Today flew by. The morning was spent with GLO project leaders. Simon then took us to the King's Comference Center, hence the internet access this morning. There we learned of the vision for the KKC, which will raise $2.4m USD for a further expansion of its conference facilities. These facilities are the best in Burundi and generate profits that are then plowed back into GLO's local projects and mission works.
We moved from there to the World's most interactive croc and snake zoo! This was a less cultural treat for us "boys" and it did not disappoint. We were privy to feeding time for some crocs and even a jaguar (guinea pigs). I cannot upload the videos but, ahem, cool!
After the show we decided for a test ride to the Congo border (just 20km away). Talk about sensory overload! Riding down a crowded 2 lane road, dodging local bikes (carrying about anything!), cars, cows, potholes....you name it! What a blast!
Aside from our taking in the sites, we were quite a site ourselves for the locals. 12 white men in various colors of spandex cruising along at 20 mph!! It was a good warm up and without any incidents or flats!!
As we headed home near the beaches of Lake Tanzanika, we stopped an saw a small hippo family floating in the wild just off the shoreline!
We were then back to the KCC for an evening birthday dinner celebration for Twins on our ride, Geoff and his brother Chris, celebrating 55 together. Before dinner am impressive display by a traditional Burundian drum core team.
A day of inspiration and some entertainment, easing us closer towards the bike tour set to start Sunday.
Back to the inspirations of the day and yesterday too. Two common themes from the GLO leaders.
One, they do not start anything by telling the locals in an area what they will do. They go first and LISTEN to the locals and get them to say what they NEED. Learning the needs and priorities of the people they are helping has been a success, rather than forcing some grand plan onto people and wasting time and resources on what is not wanted. This process was part of at least 3 success stories we heard the past two days.
The other theme goes back to Everest and the cows. He said he had to create hope for something better (simply more milk) to get those with no hope to actually dream. With hope, it was then only a matter of showing the change for the better (new cow, more milk, less resources used, kids at school instead of watching grazing longhorns) before the step towards better is achieved.
My words are summarized but simple and true summations of many details we have heard. Everyone and everything here has been about lessons learned, implementation strategies gleaned and visions of the future. There really is great momentum and things are happening towards a better lBurundi!
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