life, your home, your faith community, your work, and our world. For example, here's the version of the Lord's Prayer that we sang on the tour, simply ascending a scale five tones and then coming back down:
1. Our Father above us and all around us …
2. May Your unspeakable Name be revered.
3. Here on earth may Your kingdom come …
4. On earth as in heaven may Your will be done.
5. Give us today our bread for today.
4. Forgive us our wrongs as we forgive.
3. Lead us away from the perilous trial.
2. Liberate us from the evil.
1. For the kingdom is yours and yours alone
2. The power is yours and yours alone
3. The glory is yours and yours alone
4. Now and forever, amen.
5. Alleluia
4. Alleluia
3. Alleluia
2. Alleluia
1. Amen
And if you haven't yet checked out Everythingmustchange.org ... that will be a main place to share ideas, links, and ways to keep the change process unfolding.
OK ... now I REALLY have to pack for Africa ...
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