On the Ground in  Burundi
Update - Jodi was a special guest speaker at St. Anne’s in August. She spoke of her past work with schools in Burundi and the launch of her own project “On the Ground in Burundi”. This project will focus on providing English language instruction for secondary school students. In her latest blog Sister Jodi states “I'm excited about the project, and the degree of interest it's generating among youth in particular. Over the last three weeks, forty-three students from five local high schools, some of them walking a considerable distance, have participated in the informal English sessions I offer at my home in the afternoons.” To follow Jodi’s journey in her new life and work in Burundi visit her blog postings on her website www.onthegroundinburundi.org.

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In August St. Anne’s was delighted to welcome Jodi Mikalachki, professor and missionary, who had recently returned from serving in Burundi among the Batwa people and as a teacher at the Hope School of Nyangungu. She works with the Christian Union for the Education and Development of the Underpriviieged and shared both about her experiences over the past 3 years and plans for returning to launch “On The Ground In Burundi”

Jodi explains: On The Ground in Burundi is a hands on project that invites others as well, to work beside, empowering the people of Burundi. It is a mission inspired by Jesus' teachings on personal commitment and community. It is a practical strategy for honoring and bringing about the Kingdom of Heaven on the ground in rural Burundi. In particular, it responds to Jesus' imperative to stand with the poor and marginalized, focusing on some of the poorest people in one of the poorest countries in the world.

An important Christian model for the mission of On The Ground in Burundi is the miracle of the loaves and fishes as told in Mark's gospel, where the phrase "on the ground" appears. Before breaking and blessing the small offering of loaves and fishes, Jesus asks the crowd to sit "on the ground." Then he works the miracle. I understand this process as a strategy for mission and development, as follows. (1) Pay attention to what is available on the ground, however inadequate it may seem to the overwhelming needs of the community, because everything starts there. (2) Offer it to Jesus in prayer. (3) Sit on the ground. Take up a position of commitment and solidarity in community. Acknowledge the authority and wisdom of Jesus, and trust in his compassionate agency and advocacy in and for the community. Be organized and ready to use what will come of this collaboration.

Personally, I am motivated by Jesus' teaching in John 12:24: "Unless a grain of wheat falls in the earth [or 'on the ground' in some translations] and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." I think there are many privileged Christians and others of good will who are longing to offer themselves in a communal enterprise that will bear much fruit.

Thank you Jodi for the beautiful African fabric
Jodi wrote: “I've reserved a flight to return to Burundi on September 3rd, and am working hard with my board to have everything that needs to be in place before I leave. Thank you so much for all that you and St. Anne's are contributing to this readiness. This is certainly a process in which I recognize each day that nothing good happens without God. In Christ, Jodi.

Burundi is a small, densely populated country of over nine million people in the Great Lakes region of Africa East/Central Africa. It recently emerged from a long civil war (1993-2004), but is increasingly stable following the second set of democratic national elections held in 2010. Burundi entered the Anglican communion as part of the East Africa revival movement in the 1930s. Buye is the oldest Anglican diocese in Burundi (1965). It was initially founded as a mission by Bishop Barham in 1939 to serve as a training center for Anglicans in Burundi, Rwanda, and Eastern Congo. In addition to the Cathedral, it includes a Bible College, a secondary school, and a hospital.

I would also be very happy to invite you to my home on the border of Gitega and Buye Dioceses, where you will find two Colombian priests serving in the Roman Catholic Mission there. With a seminary next door, accommodation possibilities are close at hand.

How to support On the Ground in Burundi
Funds from Canada at this time should be made payable to St. Anne’s Anglican Church, Byron with memo: “On The Ground In Burundi – Jodi Mikalachki”

On the Ground in Burundi - Supporting education and community grassroots development in rural Burundi
Its purpose is to raise awareness in North America about the struggles and great potential of rural Burundi, and to engage North Americans and Burundians alike in developing a rural community finding its feet after decades of war, injustice, and extreme poverty.

Its primary vehicle is a community development center in northern Burundi serving an extremely poor rural community through original educational programming and support of existing educational structures. The initial focus of the Center's own programming is English-language teaching to facilitate Burundi's integration into the East Africa Community, and to ensure that the rural poor have access to the benefits of full political and economic membership in the region. As the Center and its resources grow, it may add instruction in other areas of strong interest to the community, including computer skills, small business planning and administration, and sustainable farming.

The Center also supports existing educational structures by providing extra-curricular programs and supervision for secondary students at local schools. Primary school is now free in Burundi, and largely illiterate rural communities are rising to the challenge of supporting their children at the primary level. These communities have little understanding, however, of the more challenging academic requirements of secondary school, which is not free. Many poor rural students (girls and the minority Twa ethnicity in particular) fail or drop out of secondary school for lack of basic necessities and academic support and mentoring. The Center focuses on its programming on these most vulnerable rural populations.

In all its programming, the Center emphasizes beneficiary responsibility for personal and local development. Members organize themselves to maintain the Center and cultivate its vegetable gardens. Secondary students take on mentoring roles with younger children, teaching them from what they have learned at the Center and helping them to continue and flourish in primary school. Youth members are also primary agents in conducting qualitative research for a baseline needs assessment in the community as photographers and interviewers.

The Center will be registered in Burundi as a nonprofit organization ("association sans but lucratif"), with governing officers and members. It will have the necessary legal status to receive funding, and to own property.

Funding for the Center comes from private donors in the United States and Canada, with the possibility of in-kind donations, use of space, and expertise from local government and churches in Burundi. As the Center becomes more established, it will seek additional partners to broaden its funding base.