Our 20 Day Campaign and the Results
If you were following us at all on social media this past month, you hopefully heard all about Yada through our “20 Days To Know Yada” campaign. We had SO much fun with it, and it was a joy to introduce you to our team, our communities, and our dreams for the future. If you missed any of it, you can find each day outlined on our Instagram page. Simply search for Yada Burundi and tap through the 20 days as pictured in the screenshot above on the left. Once you open one of the days, you can tap through the different videos as shown in the photo on the right. We’ll be sharing loads more in the future both on Instagram and on our Facebook page so be sure to follow us on each!
>> If you have any questions about how to do this, don’t hesitate to reach out to Carley, our Communications Director at helloyadaburundi@gmail.com or simply reply to this newsletter <<
All that to say – the 20 Days campaign was a smashing success! Thank you to all who followed and donated, especially in the lead-up to Christmas.
Christmas is such a special time for believers around the world, but it is extra special for Yada because it is our anniversary – December 2023 marked nine years for us! Nine years ago we kicked off Yada by hosting Christmas dinner in Nyarumanga, and all these years later, we are still going strong! All the glory to God!
This Christmas, between Nyarumanga and Gihanga, we were able to feed 465 people! That is a LOT of people who had an amazing Christmas because of your generosity and the Lord’s faithfulness! So seriously – a huge thanks to all of you!
Christmas in Nyarumanga
A portion of December’s funds went towards our annual Christmas dinner in Nyarumanga. You will remember from previous years how special this time is for our community, as highlighted in our interviews with Annick and Fiston (in the Day 7 and 8 highlights on Instagram), who both commented that it was their favorite day of the year as a child! It is, for many, the only time of year they will eat meat.
The day began with the children performing dances to favoured local songs while mamas adorned in every color of gitenge sat back and enjoyed fellowship and merriment. While they rested and enjoyed themselves, our team was busy cooking, cleaning, and plating up dishes – a feat in itself while wearing the traditional invutano dress, which, while beautiful, is essentially a pile of synthetic bed sheets that aren’t necessarily known for breathing well 😅 As we plated up steaming hot beans and meat in a small, closet-sized room in 33-degree heat, the joy of serving our friends Christmas dinner overcame all the discomfort, and we filled the air with laughter as we worked.
After the dancing, Nicola gave a short sermonette about the meaning of Christmas, and one of our dear mamas, Dorothe, whom you also met on Day 12 of our campaign, led us in a prayer of thanksgiving.
Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for…plate after plate literally overflowing with rice, beans, meat, chips, vegetables, and the requirement for every true festivity in Burundi – a Fanta!
After everyone was fully satisfied, the mamas started a dance party. You’ll find some brilliant videos of these moments in our Day 19 highlight on Instagram.
It was a perfect day. Thank you for helping make it possible!
Christmas in Gihanga
We have been doing monthly supplemental food packages for Gihanga for the last few months, so the funding from the Christmas campaign went towards December’s food package. To make it extra special for Christmas, we included two new aluminum pots – one for each household.
We arrived at the village to hear the familiar sounds of drumming and singing as our beautiful Batwa friends welcomed us and celebrated God’s provision by making a joyful noise! After some dancing together, Ezechiel gave a brief talk about Christmas, reminding us all of the hope we find in Jesus, God incarnate born into a poor family surrounded by animals and a barn with a patchy room – a reality increasingly poignant and relatable in this community who finds better shelter from the rain under surrounding trees than their thatched roofs made from mud and rubbish. The presence of newborn babes wrapped in cloth, bouncing on the backs of their dancing mamas brought the Christmas story to life.
After some amazing dancing and singing, we were able to gather the community and distribute the monthly food packages. They were overjoyed and thankful, as food is so hard to come by in this community. You will recall that until the food packages, they were eating only one meal every few days. Even though there is still a long way to go, we’re starting to see babies looking a bit healthier and mamas with fuller faces each time we visit. Yet, in little and in plenty, they are still praising the Lord.
Lord Jesus, continue to sustain them and keep them healthy as we work together for sustainability.
The other big joy of the day was that we decided to add a little extra gift to December’s food distribution in the spirit of Christmas! Each family received two aluminum cooking pots! Something the community had asked for and we ourselves had noticed they needed. What a joy and delight to be able to provide these.
You will hear more in the coming weeks about our plans for 2024 in Gihanga, so stay tuned!
After all the food and gifts were distributed, we had a jubilant time laughing and chatting. Ezechiel led the community in a game (the Burundian equivalent of “Simon Says”), and it wasn’t long before we were all laughing and giggling together like children. The families are so deeply thankful for these life-sustaining food packages, and what may seem like just a small thing (a pot or a lamp) can change everything about their quality of life.
We ended the time together with some Christmas songs, which you’ll find in the Day 18 highlight on Instagram. We’re so excited about our future relationship with Gihanga and all God is up to there! What a joy it is to partner together to see His kingdom come and His promise of a bright future become a reality in this place which can often feel so hopeless and bleak. Lord, let us see a powerful breakthrough in 2024 in the lives of our communities!
Prayer Requests
- Please be praying for us as we navigate the future with Gihanga, especially as we launch our discipleship groups and start raising funds for their homes
- Please pray for the ongoing development in Nyarumanga – for the small businesses of our mamas to be sustainable and for our KUB students to succeed in their studies
- Please pray for the ongoing protection and encouragement of our family, team, and communities as we live and work in Burundi. It is not an easy place to live, and every day can often feel like an uphill battle.