An Examined Life

Different sized rectangles of multiple shades of green spread across the hills and valleys of Burundi. At first glance it’s like a quilt, lovingly stitched together. However, as one learns more, the same view becomes a worn and tattered cloth patched up and held together tenuously.

The country feels as if it’s about to buckle at the knees under the weight of its uncertain future. The math is simple, too many people, not enough food. 35% are already significantly malnourished.

Much work is being done in attempt to mitigate what seems inevitable. Farming techniques are being employed to increase yields, getting the most out of what the dirt will offer. But will that do it? Is that enough?

In fact, many are coming to the conclusion that a more efficient use of the land is to grow cash crops such as coffee or tea – providing money to buy more food than that same land could produce. This creates a dilemma for us ‘forward thinking’ westerners.

We are all about local and sustainable. Clutching our copies of “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” we think the ‘right thing to do’ is to only eat what we can produce, or what can be bought within a hundred miles. Tell that to a Burundian farming on less than an acre with many mouths to feed.

I find when I travel here I am often forced to swallow my self-righteous attitudes in light of the facts, and this instance is just yet another opportunity.

The best choice for the farmer, and his countrymen here, may be to grow coffee that we on the other side of the world purchase.

Next time you belly up to the bar at your favorite caffeine station ask for the Burundian. Oddly, that may prove as sustainable a choice as those organic vegetables in your fridge at home.

Nathan is about 25 years old. He’s from Los Angeles, and has been volunteering with Food for the Hungry (FH) for almost a year – six months in Uganda and the past six months in Rwanda. However, he really should never have been here in the first place.

You see, the Country Director in Uganda thought Nathan had expertise in logistics, a skill set that was sorely needed. The only problem is that Nathan’s University degree is, in fact, in Linguistics. The irony of that miscommunication was not lost on me.

Nathan faced the prospect of leaving before he got started. Instead, he worked hard to become indispensible, and now a year later he is in charge of a large water distribution project that is a partnership between FH, and the Rwandan Government.

I am pretty inspired by Nathan. He has made significant choices for a young guy, putting the normal ambitions of a kid from the west aside in favour of working at helping a population towards their own self-sufficiency. It’s not all selfless, he loves the adventure and the opportunity to take on large challenges. But he told me he’d find it hard to leave this behind for a ‘real job’ at home. “I’m positively affecting over 120,000 people everyday by helping provide clean, safe water, how can I ever top that?”

I asked him what his original plans had been for his Linguistics degree, Bible translation he said. It is clear to me watching this young man in action and listening to him speak enthusiastically describing his work and life here in Rwanda – he is much closer to his original goal than he may think.

This will be my seventh time in Central Africa. I have been to all the locations we are going on this trip. I am excited to return to familiar places and greet people I have met before. I look forward to seeing progress in projects. I like the idea that I know my way around here, I am not as much of a stranger.

However the fear is that it’s all too familiar to me, that I won’t be moved by both the despair and the hope I experience. There is a chance I won’t be as angered by the violence perpetrated against women in the Congo, or devastated by the hunger on the faces of the refugees in Burundi. I have seen it all before.

I want to dance at the school as if it’s my first time there, caught up in the joy of the children. I want celebrate the efforts of the farmers as they increase their yields through better agriculture. I want to be outraged at the injustice of war and it’s unspeakable damage on innocent people. I want to enjoy deep conversation with the people we meet who are changing their own lives, and the lives of those around them.

I want to not care about the trivial: if my clothes get dirty, if our car gets a flat tire, or if I don’t get enough sleep. I want to mourn. I want to laugh. I want to be patient. I want to learn. I want to feel. I want to be affected. I want to be involved.