Genesis 4:10  And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”

Yesterday saw five grenades go off in town. Lizzie and a friend were due to buy fabric at the market where a child was blown up. I gave a talk a few hundred yards away shortly after the explosions, and things were back to normal by the time I arrived, but of course the new normal is an absurdity.  

Why oh why all this senseless killing…?

It’s hard to know what to write.

It is simply soul-destroying to watch this country tear itself apart, to be bombarded daily with stories of colleagues’ and friends’ gut-wrenching woe, to observe so much good work over the previous decade undone.

Yet we remain here because we choose to hope that the impossible can happen, that Burundi can emerge into a new dawn, that somehow a pathway to peace can be established, however improbable that looks at this stage. 

So I guess this is just a heartcry to you to pray for this precious land, to hear the cry of the blood. I was going to post a picture of an angelic six-year-old boy smiling in his Sunday best. He was blown up by a grenade two days ago. The picture is so very poignant. It would definitely move you, as it has me. But then I thought of his mother, his father, his siblings. I don’t think they would want his picture used in that way…

Just so utterly sad.