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Our job was to capture in photographs their current production of “Bee-luther-hatchee,” a drama that explores the interweaving issues of race, art, memory and grief.

Leah and I enjoy working with art organizations not only because we believe in what they do, and we want to be a part of their success, but also because it’s always fun to see how our work can complement the work of other artists.

The play was written by Thomas Gibbons, and directed by Daniel Student (pictured below as he watches the dress rehearsal).

VCFA is a low-residency college that offers a wide variety of degree programs. I have been attending now for a year and a half, and absolutely love their MFA in Creative Writing program. Since it’s a low-residency program, I can continue to work from home with Leah on the photography business. We can still travel and work and live, as long as I carve out a few hours each day for my school work.

This past residency, I had the privilege of taking photos for VCFA. My goal was to capture the social, academic, and artistic life of the school. The residencies are packed with great readings, workshops, lectures and informal discussions about writing. Capturing all of this in photographs will help VCFA communicate to prospective students the type of nurturing and professional environment they can expect to enter.

So if you’re considering an MFA in Creative Writing, feel free to contact me about my experience with VCFA. It has been great, and I would highly recommend the program to anyone who would like to grow as a writer.

We’ll arrive back in Philly on Monday evening.

First of all, Burundi is a beautiful country. At 11,000 square miles, it is about 1/4 the size of the state of Pennsylvania. But the population is about the same. Twelve million in PA, and about nine or ten million in Burundi.

Like Rwanda (its neighbor to the north), Burundi has a long history of tensions between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority. These two groups lived in relative peace until the first colonialists arrived and began to treat the Tutsi with favor. Although the violence in Burundi did not match the scale of violence seen in the Rwandan genocide, fighting has continued here until as recently as last week.

In fact, the day before we arrived in Burundi, the rebel group that hides in the beautiful Burundian forests signed a peace treaty with the government! A man staying at our hotel commented on our great timing, and said that he heard shelling quite near our hotel just a few days before we arrived. But things have been very calm since we got here.

We made it back from a two-day trip out into the mountains where we visited a prison, a hospital, and a high-school HIV/AIDS program. The people of Burundi (much like the people of Rwanda) have been very hospitable. Leah and I have been inspired by the work that they are doing to bring peace, health, education, and spiritual renewal to all people here.

Leah and I feel quite lucky to be able to listen to their stories. Our hope is that, through writing and photography, we can share those stories and somehow narrow the perceived gap between people.

Today is our last full day in Africa, and we are looking forward to being home! We will post one final entry tomorrow, then it’s back on a plane for thirty more hours of waiting and sitting and flying and (every once in a while) napping.

The photos in this post are from Rwanda, because I have not had time to organize our first batch of photos from Burundi.

We don’t have long to write because we are going out into the countryside today. We will stay in a village overnight and return to the capital, Bujumbura, tomorrow evening. So we won’t have internet access for the next day or two.

But so far, we have really enjoyed Burundi. The food is spectacular, and our hosts are very nice and accommodating. We will post photos from our first day here when we return from our excursion. We visited a school yesterday, and met some wonderful students who are leading an HIV/AIDS awareness group in their high school. Check back soon for some photos.

We hope you are doing well, and we will write more soon!

Yesterday, we visited a church, and got to see a Sunday School program in action. We were really touched by the creative and generous spirit of this congregation. The children were so eager to learn, and many shared stories about how their lives have changed since the program began.

We’re not sure what we’re going to see (or do) in Burundi, but we’re looking forward to this next week of our trip! Leah and I have enjoyed getting to know Allen, the videographer with whom we’re travelling, and have really enjoyed working with him here.

Our internet connection has been somewhat unreliable, but check back when you can, and we will post updates whenever we have a good connection.

Along the way, we saw a cool (but apparently quite poisonous) snake.

And also, the engine overheated. But thanks to the passerby with a water container, we were back on the road in no time.

Eventually, we made it to the prison, where we heard some fascinating stories about what’s happening in the wake of the Rwandan genocide. Most of the over 7,000 people in the prison were there because of some atrocity they committed during the genocide.

But in an effort to stop the cycle of violence and retribution, a prisoner can be released if he or she admits the crime, apologizes to the family, and participates in a program of healing, reconciliation and forgiveness.

We will be visiting another prison tomorrow, as well as an HIV/AIDS program. We will continue to post updates of our activities when we have time. For now, it’s time for us to go eat dinner, relax, and get plenty of sleep for tomorrow!

Our flight from Brussels to Kigali was quite uneventful. Eight hours of sitting in a chair. One cool part was flying over the Sahara Desert. From the air, it looked like a khaki ocean — waves and all.

Tomorrow we visit a prison! We’ll post photos soon.

We will be here for several hours before flying on to Kigali.

We’ve had the pleasure of meeting Allen, the staff videographer from the American Bible Society (plus creative renaissance man - writer, etc). He’s been great fun to travel with, and we look forward to working with him in Africa! Check out his blog at www.allenpaulweaverIII.com.

More updates (and photos) will follow in the next day or two.

Thanks for all the cool comments and emails!!

But, we’ll be leaving for Rwanda and Burundi tomorrow!

The American Bible Society is sending us there to photograph several community development projects to which they are contributing funds. So far, we know that we’ll be photographing a prison ministry, an HIV/AIDS organization, and a couple of children’s programs. Other than that, we’re not sure what to expect!

So check back when you can. We will update you as internet access permits.

Here’s a brief sketch of our itinerary:

• Wednesday, May 21st: Leave Philly in the morning. Fly to Atlanta, Brussels, and then Kigali, Rwanda.
• Thursday, May 22nd: Arrive in Kigali, Rwanda at 7:00pm.
• Tuesday, May 27th: Fly from Rwanda to Bujumbura, Burundi
• Sunday, June 1st: Fly from Bujumbura to Brussels, then to Atlanta and back to Philly.
• Monday, June 2nd: Arrive in Philly at 6:00pm!