Camp Meeting - Central Africa Style

From July 28 till August 5 the tip of a small peninsula in Lake Kivu was home to approximately 150 missionaries. This annual gathering for rest, fellowship, encouragement, teaching, and just plain fun was begun in 1946 by some of the first missionaries to this area. They represented several different denominations and mission groups and this is still true today. We met people who are from England, Scotland, The Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand, Germany and many states in America. They are currently working all over Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and Tanzania. Some are close to retirement and others were new to Central Africa like us. It was a wonderfully diverse group with the common purpose to be obedient to God's call on their lives and to be a blessing to those among whom He has called them to live and work. This is Kumbya.




There are a half dozen or so brick cottages belonging to various missions where some people stay. These have cement floors, running (cold) water, and beds of foam mattresses on wooden frames.

Others stay in these huts which the Rwandan workers build the week before the conference starts. There were about 20 of these. Many people brought tents to pitch outside the huts for sleeping and used the huts for changing clothes.

Since Kumbya is only about 3 1/2 miles from

Kibogora, we stayed at our house.

No matter where one stayed, the bathroom experience was the same! The barrel holds water for flushing and the spigot is for washing hands.

It takes lots of wood to cook for 150 people at Kumbya.

The wood is loaded under the cooking surface from the outside.

Inside, large pots and pans allow food to cook quite nicely on the VERY HOT surface. Water was boiled for drinking and cooking.

Under one end of the cooking surface are two ovens. Garlic toast and pizza were two favorites that were baked in here.











The doors do need a little help to stay closed!

The chow line was a great place to get acquainted. The kids were usually at the front!

The meals were delicious and the fellowship superb!

Grace enjoyed her turn on the clean-up crew so much that she volunteered to do it several more times. We often heard a lot of singing and laughing coming from the kitchen!

This is a "sandbox" where the toddlers could play.

The girls really enjoyed getting acquainted with other kids who are living in Africa. Two teams of college-aged folks came through World Venture and provided activities and teaching for the teens and VBS for the younger children.










Big kids and little kids alike had fun in and by Lake Kivu.

Megan and friends.

An annual event at Kumbya is the early morning swim to Three Hump Island. That's the small one just left of center. Swimmers gathered just before dawn to be ready for the 6 AM start. About 20 brave souls participated this year--no Frymans! Dave joined those who rowed dug-out canoes alongside the swimmers for safety and Grace and Abby cheered them on.

This Dave was the first to complete the 1 1/2 mile swim. He felt so good he decided to also swim back!

The rest of the swimmers took advantage of the boats for the trip back to Kumbya.














The swimmers returned to the enthusiastic cheers of Kumbya campers. Megan and I decided that our congratulations could wait until later in the day.

The winners! Johnny, third place; Louise, second place; and Dave, first place.










Our last day together began with worship on the beach. The weather was chilly, but our hearts were warm as we worshipped and gave thanks for a wonderful week.

After a long and full week, Abby and Emily decided to take it easy for awhile.











Singing around a campfire under a clear, star-filled night sky was the perfect ending to the week. We are so glad we could participate in Kumbya 2007 and are grateful for all we learned from those more experienced with life in Central Africa.