Flying (or not) in Africa

Only In Africa can you get on a plane and then find that they have issued more tickets then seats. They couldn’t issue any boarding passes as they ran out of paper after R! But of course they don’t tell you anything and just stand in the corner and talk, perhaps they were hoping one of the passengers would suddenly evaporate. After 45 mins, they decide to ask for a volunteer to get off and fly tomorrow, fortunately one did. So in the end we spent more time on the tarmac then in the air, as it is only just over an hour flight.

The conference has finished, it was well attended with 122 delegates from 11 different countries. I spoke on conflict management, and this went down well, with several people asking for a copy of my presentation. On Friday I spoke on prayer and networking, and encouraged them to share with each other and pray for each others countries. I have made some good contact in Rwanda, and they want me to come and visit them. The General from the Southern Sudan gave me his phone number and asked me to keep in touch and so I will. It was a good time, and I have made some new friends, and have several new address to keep in touch with.

I am now a new colour, red and blotchy, thanks to the Mosquito’s , they have eaten my ankles, and legs – they must have liked the alternative of white meat for a change. So I am in back in Nairobi for a night and will then leave early in the morning for Kericho – another 6 hour journey by road, and then teaching all next week, I will be coming home for a holiday!

At least England have won the rugby (just), which saved an embarrassing breakfast with my South African friend Quintus.

I have put some more pictures on the web at

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/simon.werrett

Burundi 24th Sept 07

According to the Foreign Office web site – their advice is don’t go to Burundi, and if you do go, then don’t go out at night, and never go in a bus at night. So far I have done all three!
The conference is going well, the President couldn’t come in the end(after Linda had cleaned my shoes), but the equivalent of the Home Secretary turned up and gave an opening speech. We are staying in the capital, Bujumbura, at a hotel called the Source to the Nile. It is ok, the plus side is that it has free wireless internet, so I can check my emails daily. In fact there are a group of us, who does it every evening. Although this evening, we were letting other people use our machines to check the internet for email. Using Skype I can call home and speak to Linda for a penny a minute – which is amazing! Burundi is one of the world’s poorest nations, and is just emerging into democracy after a 12 year civil war. They speak French, and drive like the French – badly. There seem to be no road rules .
The room is ok, there are no instructions, so I didn’t know you had to turn the electricity on, I thought like most places in Africa, the electricity is only on at night. So I was going to the bathroom with a torch, but now I have found out how to turn it on – so I have a light in the bathroom. The conference is being held at the Swedish Mission Centre about 15 mins from the hotel. The food is quite good – there is rice, and meat and we get two meals a day there. Tonight we had fish, and it still had its head on, so saw me eat the rest of its body (Linda would have really enjoyed that!).
The conference is going well, we have delegates from Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Central African Republic, Sudan, Nigeria, South Africa, USA, UK (me) and Switzerland, about 120 in total. The temperature is in the mid 90’s and it is hot and sticky in a suit. The conference started with devotions this morning, the Anglican Chaplain, he was ok, then a Bible Study on Philemon. We then had the Opening Ceremony, where the flags were displayed and the national anthem played. The Home Officer Minister and the Director General of the Police Force were present, and gave some speeches. Burundi and Rwanda speak French, so the conference is in French and English.
After lunch we had a presentation on Conflict, and then it was me to speak on Peacemaking and Reconciliation. I had a PowerPoint presentation (probably the only one who has prepared it) to demonstrate my points and it went down well. So thanks for all those who have been praying, I was quite nervous in front of the delegates, as some are quite high ranking officers. We talked about success and how you measure it , and I gave the example that in relation to robbery, in England it is ‘success’ if you catch the person and taken them before the court, but in Africa for some success is measured in how many robbers you kill. At the end there were some questions in relation to robbery and reconciliation, so all those months on the robbery squad has come in useful.
The talk was translated into French, which was difficult on a couple of occasions, and he didn’t understand Policing terms. I have another presentation to do tomorrow on conflict resolution. As this is Africa, they all have hundreds of kids, so my standard line is now, well I have no children, but I do have a dog Chelsea.
I haven’t seem much of the country yet, as we go to the Conference at 7.30am and we are not back till 8pm, but I understand there is some free time on Wednesday.
You can view a few photo’s at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/simon.werrett