11 months

It has been exactly 11 months since I arrived in Burundi. The past eleven months have been really interesting and the time really flew by. So, as I am looking at only 2 more weeks and change in Burundi, here goes 5 things that never ceased to amaze/puzzle/make me laugh in Burundi.

5 How when you say merci, almost every Burudian answers merci aussi, thanking you for thanking them. Makes 'you're welcome' sound so rude.

4. How LWF drivers never get lost on our field trips, when all you see is red roads, and greenness. Seriously, how do you know it is this tiny red road instead of the next one that looks exactly the same.

3. How little kids ( six, seven year olds) carry their younger siblings, who are half their size, on their backs with ease.

2. How if you ask nicely and are willing to pay, you can almost be accomdated in any way. Ex. your boss's gardener can also paint your house.

1. How many people in Ruyigi and Cankuzo wear Eminem shirts. Thank you Eminem, your donation is appreciated by the people of Ruyigi and Cankuzo who have no idea who you are.

On my next post, I will post more things as I will be reflecting in more depth about my one year experience in Burundi. After Burundi, I am heading to Ethiopia for a month for a vacation/family reunion then I will be heading back to VA. Right now, I am preoccupied with finishing things up at work, welcoming and helping my replacement (arriving on Tues) to settle in, enjoying my time left, and finding a job!!!

Overdue pics of my house after all my decoration efforts

I mentioned in my previous posts (in 2009) how I was busy painting and decorating my house and that I would post pictures later. I realize I never did post pics.. here they go. Many thanks to my friends who helped out :)

My first senior staff meeting, world cup, elections

This month I attended my first senior staff meeting with LWF. We have senior staff meetings in the field once roughly every month. For some reason, I have always been in buj when the meetings occurred. This time, I said I wanted to go and I did. It was interesting and a lot of the meeting focused on logistics issues, which I never deal with it. The people who run projects have to choose suppliers, and in an NGO setting there are many issues that might emerge (partiality, controlling corruption). We also discussed the progress of activities and other issues concerning the entire program. I figured the meeting would be in Swahili/English because my boss doesn’t speak French, but it was actually mostly in French with some English and Swahili. It is amazing how most of our senior staff can easily glide among those languages (this is an addition to their native tongue of Kirundi.)

Word Cup fever has hit Burundi. Of course Africans have always been big soccer fans but this year with the World Cup being in South Africa and the continent having several teams, the excitement is bigger. Many restaurants and cafes have put huge projector screens. I have gone to a few different places to watch the games and I especially liked the screen at bora bora (restaurant/bar by the beach) where they put a screen right behind the pool. With the buj night sky and the reflection of the screen in the water, the view was great. Unfortunately, lately there have been some grenade action and all kinds of rumors so now people are opting to stay home and watch games in small groups with friends.

Let me rewind and explain the grenades and rumors. At first it seemed as though, the first round of elections went well, even though it depended on whom you asked. First there were a few delays. Initially, the elections were supposed to occur on Friday but were postponed twice last minute and finally took place on Monday. So the government ended up declaring thursday (registration), friday and monday national holidays. The party in power won the first round (communal elections) with over 60 percent of the vote. International observers are declaring that the elections were fair while among the populations there are grumblings and rumors of the elections being rigged. Election day was very quiet in Bujumbura but the next day everything was back to business as the results were announced on the radio. However, after a while, the opposition parties started dropping out citing voter fraud. So now, for the next round (presidential vote) there is only the incumbent remaining. International observers pleaded with the opposition to remain in contention with no avail. Then, UN secretary general Ban Ki- moon visited Burundi briefly. People were looking for him to make some type of statement about the first round of elections but he just mainly encouraged leaders to settle differences and to continue to move toward the consolidation of peace. Since then, there have been some grenades thrown in several places in Bujumbura. And since last weekend, there have been rumors of arrests of opposition parties (not true I just found out today.) No one really knows what’s going on and every one blames someone else (government blames opposition, opposition blames government.) In any case, for people leaving in Buj, you would get a text or call for someone advising you against something. American and European Embassies are recommending to their respective citizens to stay away from public places after dark. I read this blog about the incidents and thought this quote accurately describes the atmosphere in buj: “And when the grenades were thrown in Buj, nobody blinked. The dance clubs rocked on until the early morning. About a hundred people gathered around an outdoor TV and watched the World Cup. Most of us had another beer. Not that it's not serious – but this is Bujumbura, where gunfire lulled people to sleep for the better part of 15 years. So let's not get hysterical now, eh?”

You can find the entire article here: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2010/0614/A-comparative-guide-to-grenade-attacks-in-Rwanda-and-Burundi

Here are some other articles about what is going on in Burundi:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gnoEAihAa9HNspu97H1jmPjk5Nsw

http://www.english.rfi.fr/africa/20100614-nkurunziza-only-candidate-presidential-poll

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iQktUi9ohBO2a_OMrk9iMM2mMgSQ

NY times, Albinos, Elections,

Bujumbura and its nightlife made it into the travel section of the NY times. It was a nice surprise and so interesting to read the description of a city I have grown to know well. I also thought the writer did a good job of incorporating some of Burundi's political history. The link between people’s lifestyle and the long war as well as the anxiety about the upcoming elections might help readers get a better feel of Burundi.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/travel/02surfacing.html?emc=eta1

This week, 3 family members, (2 Albinos and 1 non-Albino) were killed in one of our project collines. The killers attacked the family house with knifes and grenades. They killed an Albino woman and her Albino baby and the woman’ s dad, who is not Albino. They cut off her breasts and the baby’s tongue and took it with them. We were very dismayed to hear this sad news especially as we just conducted four big awareness campaigns in the attempt to dispel myths surrounding Albinos. Yet the organ trade is a big money market and Albinos lives continue to be in danger. In response to this, I am charged with the responsibility of writing a proposal for a separate project just for Albinos. We are aiming to find a permanent individual solution for each Albino in our project area. While I am writing the proposal, we started doing a baseline assessment of the Albinos in our area to see what type of solution we might find for them. Last week, I was in the field as we did the first 41 interviews and it was quite heartbreaking. Since, I don’t speak Kirundi, I would just meet each person and take a picture then wait while our staff members conducted the survey. Then I would read the responses, which were often very sad. I wrote the questionnaire, and while I was writing it I asked questions regarding the objectives, goals and dreams (it they had the means) to encourage the Albinos to find their own solution and for us to know how to help them. Yet, I remember sitting in the house in Bweru reading the first questionnaire of an Albino, Cyprien, 55 yrs, in the last section, asking about future aspirations Cyprien said he no dreams, no plans and that his objective was to live. At that moment, I thought about how silly my questions might seem to them as they are hunted for body parts and living in dire poverty. However, as we were about to leave the house in Bweru, Cyprien told us he wanted to add something to his questionnaire. Under future plans, he said he had a fiancée and that he wanted to acquire the means to marry her.

As the week went on, we heard more of the same sad stories yet some Albinos did have future plans and could describe to us what they would do if they had the means (money and training.) When we could find them, (which was hard due to campaigning) we also talked to local government officials about the assistance that they or other NGOs were providing for Albinos. In almost evey case, there was no assistance given to the Albinos. This week, our team continued to do the interviews as I stayed in Bujumbura to write up the proposal for funding. I have never done anything more important in my life and it is hard to believe that I am in charge of this project. I am 22 and in Burundi trying to protect and help Albinos who are being hunted for body parts.

Outside of work, Burundi is full of campaign action. Friday is the first day of voting and last week, upcountry I saw a lot of campaign action. It was the same in Bujumbura but less pronounced. The party in power is definitely dominant as they have the most resources. Everywhere we traveled last week, I saw many people wearing CNDD-FDD (party in power) t-shirts, caps, balloons, khangas and ect. There was a lot of music, floats and chanting. In Bujumbura, it was similar with young people running and waving their party flag. Hopefully, all will go well and Burundi’s transition to peace will be assured.

Our staff members interviewing two Albinos.

Visitors and life in Buj

The week of April 9-16th, we had a monitoring visit from our donors in Australia like I mentioned in my previous post. Before they came, I had worked with our staff to plan their itinerary and make sure their visit would go well. The visit ended up going very well. The two ladies seemed to have enjoyed it and were happy with the progress of the program they are helping fund. Personally, I also had a great time. Sure, the long bumpy car rides, the non-stop questions and the standing around waiting for our visitors to ask their questions can get tiring, but the overall experience was personally inspiring. One of the reasons the trip was so inspiring was because I got to hear back from our target populations about the difference our program was making in their lives. It is part of our responsibility to monitor our program and assess impact but often we are so busy with making sure we follow the work plan, meet report deadlines and organize projects that we don't have the luxury of devoting a whole week to just meeting our community and assessing impact. I thought the visitors asked very good questions, and I learned from them about the ways to try and get the truth from respondents who might not be inclined to share it right away. For example, our visitor repeatedly asked tough questions regarding domestic violence, HIV/AIDs and gender equality, which are sensitive issues. Other times, questions were not even necessary to notice the difference our program was making. For example, we attended two literacy sessions where young and old, male and female were learning to read and write and you could tangibly sense their excitement and sense of gained dignity. When we left the first literacy session, the class broke out into a lovely song in Kirundi. The only word I understood from the song was “Amahoro,” which means “peace” I think they were wishing us well and saying may God give you peace. It was hard not to be moved.

The second reason the trip was inspiring was because of the personalities of our visitors. I have never quite met anyone like them. They took pleasure in every little detail, took interest in every person they met and had a contagious positive energy. Before I went on this trip with our visitors, I read a quote by Einstein, which says, “there are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.” Our visitors were the embodiment of Einstein’s second way of living. Many years younger than them, I felt as though I was much more jaded and just plain realistic. It ‘s funny how after eight months of working for an NGO and seeing poverty all the time, you can begin to just become used it. For example, our last stop on our itinerary was a visit to a group of Albinos living near the local government headquarters. Albinos in northeastern Burundi have been persecuted and killed due to the myth that their bodies contain minerals that can be used in potions to turn someone rich. Hence, some of them have fled to live in a house provided for them by the local government near a police station. The Albinos feel safe there and have so far not returned to their colline of origin. The house is in terrible condition and having left their farms and houses in their hometowns, they live in dire poverty. 13 Albinos, men women and children, all crammed into one house with no furniture. To make matters worse, the Albinos had their goats living with them in their house, because they did not have a proper house for them outside. This made it so that the house had a very pungent smell. All these things combined with the sad stories of the Albinos, is extremely saddening. Yet, as we walked in, my co-worker and I were business as usual. After all, we have come to this place several times, have interviewed these Albinos, written stories and reports about them, organized awareness campaigns where they spoke and having been supporting them. Our visitors, however, were horrified and one was fighting tears. Their response was the normal, human response. This is when it dawned of me at how I have gotten used to poverty and that, unlike the visitors, I did not see a house in poor condition, but a safe shelter.

After the trip, I came back to Buj and have been here since then. I am contemplating going up country this coming week but have not made up my mind yet. Life in Buj is the same as always. The only difference perhaps is that with the upcoming elections, there is more political activity. Official campaigning has not begun but yesterday the ruling party had a congress and I saw various cars during the day with the party flag and young people chanting.

Happy Easter

For Easter, I had 3 days off work, which gave me a five-day weekend. I ended up needing to go to work on Monday and Tuesday but it still made for a nice and relaxing weekend. I stayed in Bujumbura except for Saturday when I went on a day trip to a beach about 1 hour outside of the city. I thought it was a very pretty beach with lots of open space a la Burundi (undiscovered by tourists.)

This Friday, we will be receiving our visitors from Australia and they will be with us for a week. In preparing for them and finally trying to get our annual report printed, I ‘ve been a bit busy at work

Last week, I was in Ruyigi once again and it was quite interesting. Up to this point, every time I stayed in Ruyigi, I lodged in the UNHRC guesthouse. I had become very accustomed to that guesthouse, and it had started to feel like a second home. However, now LWF has a rented house, and I stayed there two nights. It was a relatively decent house but nowhere near as nice as the guesthouse. Then I stayed in this convent in the middle of nowhere, and it was very nice. The view was stunning and it felt like an ideal place to go camping. We ate all our meals with the nuns and they were very friendly. I barely talked to them since everyone at the table was speaking in Kirundi (even though they all speak French.) During one of our meals, I heard them say “...muzungu…,” and knowing that they were talking to me I smiled. Then, my co-worker told me that they were saying that I should learn Kirundi so that when I find my Burundian husband I will be able to speak to my in-laws. Ironic that nuns who decided to never marry were telling me that I should learn Kirundi for my future Burundian in-laws.

Here are some pics of Ruyigi, Gisuru and Blue Bay (the beach 1 hour outside of Buj.)field road
Blue Bay beach

View from Gisuru Parish

Hotel at Gisuru Parish

Some boys I met on the road to Gisuru
Monument of Unity in Ruyigi
Ruyigi
Bugarama, on the road to Ruyigi

overdue update

I realize it's been a little over two months since I have written on my blog. When I decided to keep a blog for my internship in Burundi, I thought that I would need something to help me reflect on my experiences but quickly things got routine and nothing seemed noteworthy. In any case, as I am now in the second half of my internship I will make more of an effort to write regularly and not take my experience here for granted.

Work has been pretty good. We have a new expat staffmember and she will surely make our work better. The CEP project that gave us so much stress in 2009, seems to finally be on track in 2010. We are having our donors from Australia visit the project and this monitoring visit should go even better than the one in the fall (CEP is funded by three donors from Finland, USA and Australia, in the fall we had a monitoring visit from our donors in Finland.) I will be going up with them to the field, and my boss might be with us for the first couple of days. I feel so much more confident this time around as I am much more familiar with everything. As we wait and prepare for their arrival, I have a good amount of work to do as we write up our first quarter report and organize their visit.

Last week, I asked my boss to write me a rec letter and he wrote me what I thought was a very generous letter. Asking him to write me a letter made me think about how good of a job I was doing at work and if I am honest with myself I don't think I am doing my best. To be fair, I do have quite a bit of responsibity and I carry the burden of writing all the reports for CEP and making the other reports better. I know the field pretty well and I work well with the staff and I know my co-workers appreciate working with me. When Aili, piaf director, came to visit me I was touched by how gracious my co-workers were as they raved about how much of a good job I was doing at work. The reason I feel as though I am not really doing my best is simply because I don't think my heart is into what I am doing. I have become more preoccupied with meeting deadlines, making our partners happy and avoiding problems than about making sure our project are the best they can be. When I signed up for this job, although I was skeptical of ngos, I was looking forward to doing something that made a difference. If I stayed in the States, I could have made much more money but in Burundi I thought I could do something worthwhile. I could not have asked for a better work place, where although I am just an intern, I have the opportunity to do many important things and shape our projects. For the remaining months of my fellowship, I am going to take more initiative to be creative, take more personal responsibility over the projects and try and use more of my skill set to help LWF Burundi because I don't want to leave feeling like I could have done so much more.

On a personal note, I took a 3.5 week vacation and went home in Feb. Landing in snow covered Fairfax was quite a contrast from hot, humid and green Bujumbura. It took me a few days to get used to the cold weather, long car rides, everyone speaking English and a few other things. In comparasion, I got used to life back in Bujumbura rather quickly, the bumpy ride home from the airport was a quick re-rentry to life in Burundi. The 3.5 weeks flew by and I very much enjoyed seeing my family and friends again.