Day 2 - Meeting GLO Partners and Warm Up

Today was an early start after a long day of travelling yesterday. 7:30 down for breakfast with a quick Bible thought of the day from one of the group. Then we met with Audry, the national director for Evangelism Explosion Burundi. He spoke about his story from fleeing Burundi in the war, to training to be an evangelist, now working with children and adults to help spread the word of God throughout Burundi.

We then drove to meet Ephraim, another GLO partner, who works with vulnerable women, often who have been trafficked, teaching them how to sew so that they are able to sell clothes to make an income. We heard his story of fleeing to the DRC during the genocide after most of his family had been killed and then God calling him back to Burundi to help his people and helping change hundreds of lives through his work.

The final partner we met today was Dieudonné, founder or New Generation and former presidential candidate. He was a street child after his parents were murdered in the genocide, he then went on to help other street children and forgave the man who killed his father. His project aims to raise up a generation of street children to become leaders in Burundi and promote reconciliation. Here we ate lunch and heard about his projects working with street kids - playing sports with them, teaching them skills and leadership. They have taken teams to the Street Children World Cup in both football and cricket!

We then headed back to our hotel to get changed into our cycling stuff and then put our bikes back together, before heading towards the Congo border for our practise ride. We saw the detrimental effect that the rising levels of Lake Tanganyika has caused, it’s risen by 12ft and caused widespread flooding. There were churches and homes in deep water and people using boats to get around. It’s made thousands of people homeless and jobless.

A race against the sun setting meant a quick ride back was needed, so was good that the bikes were put together properly! Ended up being 45km and a bit of swimming through the floods required!

We were back just in time for dinner and now off to bed! Another day of seeing more partners in Bujumbura tomorrow before the ride begins on Wednesday!

All in all, a very eye opening day with lots of difficult stories from people who have such a heart and love for Burundi and have endless amounts of hope for its future, despite its current desperate situation.もっと詳しく