Category: GLO
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Christmas Cheer (or not) in Burundi…
Scripture Union Treasurer Tharcisse writes to me: ‘Dear brother Simon, I’m writing to you, as I do every year, however embarrassing it is for me. Because without your help this Christmas will be a day like any other. I’m a father and husband, and I long to be able to buy my wife something –…
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The New Kirundi Bible!
At last! Rosemary Guillebaud will be dancing in heaven! I blogged on this back in April, and it’s taken until this week because of various frustrating delays, but now I’m so happy to be able to say that the new updated version of the Kirundi Bible has been launched in Burundi!!! I’ll paste the previous…
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Living Stones…
My blog has crashed for a while so this should have been out ten days ago. Apologies if you’ve already seen it. It’s alive! Please watch this beautiful film, which tells some of the King’s Conference Centre story – it’s under two minutes. And then, I’d love you to read on… Indeed, King’s Conference Centre…
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Meet Antioch Africa…
This is everything I love about what we are trying to do as GLO. It is utterly strategic in the nation; it models beautiful partnership across nationalities; it involves empowering and equipping leaders. Meet one of our key partners, Antioch Africa, in this stunning short film, just 3mins+. In years to…
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Crazy Miracles and Beautiful Stories from Burundi…
Greetings! It’s with great pleasure I can feed back to you about another explosively fruitful summer outreach with Harvest Initiatives in Burundi from the 4th – 18thAugust, just last month. Here are a few of the many stories: · At Mukike, a witchdoctor called Domitile repented as she heard our evangelists. She handed over her…
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Barred from School in Burundi?
Last year at this time I penned the following, which is the same situation today: Aaarrgh! I write this angry and sad and tearful and frustrated. And I want to write now whilst I feel deeply raw. I’ve said before how I love and hate Burundi in equal measure. I love the people – their…
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More Miracles in Burundi!
A famous witchdoctor called Makari received what he thought were prospective ‘clients’ into his den. His reputation went before him and so our evangelists wanted to challenge his authority. When they revealed their identity, the power of God came on him and he fell to the ground. When he came to, he sat and listened…
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Blessed are the Peacemakers…
‘Shortly before racing in the 1993 World Championships in Toronto, his brother rings to tell him his parents have been murdered and their bodies dumped down a latrine. He still runs and gets a medal, the first Burundian ever to do so…’ Below is the link to Nkaza’s testimony that we put on film last…
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Graduation!
Six years ago, there was an empty field. Now there is probably the best campus in the country. The day before we flew out, it was Gitega International Academy’s second graduation. Hot on the heels of gaining ACSI (international) accreditation in record time, it was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the school’s progress and celebrate…
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GLO-ing from Strength to Strength!
PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS VERY SIGNIFICANT NEWS: After just two months shy of twenty years, I’ve stopped living in Burundi, as of last night. My beloved nation has blessed me beyond imagining – and I don’t use that as a cliché. I came as a single young nutter expecting to die before the age…
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The Marriage of the Year – Move Over Harry and Meghan!
In January, I shared with you ‘a fairy tale come true for the ugliest duckling in Burundi’. Well, on Saturday, he got married to his babe, Floride! Nobody, NOBODY, could ever have believed this was possible, from being the ugliest disfigured reject in Burundi twenty one years ago. God is amazing! In 1997, he had…
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The Beginning of the End…
In two weeks’ time, we’ll be back in the UK, and our time as a whole family living together in Burundi will be over. I find that hard to take in. In fact, none of us actually wants to leave. We love this country, and we love living here. So it’s good to be leaving…
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Radical Grace
Today was a day feared by many, as Burundians went to the polls in a referendum on changing the constitution. We were told to lie low and stay indoors. As the day draws to a close, it looks like it has all gone peacefully, with the results to follow shortly – although we all know…
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The Beautiful Beginning…
We waited four years and went through umpteen challenges to become totally above-board legitimate owners of this land, and now the work has begun with a vengeance! It’s hard for you to understand the joy in this 30second clip. PTI (Partners Trust International) took the inspired decision not to use big time-efficient diggers to excavate…
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Praying for Peace in Burundi…
This short blog is simply a call to prayer for Burundi as we approach the referendum on the 17th May. The referendum is to amend (or not) the constitution to change presidential terms from 5 to 7 years, renewable once. The clock on terms would be reset, so that potentially the current President could continue…