Partnership in Practice

It’s the end of the visit, and the ten days have just flown past. It has been busy, with every day fully occupied. We have seen something of the real challenges faced by the great mass of the people of Burundi.

Gitega is a largely rural diocese, and the levels of poverty and unmet need are astonishing. In this very challenging environment, the local church is reaching out to bring the good news of the kingdom of God to every community. As Bishop Aimé-Joseph says, “You can’t preach to someone with an empty stomach”.

So the church is tending to the needs of each community, often with quite simple but very workable and low-cost projects. Some of these include building resilience to climate change by planting trees. To maximise the benefit, these trees include both native species mixed in with fruit trees which gives both stability to the soil during heavy rains and an immediately available source of important nutrients for the people.

There are a range of other, often quite simple and low-cost projects which are making a huge difference to the lives of people in small, local communities. What we have seen is the church reaching places where no other organisation is reaching. Lives are being changed in every way in small, isolated communities at the far end of a grindingly long drive up a clay road which can only be used in the dry season, even by powerful four-wheel drive vehicles.

We have all wondered how our diocese can reach out and change lives equally effectively. Western society has very different needs and very different organisations attempting to address them. The riots early this year and the expressions of frustration at local levels, however, suggest that there is a good deal that we could well be involved in if we were willing. Our mission is multi-level, and different in every society and culture.

The team’s hosts in Burundi have expressed their gratitude for the visit, with Bishop Aimé Joseph Kimararungu commenting,

“We’ve had a very busy week hosting the team from Armagh Diocese. We were blessed by the ministry they shared with us…they preached for us, they visited several projects the Diocese of Gitega is implementing, and we took them to visit a number of parishes, where they met people. Now they’re going back home having known what the church looks like in Burundi.

We really enjoyed their stay, we pray for the partnership to continue, and we hope many other people from Armagh will come and share with us the ministry we are carrying out here in Burundi. Extend our greetings to everyone in the Diocese of Armagh and the whole of Ireland.  May God strengthen our partnership, keep us in your prayers.”

Rev Arsène Mafurebe (Gitega Diocese Development Coordinator) added, “The Armagh team has been a true blessing and a source of courage and inspiration in Gitega Diocese. It was such a privilege to have you around for almost a week and half! I am thankful to God, the team and everyone who has contributed to the success of the mission trip.”