Rainy Saturdays

I seldom aspire to recreate things I see on Pinterest.  Wouldn't you know it, though, last night before bed I came upon a mouth-watering recipe for pumpkin scones that I strategically mentioned to Hank.  This providentially resulted in those very scones coming out of my oven before I got out of bed this morning (I love you, Hank!). 

Well, even a double batch of those gems didn't use up the large can of pumpkin puree we had on hand.  So I got crafty.  Last night I also saw a recipe for pumpkin play dough on Pinterest;  here is the original recipe. 

We used pumpkin puree, flour, and cornstarch to make our dough.  We seasoned it with cinnamon, cloves, and allspice so it would smell like fall.  The recipe touted the dough as "edible," although we decided "smellable" was really a more accurate description. 

And voila!  We had a mess!  Oh yes, and a lot of fun too.

Growing Things

 Four out of the six Willis gardeners

The naked waterer

 

Hops

Roasted zucchini-tomato-basil pasta sauce

Banff Teaser

This past weekend we took an almost-spur-of-the-moment trip to one of my favorite places on earth: Banff and the surrounding area.  I don't have time for a full blog post, between the post-vacation aftermath and a few more than normal appointments, meetings, and obligations.  I hope to soon fill in with more details and pictures, but for now these will have to suffice:

 

The Fam at Lake Louise

 A couple handsome hikers

Willis family and bicycle friends

What we (think we) know about dentistry in Burundi

Medical and dental care and training are in dire need in most parts of Africa, Burundi being no exception.  In fact, Burundi may be a case study for an area of greatest need.  I already mentioned that Burundi ranks as one of the poorest, least developed countries in the world.  Per capita annual income is something around $300.  Access to medical and dental care for many years has been non-existent to the great majority of the population.

Burundi has a population of approximately 8.5 million (2008 census data of just over 8 million, 2010 census estimate of 8.4 million), and, at best count, we think there might be 10 dentists!  It seems that they're mostly known as "stomatologists" (from the Greek "stoma" meaning "mouth").  I have no idea what level of dentistry is being provided--perhaps not much more than extractions and basic fillings, but we do surmise that the care is mostly rendered to the upper echelons of society in the urban areas of the country.  There is, as of yet, no dental school in the country.  There is no dental supply or equipment company--here in the States we have big companies like Henry-Schein, Patterson, Burkhart, etc, some of which are even publicly traded on the stock exchanges.  As far as I can tell there are no dental laboratories to make crowns, bridges, dentures, or partials.

So, how can this glaring deficiency ever change?  Yes, dentists can and do go on short term (1-2 week) mission trips where they see countless patients in pain and pull hundreds, if not thousands, of teeth.  Along the way, those who are Christians often share the good news of Jesus in an effort to help make a more lasting difference.  Many people are touched (both physically and spiritually) by this aid and effort, but the reality is that this model will never catch up with the need.  We could pull teeth all day for a lifetime and the line would probably never go away.  Some even claim that this model perpetuates the cycle of need and poverty.

So, what is Burundi to do?  How can the people work towards a sustainable model in which they can take care of their own while growing their economy, providing education and jobs?  This is where Hope Africa University comes in to play.  From their website:  Hope Africa University is a Christian Liberal Arts University located in Bujumbura, Burundi.  The university seeks to send into African society Christian scholars and professionals who will be able to effectively apply economic, political, and social principles for the well being of African people!

Among many other academic programs, HAU has a burgeoning department of stomatology.  Our understanding is that there will be two 3-year "cycles" to train dental providers.  The first 3-year cycle would produce a Bachelor's in Science degree with a course load heavy in dental sciences and some clinical apprenticeship time.  These (30-40?) graduates would then be able to provide some level of dental care in clinics and hospitals scattered about the country.  The second cycle is intended to train in more comprehensive levels of dentistry and would be reserved for just 6-8 students.  Without dental supply companies and dental laboratories I'm not sure how this will happen, but it's a start and there's much more we will learn along the way.

So this is where I might come in.  Some good friends are in Burundi now at the very beginning stages of coming alongside HAU's teaching hospital at Kibuye.  We are in early discussions about the possibility of having a dental clinic at the hospital where I could teach clinical dentistry as part of the apprenticeship training.

Please be in prayer for us as we continue to explore the options and learn where God would have us serve. Pray for the country and people of Burundi as they continue to work to heal and redevelop their nation. Pray for the leadership of HAU as they have many big decisions to make.

Burundi???

When we tell people that we're moving toward dental missions in Burundi we're often met with questions of "Where's Burundi?" or "I've never heard of Burundi!"  So, allow me to introduce you to the country and what I know of it.  All the detail you might ever need is here, but this is my little synopsis.  Also, this is a good source of info, especially regarding history, economy, travel, and tourism.

Burundi, known as the Heart of Africa, is a small (10,745 square miles--about the size of Massachusetts) landlocked country in East-central Africa.  It borders Rwanda to the North, Tanzania to the East and South, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the West. Most of the western border is along Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest and second largest lake in the world, which also happens to be the longest freshwater lake in the world.

Here's Burundi on the map:

Burundi is both densely populated and rural.  Most people survive by subsistence farming.  The country is often ranked in the poorest 5 in the world, and by some counts has the distinction of lowest per capita GDP in the world.  Burundi suffered a similar civil war and genocide in the 1990s and early 2000s as did Rwanda, though it was more slow-smoldering and received little international attention.  Peace and stability came in 2005 and the country has been through a process of reconciliation and rebuilding.

Much of the country is beautiful rolling hills with a mild tropical climate year round.  Burundi sits just south of the equator, but much of the country is at a significant enough elevation to moderate the heat and humidity one might expect in that part of the world.  The capital, Bujumbura, sits lower and the average daily temperatures there range from the low 70s to upper 80s.

Burundi is a land rich in culture and heritage, and the people are widely known to be friendly and welcoming. Drumming seems to be a bit of a national pastime and source of pride:

Though this is but a brief and cursory introduction to Burundi, I'll stop here for now.  I'll reserve another blog post for the more recent stabilization and growth efforts in Burundi, specifically the work of Hope Africa University and how we hope to be involved.

Read about dentistry in Burundi here.

Family bike adventure

Today we did something we've never all done together as a family: biking.  Jude and Eva are still riding trikes.  Hannah doesn't even own a bicycle.  But we borrowed a bike trailer for the little ones and my mom's bike for Hannah and head to the route of the Hiawatha for a little family adventure.  You can read more on the site, but the Hiawatha is a 15 mile bike trail along an old railroad route.  There are a number of tunnels to ride through, the longest of which is the 100+ year old Taft tunnel: a cool, damp, pitch dark 1.7 mile ride through the Bitterroot mountains between Montana and Idaho.  There are also some beautiful old trestles along this historic mountain rail route.

Here's a few pictures getting ready:

Not sure what's going on here, but I thought it was worth everyone's smile...

Eva with her lantern for the tunnel:

Entering the Taft Tunnel:

Out the other side:

More along the way:

Made it back to the truck for the long ride home:

Update on our hopes, plans, and dreams

***Scroll down for updates***

So, this blog started as a way to keep you, the reader, informed and up-to-date on our progress toward Burundi as the Lord leads us.  There's been lots going on, but admittedly, little on the blog as of late regarding Burundi. This is partly due to the fact that for a while we didn't know what was happening or what we could or could not say.  And partly due to the fact that Hannah can bring you such wit and humor as it pertains to cleaning the schoolroom, making pizza, camping, horseback riding, and birthdays.  I will make my best attempt here to bring you up to speed on our Burundi progress and timeline as we see it.

Hannah and I traveled to France in June to spend a week with the medical team heading to Burundi.  They spent 10 months in Albertville, site of the 1992 Winter Olympics, at a Christian language school.  At the time we only knew the Faders and wanted to meet the rest of the families and singles who were headed to Burundi.  We really enjoyed getting to know everyone and we both felt a connection to the group.  And, yes, France was amazing--pastries, parasailing, people, and all!  But it was not up to the team to invite us and we couldn't invite ourselves.  Hope Africa University and it's leadership would have to invite us and we didn't know if that would happen in 6 months or 6 years.  We left in a bit of emotional turmoil regarding this unknown.  There were a number of issues, which I won't get into here, that could have affected that decision, but as the Lord would have it we didn't even have to wait 6 weeks!

Shortly after our return from France the rector of the university extended an invitation for us to proceed with our plans.  In all likelihood we'll be working with World Harvest Mission as our sending agency.  This fall we'll begin their Sonship discipleship training course.  In April 2014 we plan to travel as a family to Burundi for 3 weeks to further evaluate (and be evaluated) the situation and our fit.  From there we would attend World Harvest's week-long "Assessment and Orientation" program in Philadelphia.  From that point we'd begin the process of support-raising, and then the big relocation.  It remains to be seen how long support raising will take or what we'll need in terms of language training, but we could be saying au revoir in as little as 16-18 months.

In the meantime we're praying and asking you to pray with and for us.  We need to be more diligent with working on our French.  Hannah has to school the kids.  Life goes on.  I still have a dental practice to run.  I'm in the process of contacting dental supply companies and inquiring about their humanitarian aid discounts and donations policies.  An advocate for us is working hard to procure dental chairs, lights, and other equipment and get it all shipped to Burundi (no small task, I assure you!).  I'm working up a 3-year list of dental supplies to have shipped ahead of time (there's no national dental supplier and the cost of mailing supplies would be exorbitant (not to mention the risk of "losing" supplies along the way).

Oh, on September 19th Hannah and I will be meeting in Spokane with Dr Frank Ogden, for whom the medical school in Burundi is named.  Dr Ogden is a surgeon who dedicated many years of service in Burundi. We're excited to meet with him and hear his stories, wisdom, and recommendations.

There's much to do and at first glance I think there's loads of time to do it.  But I know that's not true.  Time can and does move quickly and if we're not careful before we know it, it will be upon us.  I'll try to update you as we move forward, but I hope this brings you up to speed a little bit.  (Published 8/27/13)

***UPDATE 12/23/13***
We have our tickets!  The whole family will be headed to Burundi for three weeks this spring.  We will spend time at Kibuye with the McCropder team, in Bujumbura (the capital city) meeting other Hope Africa University personnel, visiting with some of the other physicians, missionaries, and World Harvest team members, and possibly giving some dental care. 

We have so many questions about how our family could fit and be used with HAU's vision for dentistry in Burundi.  Our prayer is that God would clearly direct us!  We have had a picture in our minds for the past year plus as to our idea of living, teaching, serving, and learning in Burundi.  We realize that some aspects of this vision are spun from our own chaff-like desires, and some have been nurtured by God's plan for us.  Deciphering the difference feels impossible at times, but we have confidence that we won't be left to flounder halfway between Bonners and Bujumbura. 

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.