I imagined something worse, that they would shut down the program, skip town, and all our money and progress would be lost. But thankfully, that is not the case. Instead, all the families will be transferred over to another agency, called Agape Adoptions. I do not know very much about this agency, but they are supposed to contact us within the next two weeks. They will be taking on our family, and the Burundi program.
One good thing mentioned in the email was that Agape will be traveling to Burundi next month! They are going there to work with the adoption contact in the country to try to get these Burundi adoptions started. This is exciting news for us, since we have felt little progress was being made in Burundi for the last several months. It feels like progress!
Prayer: I have no idea how our family will mesh with the new agency. I pray that they will be able to guide us wisely, and communicate with us often. I pray that they will know how to deal with a family in our situation, ie. living overseas and such. Please pray with us as we transition to something new!
My thoughts: It has been tempting to look at blogs of many other adopting families, see their quick progress, and become frustrated and jealous. There are even thoughts like: Should we change programs? Should we have gone with a different agency? Should we switch to domestic adoption? Should we have not pursued this after all? But I have honestly felt that we have a child waiting for us in Burundi. So I am glad that we stuck with our program. Even considering that the few families ahead of us in the program have all dropped out and gone with another country. I don't know where the families following us stand now, but we are set to be the first to adopt from Burundi, and that is exciting! It is also scary, since there is no procedure in place to predict how things will go.
One thing is for sure, by pursuing an adoption from Burundi, it has opened my eyes to a lot of things. God has been using several books and passages of scripture recently to build in me a heart for the orphan, for the poor, for the distressed, for the widow, for Africa. Let me just share a few things.
Radical, by David Platt
This book is kind of earth shaking! It caused me to look at my life through Jesus' eyes, and in comparison to the rest of the world. I am richer than 99% of the world! My "latest toy" could feed an entire family year, maybe! Going along nicely is this book:
Interrupted, by Jen Hatmaker
This book, written more like a diary, again calls to mind the disparity of what we have compared to the rest of the world. Crazy stats like, someone dies of hunger every 16 seconds! That means someone has just died from hunger, which is totally preventable, by the time you finish reading these last couple of lines! And in the last hour, 66 children under the age of 15 were infected with HIV!
Then, one of the first books (not websites) I read about Burundi is this one:
This Voice in My Heart, by Gilbert Tuhabonye
This is a true story of a man from Burundi who survived the civil war/genocide conflict in Burundi in the 1990's and went on to become a world class runner. His story is so inspiring, and I learned a lot about Burundi culture through the book as well.
What I recently finished is this book:
Strength in What Remains, by Tracy Kidder
Wow! A great book about another man who survived the genocide, and made his way to New York. He tells his story of trying to be a medical student, and then becoming a bottom-rung immigrant in New York. The book, written by a friend of the Burundian man, describes Burundi in so much detail! I find that this book was even a little more fair to both sides of the conflict than the first book. I don't know if you know anything about Burundi's history, but it mirrors Rwanda's history to some degree. Burundi is made up of mostly the Hutu people group, and then some Tutsi peoples, and a small few of the original inhabitants, the Twa people. The "Voice in My heart" book was written by a Tutsi and came from his perspective. But this book brings a little more of the Hutu and Tutsi perspective, and even explains where they came up with those names in the first place. But, the book also explains some of the poor conditions that some Burundians live in.
In 2010, Burundi was ranked the poorest, the bottom country, in Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. It consistently ranks in the bottom 10% of countries economically. Honestly, what frustrates me right now is that it is not receiving much attention. Maybe I am a little biased because we are adopting from there, but I think most of the attention is going toward Rwanda. Yes, they experienced horrible tragedy in the past as well, and yes, they are very poor too. Many programs already exist in Rwanda. Adoptions are happening in Rwanda. People are taking missions trips to Rwanda. Who is going to Burundi? Not many. Who is helping the poor in Burundi? (Please, no offense to anyone adopting from, or involved in Rwanda)
Well, since I am reading through the Bible in a year, I have recently come across a passage in Deuteronomy. It is where the people of Israel are getting instructions for how they are to live when they go in and settle in the land promised to them by God. Read through Deut. 15:7-11. But, I'll just write out one verse that I really like:
"For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.'" -Deut. 15:11
How are we "freely opening" our hands? How are we giving generously? How are we taking care of the poor? How am I doing these things? These are a lot of the questions I am dealing with and going through right now.
So, I just wanted to share what has been going on. We continue to trust that God knows what He is doing with our adoption, and with the Burundi program as it transitions to new hands. (But we know all along that it is in God's hands). We are excited to see what happens next. I will keep you informed. Thanks for stopping by!
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