FAMA Ministries

Article by: Barbara Appleby

I was excited to return to Muyinga after not having been there for almost two years. Between the time of my first visit and this one, FAMA had been officially established in the US and launched its program to educate the Pygmies of Muyinga. Read More...

Article by: Pastor Michael Olmstead

We were picked up about 9:30 am to visit the Pygmies of Muyinga with the Guerison des Ames Church. Thanks to funds sent from America, the church had bought food, clothes and juice bottles for the Pygmies and refugees in a nearby camp. A team from the church had left earlier in the day and distributed the food and clothes. We went up into the mountains and saw rural Burundi. What a beautiful country, but what hardship and poverty. Many, many people walk along the side of the road going to or from Bujumbura with goods to sell. Bikes with young men on them, often laden with bananas, charcoal, fruits or vegetables labored up the mountain road or were flying down the hills at breakneck speed due to the weight of their freight! Women and children walked along the road and women with hoes, as well as children, were working the soil right next to the road. At certain points we got an excellent view of the valleys between the mountains and saw the hillsides and valleys full of fields of produce and banana groves and houses with paths connecting house to house. Fires burned with a blue smoke which is their recycling program. Weeds are burned, which explains all the smoke we saw when flying into the country. Read More...

Article by: Anne Olmstead

Traveling to the Muyinga Province was an unforgettable experience! The trip from Bujumbura to the Pygmy Village was about a 4 hour drive on winding, sometimes steep roads. When we arrived at the Village, we were almost immediately surrounded by Pygmy children anxious to see Pastors Ruben and Manasse and the mazungus (a.k.a. WHITE people) they had brought with them. As I took pictures I realized that most, if not all, of the people I was photographing had never seen themselves even in a mirror. They were amazed to see their digital image on the screen of the camera. Read More...