I can’t say this has been an exceptional week. I was on the phone with Wesley from Cooked in Africa Films and he could pick it up over the phone. “You don’t sound your positive self Ben.” And I haven’t. It’s not so much the sheer mountain of logistics and details to organize, though the little things like visa’s for the five country-11 day road trip to Burundi do add up. It’s an all-round atmosphere thing.
Tension in the house with so many big decisions on our shoulders, and no more time to procrastinate has put the pressure on. Four year old Boy Adventurer picks up on this and cranks up the whining to level 7.5. Then teething Boy Biter adds in with non-stop whimpering and crying as four teeth try to break through his poor little gums all at once. Ending nearly a decade of life in Durban South Africa seems to be filled with frustration and a time-bomb of anxiety and pressure dangling just above our heads.
With all this boiling over frustration the best thing for me to do is go to Burundi, and leave Camera Girl with our two little darling boys and all the packing (hoping this blog post go’s unread by Kristy). Reality is that I need to set up our business in Burundi and open a bank account so that we can get a work visa to live in the country. Good news is that the ex-prime minister of the country and I have been talking and met a couple of times and he has his best lawyer working on this for us. Then I need to travel into the hills to make initial contact with all the washing stations, convincing them to send me daily samples of their parchment coffee and find a person who can help me start to collect these samples, label them and make sure the washing stations follow through on any agreements we make. Oh, yes, and the only other non-Burundian doing this just got death threats against him (don’t tell grandma). To add to the legal stuff there is the “find a house” issue. I don’t say issue lightly. Burundi is a country with no real-estate agents or websites with video walk through tours and emails inquiry buttons to find out more details. It’s a “drive around at night looking for dark windows because those are the houses no-one is living in and might be rentable” sort of place. I’m going to be doing a lot of night driving next week.
On the lighter side…. I do get to fly with a suitcase full of the first things we can leave in Bujumbura next week. And with that added pressure/joy, the packing for Burundi begins.
Coffee Guy
This may or may not be a dumb question…but why would a non-Burundian receive death threats for doing what he’s doing?
The threats came to an unscrupulous buyer from a “rival” European company that essentially screwed over a large section of farmers in Burundi this year. They gave low prices for the farmers coffee cherries without them knowing it was not going to the washing station that I am going to be working with and gives good end of year premiums. So when the farmers came to the washing station to collect their bonus/premium at the end of the season… nothing. Lots of angry, and rightfully so, farmers who are living on literally next to nothing. Moral of the story: be transparent in everything.
Amen! Thank you for clarifying.
Well, Grandma has read the post. God be with you, Ben, and you at home, Kristy + + plus boys.