Reflections from Africa

By Kyle Reber

In this book, the author describes his rather eye-opening experience of witnessing an entirely different culture from his two weeks in Burundi, Africa. He will give you a taste of the life there based on his journal that he kept throughout the entire trip. You will read things that will bring laughter, crying, introspection, and everything in between. Enjoy being a part of the narrative as he takes you through the urban and rural parts of Burundi and reflects upon things that were going on in his heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638743668

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Reflections from Africa

Kyle Reber

Copyright © 2021 by Kyle Reber

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preparations

I Hate Flying

Entry: February 1, 2020

February 2, 2020

February 3, 2020

February 4, 2020

February 5, 2020

February 6, 2020

February 7, 2020

February 8, 2020

February 9, 2020

February 10, 2020

February 11, 2020

February 12, 2020

Flight Home

Post Trip: COVID Life and God’s Sovereignty

Preface

We all desire to go on a trip of a lifetime to some far-off country and experience an entirely different culture just to say that we have been there. There is something about experiencing a different culture that makes one rethink some things about their life, and I want to share some of those things with you.

My best friend moved to Burundi to do mission work, and we both had been talking about me visiting for a while. It was all talk until I decided to choose the dates with him and stick to it, so I bought tickets that night and finally started the process. A child that I sponsor is right next door in Tanzania, and I wanted to make use of this trip to go see her as well. I knew where I was headed was going to be different, and I refused to look at pictures of Burundi before I went there because I wanted to take it all in upon arrival.

I had never flown overseas, let alone by myself, so this was a big deal for me. One gets caught up in all types of fears that are legitimate but not productive. Currently, the coronavirus is a major one for many, but not for me. Let’s face it though, where I live, there is a higher death rate for car accidents and influenza, but we seem to be stuck on the virus. I am somewhat of a conspiracy theorist, so I wasn’t terribly worried about it because I don’t really trust the news anymore. Many people wore masks, but I don’t want to live in fear and smell my own burps for thirty-eight hours. My fears were more along the lines of not making flights, catching an actual disease, getting on the wrong flight because of failure to understand the airport worker or their failure to check the boarding pass, not making it to Burundi, not making it back from Burundi, accidentally swallowing water giving me the runs for a week, getting held hostage…the list goes on and on when you march into the unknown.

This is the story of my journey to Bujumbura, Burundi, to see my friend, whom I will call Norm because I think Norm McDonald is dementedly hilarious. I know most people could read this in one sitting since it’s not that long of a book, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. I will be basing it off my daily journal entries from the trip. I will tell it the way I heard and saw it and briefly describe my thoughts I had to the best of my memory. I am aware some of the content may come across as slightly judgmental to the reader, but keep in mind I am writing this to myself, and at the time of writing these entries, I never anticipated writing a book. I chose to keep the tone this way because it seemed more authentic to me. I put we and us in there at times because I know I am not the only one with the battles that I became aware of.

Some of this is just the storyline of events, and my reflections mixed in as they came because God gave me plenty of time to think on this trip. One could choose to write about subject matters with chapters labeled as such, but I wanted it to be laid out more of how the trip went so you can go on the journey with me. That being said, there will be repeats because themes continued to come up again and again, but it’s not a novel; it is reflections. My greatest desire is to get you thinking for yourself and for you to apply this the way you feel the Holy Spirit is leading you to do.

1

Preparations

I get off the phone with Norm from our weekly check-in via WhatsApp video chat and get on the computer with a slight determination: I will buy these tickets so we can quit talking and start doing. I typed in the credit card information for a little over $1,800 for the flights to leave Atlanta and end up in Bujumbura, Burundi. I couldn’t find a package deal with the same airlines or their partners, so I had to buy a ticket to Atlanta separately, which meant I had to get off, go to baggage claim, and wait in line to check the baggage and go through security again. It also meant I had to camp out at the Atlanta airport overnight since my next flight left in the morning.

I also couldn’t get anything that was a consistent flight from Atlanta to Africa and back. On the way there, I had to go to Atlanta, DC, Ethiopia, Bujumbura, and on the way back was Bujumbura, Ethiopia, Dublin, DC, Atlanta, then home. I was stressing over the one-hour layover in Dublin because that’s all they offered, but I found out you stay seated, and that was just to refuel. The trip to Africa didn’t have to stop in Dublin, but their schedule must require that.

I looked over my printed itinerary and realized I made a stupid mistake: I booked the wrong return date for my Atlanta trip. I called the airline, and they said there was nothing they could do and wouldn’t offer a refund. I felt like throwing in the towel right then and there and not wasting any more money on the trip. I begrudgingly paid for another ticket after fighting it for a couple days and ate the $400.

With tickets purchased six months ahead of time, I then began the journey of all the prep work needed to go overseas. I went to see my primary care physician to get the list of shots necessary for the trip, just to find that my hometown doesn’t have all the ones I need. Typhoid and yellow fever shots had to be taken in Oklahoma City since almost all of them are shipped off for foreign aid. I also had to get Hepatitis A + B, measles, mumps, rubella, and tetanus. Typhoid and yellow fever shots ran around $370, but the others seemed to be covered by insurance, so that was a blessing. It is wise to do this very early, because your body needs time to produce the antibodies that will be your means for fighting against those illnesses.

The same place that I received my shots offered to obtain my visas for Burundi and Tanzania, but I found it to be cheaper to send it to the Embassy of Burundi in DC. It only cost $90 for the Burundi visa, and I needed a multiple entries stamp that allowed me to go back into Burundi after Tanzania. They wanted over $200 for each but could promise to get them to you within twenty-four hours. I didn’t buy that, pun intended.