We just spent a month in Africa! My husband’s family has lived there since the 1940s, and we took a long trip to visit grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Tanzania and Burundi.

If you’ve been following me for a bit, you know that my 21-month-old daughter has several health concerns. When she was first diagnosed, we believed our days of international travel were over. But as she’s grown, her medical needs have stabilized significantly. And it was high time she met her paternal grandparents and many of her other extended family members!

Here are a few of the things we saw and did:

Gisuru School for the Deaf and Ephphatha School for the Deaf

We started our trip visiting the village of Gisuru, which is in rural Burundi. My brother-in-law started Gisuru School for the Deaf to meet the needs of the uncommonly large Deaf population in Burundi.

We took Baby Bee down to visit a few times, and as you can see, everyone wanted a chance to meet the little deaf American baby! She was even given a name sign, which I’d been hoping for. We also got to chat with both of the students we sponsor.

Little Man’s not in this picture, but he spent many hours at the school, helping make bread. The school has a bakery as part of its trade program.

When we visited the capital city on the other side of the country, we got to visit Burundi’s other school for the deaf. Ephphatha School for the Deaf was started by in-laws a few decades ago, and now is it one of many projects that Ben’s other brother and his wife oversee. Currently, they are working on developing the school’s new campus.

These are boarding schools serving impoverished rural families. You can support the mission by sponsoring a student:

Discovery School

My sister-in-law runs an English-language private school in Bujumbura, Burundi. The school takes a critical-thinking approach to education, which sets them apart. One of their main goals is to equip Burundi’s future leadership to lead well and navigate the global marketplace effectively. They celebrated their first graduating class three years ago.

Discovery School is currently working on opening a branch near a rural hospital a few hours away. This school will help to attract and retain medical professionals, since many hospital employees have decided to leave their work due to lack of schools in the area.

Little Man loved the library–I believe it’s the biggest school library in the country!

See photos of the school and learn how you could get involved here:

Grandpa’s Boat

We stayed with Ben’s parents for a week. They have recently retired and moved into a lovely home overlooking Lake Tanganyika. Grandpa’s boat is a lot of fun for lake trips, but it’s also a ministry tool. He uses the boat to minister to communities all along the lake, some of which are impossible to reach by road.

While in Tanzania, we also enjoyed time with Ben’s childhood friends and the family of another of his brothers (yes, Ben has a LOT of brothers!), who does pastoral training etc. in Tanzania.

Kanura School for the Blind

My father-in-law opened this school for the blind in the 1980s. It’s currently under the leadership of Burundian nationals, some of whom are blind graduates of this school. Kanura is also open to sighted children, which furthers the goal of destigmatizing disabilities.

It was cool to see how the school has adapted their curriculum to work for the students. Some of the classrooms displayed textured posters, like yarn and beans glued to graphics of the digestive system so kids can feel it it and understand as they learn. We also came across several students playing musical instruments, and I was excited to see their braille library, including braille printers and adaptive computer programs that allow them to create more literature.

The Lab

Ben built this lab in a rural village in Tanzania. His friend, also named Benjamin, is a pharmacist and will hopefully be opening his practice here within the next year. It was cool to see the finished building in person.

Besides visiting these projects and schools, we had a great time with family. Little Man got to hang out with seven of his cousins, and everyone loved playing with Baby Bee, too. She made a lot of progress and thrived in this new setting. It was a good month!