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The day we had to leave for Bujumbura.

Well all I can say about this day is... amazing...

All the organising and preparations that have been going on since our last short trip to Burundi in March all came together on the day that we left for Burundi. It doesn't matter how much you prepare for something like this there are always things that you don't anticipate happening.

The day started well. Val and I managed to get up at 7am and within an hour we had managed to dismantle our old bed and remove it from the house ready to take to the dump.

We had arranged to have my sister in law, Maggie, come with a van from Dundee to take a way a few of our books, cd's, photos and clothes for when we return. This should have amounted to about half a van load, however by the end of the day it amounted to about a van and a half worth of our belongings that needed to be taken into storage. Poor Maggie. We completely loaded up her van and we still had so much more stuff but thankfully a friend from church, Diane,  stepped in and volunteered to help by taking the rest into her garage.

We were so amazed by how much stuff can be accumulated in seven years even after we had given a lot away, had a car boot sale and put a lot into the container before it left.

Two other good friends from church also offered to help us clean the house on the day of our departure. Val and I had believed that we could do this our selves but as it turned out we probably wouldn't have even managed to make a start to the cleaning. The two angels in this case that made an amazing change to our house were: Heather and Ashlyn.


Here are a couple of images of them working hard. We are so greatful to them.

Others turned up with food and refreshments for the workers. These were Linda and our minister, Ian.

We had to leave at 4:30 for the airport and as well as leaving all our left over belongings we had ended up with a mountain of rubbish bags which we were forced to leave behind, Once again our friends Jim & Ashlyn came to the rescue & cleared it all to the dump.

David, another friend from Westhill & Elrick Community Council offered to take us to the airport in the community mini bus which he did. What a blessing that was.

We arrived at the airport and our baggage was to heavy for our allowance but after purchasing a new luggage bag, paying an extra £200 and swapping clothes from one case to another and after an hour we were through with checking in and were already to fly.

We arrived in Birmingham were we met up with my brother Stuart who had kindly driven from where he works in Manchester to give us other bags which he was carrying for us. Our baggage allowance was much higher from Birmingham to Bujumbura than it was from Aberdeen to Birmingham. We had a lovely meal with Stewart before he had to drive back to Manchester.

Next morning we were up at 4am to make sure we were in plenty of time to check in all our luggage because we were very concerned about the number of items that we were carrying and also the weight. We shouldn't have worried as all the items were accepted even though some of the bags were over weight.

Here are items of luggage that went with us on the plane.

8no suite cases
2 bikes
1 full scale electric piano
5 small cases for the cabin
3 ruck sacks
3 hand bags

Several hours later and feeling completely exhausted we arrived in Bujumbura. We had so many forms to fill in for the visas that we were not able to watch our belongings coming through from the plane which was a bit of a worry due to the number of individual items. We were blessed though when we saw Felibien, one of our African friends, coming through the crowd to meet us in customs. Felibien, Pastor Leonard & Jean, the local administrator, were there to collect us and take us to our temporary home. We traveled through the streets of Bujumbura with all our bags in the back of the pickups accompanied by two armed policemen who are assigned to protect Jean the local administrator.

We were welcomed into the home that was kindly provided for three months by Simon Guillebaud & his Wife Lizzie who are in the UK for three months. Jodi from Canada, a friend of Simon's looked after the house and handed it over to us on our arrival. We were made to feel so welcome. We quickly made our way to bed and slept like babies.

For the next few days we intend to get settled in and try and adjust to the new way of life.

The fun begins.........


Here is a picture of the boys playing a game in the house that we have been given the use of for the next three months. However this is a big contrast to the area that we will be building in.