Alison's Articles
Prayer news from Alison Gill in Burundi
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In this issue
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Trauma healing training approaches |
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I hope you're well. I am well but suffering a bit with the heat! We're in a mini dry season and it's sweltering. Never, when I lived in England did I ever think I would long for rain but now I live in Burundi I can really see it is God's blessing! It's been over 30 C indoors at night for the past few days! Last month I was in Kenya for a few days' holiday which was really relaxing. I enjoyed spending time with Sheron Green and seeing Hugh and Fikir Gibbon. Thanks again to lovely friends in Brockley. Since returning, I have been doing quite a bit of preparation for the Flame conferences happening in March in Buye and Matana Anglican Dioceses and also working on trauma healing training materials. I had many topics I wanted to include but have been praying and asking God which ones are most important and have managed to cut them down to 15 which fits as 5 sessions / day for 3 days. (I hope to also do follow-up sessions perhaps a couple of months after each training.) I would love to produce anointed, easy to use and understand, materials - please pray. I am currently writing a plan with training dates in 2010. This month I hope to continue the training preparation, Flame conference prep, as well as hopefully actually doing some training. Recently there have been some violent clashes between youths from 2 opposing political parties.
The price of training in Burundi
I would really like to ask your prayers for a breakthrough in the area of giving training in Burundi. There are some wonderful exceptions whereby you can find churches whose leaders are eager to learn and who will go to great length to facilitate training. However, mainly due to the actions of the UN and nongovernmental organisations, there has developed a culture in Burundi (and other developing countries) whereby people expect to receive a daily allowance (per diem), transport money (even if they walked or cycled!), food and possibly accommodation costs. Very sadly this has infiltrated in the Church and Christian community here. It is easier to run training with an individual denomination but much harder interdenominationally. Many pastors receive little or no salary so these allowances have been a help but sadly there are now professional conference attendees. It is hard to assess the motivation of delegates when they are being paid to attend. I have been invited to train in a number of places and I will have work but I would love to help more widely and just to see more relevant training of Church leaders. Please pray for change in this area! |
I also went to the Funeral of Mariko
Ruratetereza, the father of Georgette Butera. Mariko was
one of the early Christians in Burundi. The Anglicans,
now celebrating their 75th anniversary year, came in 1935 and
by 1940 Mariko had become a Christian and was involved in
Christian ministry. He died aged 92, having served the
Lord in many situations but also having suffered his first
wife being killed in 1993. 
- Praise for a restful holiday, fresh joy and vision for 2010.
- Holy Spirit inspiration for the training materials and help as I start delivering them; for open doors.
- Smooth preparations for the Flame conferences; a mix of Anglican and other denominations, and God to prepare hearts.
- Peace esp. amongst the youth in Burundi.
- Family: my brother Andrew in Afghanistan - protection and for him to meet Christians in the military. My Grandma, moving to sheltered accommodation.
