I’m sorry for writing this entry in German – but I had to write a report for the organisation which is financing my stay in Burundi, and in fact, I promised my family at home to write occasionally in German, so I decided to post this right away…

Im Nachhinein frage ich mich, wieso ich erst so spät Urlaub genommen habe. Nach dem zweiwöchigen Urlaub in Uganda, den ich zusammen mit einem Freund aus Deutschland vebracht habe, sprühe ich vor Energie, bin voller Tatendrang. Ich weiß mittlerweile wo ich stehe, was meine Aufgaben sind und wie ich die von mir anvisierten Projekte umsetzen kann. Es hat gut getan, Abstand zu gewinnen, von dem Leben hier, das aufgrund unserer Wohnsituation 24 Stunden von unserer Arbeit bestimmt wird, andere Dinge zu sehen, neue Menschen zu treffen. Vor allem aber hat es mir auch gut getan, mich mit jemandem von Zuhause auszutauschen. Zu erst mit meiner Freundin Anna, die für 10 Tage im März da war, dann mit meinem Kumpel Benni, der mich für drei Wochen besucht hat. Sich mit Menschen auszutauschen, die mich als die Person kennen, die ich war bevor ich hierher nach Burundi kam und mich hier von neuem kennengelernt haben. Vertraute, die meine Probleme, Ängste, meine Rolle hier deshalb nun ein bisschen mehr verstehen als die Daheimgebliebenen. Freunde, die Erlebnisse aus dem damals und dem Jetzt mit mir teilen. Nach der Abreise meines Kumpels begann ich umgehend mit den Vorbereitungen für das Malprojekt in unserem Straßenkinderheim „Centre Birashoboka“ . Ich hatte zuvor Spenden in Deutschland gesammelt, um die Wände für das Heim zusammen mit den Jungen zu streichen. Dazu wollte ich einen Malwettbewerb starten, an dem alle Kinder teilhaben und anschließend selbst die besten Bilder prämieren, welche letzendlich dann auch die Wände schmücken sollen. Davor musste ich jedoch feststellen, dass die Wände alle sehr schlecht verputzt waren, man förmlich eine Schutzbrille brauchte, wenn man mit der Hand über die Mauer strich und einem nicht nur Staub sondern auch Schutt entgegen kam. Also beschloss ich die Wände zunächst neu zu verputzen, damit die Farbe besser hält und die Kinder länger etwas davon haben. Wir besorgten die dazu notwendigen Utensilien in mehrfacherer Ausführung und begaben uns mithilfe eines Maurers, den man sozusagen pro Tag für umgerechnet 2,50 € bei einer Arbeitszeit von acht Stunden mieten kann, an die Arbeit. Das Zusammentrommeln der Jungs gestaltete sich schwieriger als gedacht, da sie nicht verstanden, wieso sie mit anpacken sollen, wenn doch jemand genau für diese Arbeit bezahlt wird. Vielleicht dachten sie sogar, dem Maurer seine Arbeit streitig zu machen. Schließlich halfen jedoch vor allem die Kleinen beim Anmischen des Zements und die Größeren beim Verputzen. Wir schauten uns die Technik vom Meister an und versuchten ihn zu imitieren. Einige von den Jungen waren sehr geschickt, andere gaben sich weniger Mühe. Ich für meinen Teil hatte den Dreh erst gut eine Woche und drei Mauerermeister später raus. Jede einzelne Maurermeister hatte seine persönliche Verputztechnik, aus denen ich dann die für mich ideale Technik zusammensetzte. Dass die Maurermeister fast täglich wechselten lag daran, dass manche von ihnen am nächsten Tag einfach nicht mehr zur Arbeit erschienen, sie nicht mehr aufzufinden waren und wir dann einen anderen „anstellen“ mussten. Wieso tauchten sie nicht mehr auf? Vielleicht fühlten sie sich von einem Muzungu („weißer Mensch“), also mir, unterbezahlt, denn ich war nicht bereit das Dreifache zu zahlen, da es zum einem nicht in meinem Budget war, zum anderen wollte ich sie nicht überbezahlen, ohne zu wissen wie gut die Männer arbeiten. Im Nachhinein bin ich froh, dass ich ihnen nicht mehr gezahlt habe, da einige Fuscher darunter waren, die umgehend aufgehört haben, sobald ich vor Feierabend gehen musste bzw. erst gar nicht angefangen haben bis ich da war und ein Auge drauf hatte. Die Jungs waren ziemlich beeindruckt, dass ich selbst mit angepackt und stundenlang ohne Pause gearbeitet habe. Ich wollte ihnen demonstrieren, dass kein Mensch bin, der gerne andere für sich arbeiten lässt, der auch mal gerne selbst anpackt, dazulernt und dass es vor allen Dingen Spaß machen kann zusammen aktiv zu werden und ein gutes Ergebnis zu erzielen. Nachdem alle Wände verputzt waren, musste ich zunächst mit meiner Mitfreiwilligen Johanna auf das Zwischenseminar nach Ruanda. Leider hatten wir uns von dem Seminar mehr versprochen als dabei herum kam, was hauptsächlich an dem Zeitpunkt lag, denn nach 9 Monaten in Burundi hat man seinen Weg gefunden mit Problemen umzugehen. Nichtsdestotrotz haben wir viel dazugelernt, über das Land, den Genozid, AIDS, die Arbeit der Freiwilligen dort usw. Nach dem Seminar begaben sich Johanna und ich noch auf eine einwöchige und sehr beeindruckende Reise durch Ruanda. Die Sehnsucht nach unserem neuen Zuhause war währenddessen jedoch so groß, dass wir es gar nicht abwarten konnten nach Burundi zurück zu kehren. Die Kinder in den Heimen empfingen uns am Tag unserer Rückkehr Freude strahlend und waren allesamt froh uns wieder zu haben, denn wir sind mittlerweile ein Teil der Familie, große Schwestern. Es war auch schön, Catherina, die neue Freiwillige, die eine Woche vor unserer Abreise ankam, wieder zu treffen. Ich bin sehr froh, dass sie zu unserer Gruppe dazugestoßen ist und uns endlich jemand zur Seite steht, der pädagogisch was auf dem Kasten hat, mit uns zusammen in den Heimen arbeitet und uns ganz neu motiviert. Solch ein Mensch hat uns die ganze Zeit über gefehlt.

Zusammen mit ihr arbeite ich auch im Mutter-Kind-Heim, worüber nicht nur ich sondern auch sie heilfroh ist, denn alleine dort ist es sehr schwierig die Mädchen und die Kinder in den „Griff“ zu bekommen und Projekte anzugehen.

Ein langfristiges Projekt dort ist eine Modenschau, für die jede Einzelne ein „Outfit“ entwerfen soll, was zur Förderung der Kreativität und auch zur Stärkung des Selbstbewusstseins der Mädels beitragen soll. Als Belohnung sollen die von ihnen angefertigten Stücke bei der 10-Jahres-Feier unserer Organisation präsentiert werden.

Seitdem ich aus Uganda zurück bin, habe ich das Gefühl so viel mehr zu erleben, als in den ganzen 9 Monaten Aufenthalt zusammen. Ich bekomme nochmals ganz andere Eindrücke von Burundi, unvergessliche.

Es sind nur noch 2 Monate, bis zur Abreise. Ich freue mich sehr, meine Familie und Freunde wieder in den Arm nehmen zu können, andererseits weiß ich auch, dass mir der Abschied hier ziemlich schwer fallen wird. Ich wünsche mir in den letzten acht Wochen nicht zu oft daran denken zu müssen und die Zeit einfach genießen zu können.

The boys in the street kids centre are helping out plastering the walls

David learned quickly how to plaster the walls

So sweet: Filming the scenery with his hand-made Sony "camela" (confusing the letter "r" and "l" again)

The last days my co-volunteers and I were organising the today’s farewell party for our orphange. We’re going to do a bonfire, sing and have a nice meal as well as drinks together (thanks to Friedemann!)

Sadly, our orphanage has to move because the owner decided to increase the rent and there’s no continuing financial support for this project. We still haven’t found a new home yet, but we’re visiting houses every day in cheaper districts, hoping we’ll finally find one in which the majority will fit in!

Hey y’all,
greetings from Rwanda! I was doing a workshop together with Johanna in Kigali and Mugonero last week and now I’m on holiday for about a week travelling through Rwabda! Right now I’m in Kibuye, a small, magnificent town at Lake Kivu. It’s really incredible to see the vulcano smoking at day and glowing red at night time! It is such a peaceful place here and I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s unbelievable that this calm and wonderful lake is the most dangerous in the world because of its gases underneath which can rise any time there is an eruption and kill thousands of people…
Tomorrow we’ll continue southwards where we’ll go hiking in the Nyungwe Forest! But before that we’ll have to endure a five-hour „packed“ bus trip on dirt roads, and I hope we’re able to make it to Cyangugu before it gets dark!

Some pics of the impressing landscape of the Kivu Region

A small bay of the Lake Kivu at Mogonero

The Lake Kivu close to the small town of Kibuye

Shortly after my friend Anna had left, my friend Benni came to visit for three weeks!

The first days of his stay we spent together in Bujumbura in my project so that he could get not only “acclimatized” but to know what my work and life here is about.

We had proper football training together with the boys from the street kids centre, and yet again the opposing team from the district was in the cart…!

Bend it like Benni !

Benni impressed our drummers with his gift for drumming so much that they made him carry and play a drum on his head – but in order to do that for a long time it takes more than just drumming skills!

Together with Benni I set out on my first journey outside of Burundi on the 6th of April. Our destination: Uganda!

The 16 hour bus ride took us from Bujumbura, via Rwanda to Kampala, the Ugandan capital – in this way we were able to get an impression of the interior of Burundi and of Rwanda, as well as the vast diversity of Uganda.

On our way to Kampala, we stopped for gas in a Ugandan city named “Massaka” where Benni and I directly were irritated by some funny green lights which appeared everywhere…

At first I thought it was some kind of electricity saving lamp, but as we drew closer, we realized it was a mechanism in order to catch grasshoppers (!) and which works as follows:
A corrugated iron is placed on a barrel/bin and is illuminated, the grasshoppers are irritated by the light and the smoke of the fires which are lit in front of the barrels, so that they jump against the corrugated iron and slide down into the barrel. The “grasshopper-hunters” gather them and clip their wings directly. When we asked what the use of all this is they told us that they fry and sell them…and in fact they taste just like chips!

In Kampala we were received by a Ugandan student named Rose, a real sweetheart, who devoted herself all the time we spent in Kampala to us!

Kampala is a crazy city! It is about ten times as big as Bujumbura, it’s very dirty, and the traffic is terrible. It is obviously more developed than Bujumbura, on the basis of shops, malls, advertisement, the way people dress or women carry their babies on the arms, not on their backs, and they are more used to seeing white people judged by the number of “MUZUNGU!!!”-shouts on the streets.
Of course we had to see the famous “Kasubi Tombs” which are set into the biggest straw hut in the world on a hill in Kampala. Some kings of the Bugandan Royal Family are buried there and it was interesting to learn about the Bugandan clans, and how they were/are organised and colonized.
Rose e.g. belongs to the “Heart Clan” whose members, she said, were fishers for the royal family and still are not allowed to eat the heart of any animal.

That's where the kings, who don't die, "disappear into"...

The two Bazungu-Tourists with Rose

Murchison Falls National Park

Sunrise on the Nile in Murchison Falls National Park

We also went on a three day Safari in Murchison Falls National Park, which is set a few hours northwest of Kampala, and in which Ernest Hemingway already went on his big game Safari. We fortunately had particularly good weather and therefore were able to see all those animals you normally only get to see on the discovery channel…

Those two guys (warthogs) were hanging around our campsite

In our Safari Van together with Angie and Patrick whom we met on tour

Antelopes

Baboons were likely to nick our belongings in the camp

Hippos and buffaloes

Murchison Waterfall

Benni and me

On Easter we went first to an awesome service, a mixture of traditional Christian but also traditional Ugandan songs, and afterwards we were invited to Rose’s aunt and uncle.

It was really nice to meet her kind family members, and to learn about their way of life and their customs.

Only a small part of Rose's family - her aunt on the right wearing a traditional robe

They prepared a banquet with a tremendous amount of traditional Ugandan dishes such as Pumpkin, sweet potato, “amatoke” (a mash of green bananas), yam (an eatable root), pork, chicken, beef, the famous G-Nut sauce (g-nut = ground nut = peanut!) and many more! It was so delicious!

The Easter meal

Rafting in Jinja
We also went on a whole day grade 5 rafting tour on the Nile – it was incredibly exciting to go with a raft through some of the fastest and biggest rapids in the world.
We flipped several times with our boat, but except for a proper sunburn on our thighs we weren’t hurt at all!

Our rafting team facing the challenge not to flip...

And then we flipped..!

A 50 year old crocodile in a crocodile farm at Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria

Walk the Line - the Equator

Rose cooking on a charcoal stove

Massaka
After 10 days in and out Kampala we left for visiting Rose’s dad and her brothers in Massaka where her family lives in a rural area on a farm (as her Dad is a forrester) without any electricity or running water.
The food was prepared on charcoal, we dined in candle light, slept in a garage on their farm and showered with a bucket of water! I really enjoyed the simple way of life there and the company of Rose and her Dad Edward, two very humbled and responsible people. A remark of Edward’s I’ll probably never forget:”I have nine children, and now I have to invest about everything that I earn in their future, because it’s my duty to secure that they’ll receive a decent education:”

Kabale and Lake Bunyonyi

From Massaka we continued our trip to Kabale, a small town close to Lake Bunyonyi, and our last destination within Uganda.
We slept a night over in Kabale and went the following day to Lake Bunyonyi, a comparatively small but deep crater lake, and supposedly the most beautiful one Uganda has to offer. We paddled with a canoe, which was only a hollow tree-trunk, from the mainland about 50 min to our hotel on one of the islands, where we spent two days of pure relaxation.

One-Tree-Canoes in Lake Bunyonyi

 

We safed the best for last

After 14 days adventurous days in Uganda we went back on the bus to Bujumbura and spent some few more days together in Bujumbura where I was able to show Benni the rest of my projects and some more tourist sites, of course.

It was great to see Benni after a whole year again and to go on this great trip together, and to share and exchange experiences!

There are some “thank yous” which are due for a very long time now:

*Thanks to my family for their constant support and their donations the children (special thanks to Susannah and Daniela!) for and of course for my Easter presents!
*A big thank you goes to my sister’s friend Alex and her company who donated so many crayons, water-colours, colouring pads, ballons, etc.!!!
*Thanks a lot to the dentist practice Jöns which donated about 25 kg of Toothpaste, and toothbrushes for our homes!!!
*Thanks a lot to all you people who donated for my painting project! I’ve already started with the boys in our street kids centre to plaster the walls before we’re going to paint properly (pics to follow soon)!
*Thanks a lot to the pupil participation and some of the teachers in my former school Sebastian-Münster-Gymnasium in Ingelheim who unexpectedly donated some money for the kids here! Yet I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it but I’ll let u know as soon as possible!

This absolute support from back home is priceless – it reassures me in my work and drives me each and every day to keep it up!

Lots of love

Claire

From March the 10th to the 19th I had my friend Anna from Germany over visiting me.
I was so glad I could show her where I’ve been living and working for 7 months now, and on top of that discover together with her parts of the country I haven’t been to yet.
By looking at the country, its inhabitants and customs a second time – from her point of view – my way of looking at things here has become broader, and I learned how to appreciate things and conditions which have become totally ordinary to me.

Some of these things I’d like to explain to you while taking you out on a small tour through Bujumbura/Burundi…so here we go:

Streets of Kamenge

One of the first things Anna said when she arrived in Bujumbura was: “I didn’t expect Bujumbura to look that good. I expected it to be more run down.”
The second day of her stay I took her to the district in which our Mother-and-Child Home is located, and on the way there, through Kamenge (the district in which some of the bloodiest fights in the city took place during civil war) Anna was like: “Oh, that’s how I imagined it to be: Shacks everywhere, barely any cars, many people in worn-out clothes on the streets, who try to sell everything they have, even if it’s only two bags of peanuts.”
We were lucky we got a lift to the home, so this was the first time I could make pictures of the streets there. Normally I try to avoid drawing more attention to me than I already get for being white, plus I’m afraid they might go crazy or get angry at me when I take pictures of the natives.

Young mothers playing theatre

Our young mothers were paying a fantastic sketch that day which’s subject was the story of the lady who got cut off her arms by her husband supposedly for being pregnant with a girl for a second time (I wrote about that story in my last blog).

Another day Anna and I went to the “Musée Vivante”, the local Zoo in Bujumbura.
There they have Crocodiles, among them the biggest Crocodiles in the world, the Nile-Crocodiles, which can become up to 7 m in length and can be found in the Lake Tanganyika, as well as in the Rusizi River.
We were able to buy guinea pigs which were thrown in the cage so that we could see a crocodile chasing after it. It was cruel in a way, but at the same time really fascinating.

Crocodile tempted with a guinea pig

I wonder whether this crocodile is able to get out of the cage if it wanted to…
There’s also the possibility to pay for a goat to be thrown in the cage, but this we really didn’t want to witness!

They also have a great number of snakes in the Zoo, from “House snakes” to Cobras; they even have the most poisonous snake in the world: The Green Mamba.

A supposedly tame and harmless python

Standing a front of a traditional Burundian hut, “making use” of a mortar, which the natives today still use in order to make “sombé”, pounded and cooked manioc/cassava leaves.

Of course I had to show Anna a performance of our drummers. So I took her to show they did for the Minister for youth. There they performed a sketch while drumming. The topic of the sketch was AIDS, how a young, naive girl can get easily infected with HIV by a boy with whom she slept without protection.

On the picture you see the “father” of the girl telling her off for hanging around with men.
The boys were acting really well, especially Bazile and Alain who played the girls.

Their means of transport

Anna also assisted me in my English lesson in the street kids centre. The boys’ task was to ask her questions in the way we practiced for such a long time now, and I was really impressed how confident they were talking in English. Anna had no problems in understanding them, neither the boys in understanding her – I was really proud of them!

Anna and my English pupils

Followed by a bunch of spectators

The river Rusizi is a natural habitat for many animals, but the most impressive ones are the Hippos. With Anna I went to a river bank in the town of Gatumba, a few miles outside Bujumbura, where we sat
and waited until a family of these huge animals appeared on the opposite shore. On our way there seemingly all the kids of the district accompanied us – “Muzungus” are rare visitors in this part of the town and therefore a great attraction!

Hippos playing with each other in the river

Those Minibuses prove to be the main transport in Burundi. A 12-seated Bus has room for 18 people and more, so it’s always very comfy in there. You can hop on and off wherever you want to, and a ride costs between 200 and 500 FBU (15-30 € Cents).
They exist throughout Africa, e.g in Uganda they’re called Matatus, in Tanzania daladalas. Only in Burundi they don’t have a name. For me it’s exemplary for the devoid of ideas and perspectives here.
In order to get to Nyanza Lac, a small town (consisting mainly of a hotel and a restaurant) in the South of the country and on the Lake, we took a bus which took two ours to get there. Believe me, it was a quite exciting trip, and I still wonder why this packed bus didn’t break down the way it raced along some of the dirt roads…

Nyanza Lac is a real paradise, the water there is crystal blue and clear, and it sparkles as if thousand of diamonds lie on the bottom of the lake. If it’s a clear day, you see the Congolese Hills on the other side, and loads of fishermen are out on the lake.

Anna and I really enjoyed the peace there, although the bad service in the hotel made it more difficult for us to do so. I’ve already got used to lower standards in service e.g. the majority of the meals and drinks on the menus are missing, meals taking ages, etc, but in view of the fact that we paid comparatively a lot of money for a stay in a Burundian hotel, and that we had been the only guests for the night, I expected it to have at least a bathroom door, more than fish and chips to eat, non-mouldy bread, and so on. When I asked them why they had rarely anything eatable in stock, although they knew I would be coming, because I reserved a room in advance, they answered: “Because it’s a weekday. You should have come the weekend”…

For ordinary people a bike is the only means of transport

And sometimes we make use of a taxi vélo, too...!

The Beach in Bujumbura

On the beach Anna came across a namesake!

I had a great time together with Anna, and I thank everybody who sent his greetings and gave stuff for me and the children to take with her!!!

Hope you enjoyed this ride!

See you next time!

Claire X

Burundi is a very religious country. Most of the people are Christians, among the Christians the majority is protestant.
One of the first things I was asked here in Burundi by either the kids or people I meet on the streets, in the bus, etc. was: “Where do you pray?”
My answer was: “Wherever I want to pray!”
“No- in which church do you pray in?” they asked. “I’m protestant”, I answered. “So I’ll attend a service in the protestant church.”
“But there are many protestant churches! I myself, I’m protestant and I pray in the “New Life” church. But there are others like the Anglican, the Pentecost’s, Adventist church etc.”

Everyone goes to church here on Sundays – and everyone loves going to church. For many people it’s the highlight of their week.
I always imagined African churches to be very lively, with a lot of Gospel singing and exclamations of “Hallelujah”! This is only partially true – depending on the customs of each church.

Last Sunday Alain, a 19-year-old boy of the street kids centre, invited me to join the service in his church. As he is part of the choir there, he was already in church when I arrived:
It was bare brickwork, there were no windows nor doors, even the bricks weren’t really sealed.
The only proof of it being a church was the painting on the wall which said “Eglise Salut en Christ” (“Salvation of Christ Church”) and a small wooden cross hanging on the wall.
Apart from that there were only some plastic chairs and some instruments on a small stage.
Here again, I got V.I.P treatment so I was offered a chair in the front row as well as a translator. What I liked about this church was the fact that it was only small; only 30 people took part in the service. “The church is only new, and we continue its construction with the weekly collection”, I was told later on.

Other churches here are huge. They have space for many hundred people.

The choir made the entrance of the service; they had a really good singer which sang in Kirundi, as well as in French and in English, and the group showed a nice choreography, too.
The songs have mainly African rhythms, but sometimes I recognize songs in Kirundi which I know from German or English services.
Up next was the sermon, which was preached in Kisuaheli and was translated directly into Kirundi – and for me of course into French.
This priest was very enthusiastic – he literally lives the words which come out of his mouth. One could get the impression that he was shouting at somebody, but in fact in this way he wants to lay more weight in his words and somehow make his fellow Christians agree and shout “Amen” and “Hallelujah” after every word of wisdom.
There was a guy who went up the stage in order to tell his story: “I lately found a job with the help of God; he finally answered my prayers”.

Witnesses of the infinite power and love of God like him are no rarity. They should proof that God will help as long as you pray and live a life adapted to the Christian rites and beliefs.
One day we’ve been to the Anglican Church in which a woman with no underarms stood in front of the crowd and talked about her story. She was pregnant with her second baby which was, again, going to be a girl. Her husband was so mad at her for not going to give birth to a boy that he cut off her arms with a machete in his rage.
The woman survived. I’m not sure whether she lost her baby, but the man got caught, and is now imprisoned for lifetime.
She is also seen as a living proof for god’s justice; she survived, and now lives a peaceful life.

Then others went up the stage, saying or singing their intercessions.
The musicians joined in and it ended in a song to which everyone sang and danced cheerfully. Even I got off my seat and joined the church in the dancing.

What still scares me off somehow is the point when everyone is obliged to pray. They close their eyes, and start praying loudly, their faces contorted with pain, some clench their fists; others bury their face in their hands. The crowd becomes louder and louder, their words come thick and fast…What are they praying for?
For being alive, having survived this cruel war which ended only recently? For being healthy? Do they want God do protect their beloved which they lost during war or because of a disease? Do they pray for money? Do they pray for peace to continue in their country?
In another church this scenery ended in women crying, others were shouting, grabbing and shaking each other wildly in ecstasy.

People here have experienced so much cruelty and injustice, there has to be something to believe and trust in, neither in the leaders of their state nor in their fellow men.
The poverty makes it on top of that difficult to finance medical treatment, and for some diseases there simply is no sufficient treatment, for example for the widespread disease AIDS.

Where there’s no medicine to cure, where there’s inequality, insecurity and uncertainty,
there’s faith.
Acts of inhumanity fuel the faith in a superior power of those who are the victims – and of those who commit(ted) these acts.

‘The Salvation through Christ’

Another boy, 18-year-old Ernest, who heard that I’ve been to church with Alain, asked me what I learned in church that day.
I would tell him exactly that. But unfortunately I can’t do so, I would offend him bitterly.
I’ll explain another time why…

It’s great how many interesting people I meet here in Burundi.
This time I met four Americans who are on a bike tour from Cape Town to Kairo for a non-governmental organisation with the name “Reach the world” which was founded in order to inform and teach children in schools in poor areas in the US online about the life and traditions in countries all over the world. A cool initiative!
They also visited our Centre and reported on the children’s situations and their daily life in an orphanage.
If you’re curious- here’s the link:

http://www.reachtheworld.org/journey/bikeafrica/field-note/1116/1/1/0

Dear family and friends,

A happy new year 2009 and meilleurs voeux!
Hope you all spent some nice holidays!
Thanks again for all your mails, cards and calls, it’s always nice to hear from you!

It’s been two months now since my last entry, and this time there’s really no excuse…!

At first, thanks a lot to everyone who contributed to our appeal for donations! I am really overwhelmed by the amount of money which was donated!
I’ll let you know as soon as possible what we’ll spend it on exactly.
For sure is that we’ll contribute to the medical treatment for Rose, the girl who apparently suffers from a certain blood aneamia. Her state of health got even worse, she bleeds out of the mouth and nose, has bruises all over her body, and had several blood transfusions within the last weeks.

Last Friday for example we had a tough time finding fresh blood of the group b+ in order to directly transfuse it, as it keeps her “healthy” for a longer time than older blood. We recently found out that it is possible to treat her in Nairobi and are now preparing everything for her departure.

Apart from the worries I have about Rose the last two months were really great concerning the relationship to the kids. It naturally takes some time until one gets used to the comportment of the other – and it takes even longer when different cultural backgrounds are involved…!

So much happened, I couldn’t think of a point where to start off –
So I decided to summarize the events of the last two months in a few words, and post a lot of pictures which speak for themselves…

The baptism

Japhet (right) and Alexis (behind old Lady)

The Pool in which the boys were christened

Two of our boys, Japhet and Alexis, were baptised in November in the protestant church of the pentecotists. About 100 people were baptised that day by being “drowned” in a huge pool. Even an about ninety-year-old Lady was baptised and one could tell that she was frightened to death! But also the younger people seemed to be scared, because in general a lot of people here can’t swim, so they didn’t know how to hold their breath, and gasped for air coming out of the water.
I took part in the baptism for children’s sake, although I don’t confirm with the beliefs and rites of this church, and it definitely paid out to have been there: Our boys were the proudest of the children to be baptised. On top of that THEIR guests, the only Muzungus among 500 people, got all of the attention and were sat in the front row, so each and everyone could have a glimpse on them.
The special treatment we get about everywhere makes me still feel uncomfortable…

A day at the beach

This time we took our boys of the street kids centre to the beach – unfortunately it was a rainy and cloudy day, but it didn’t matter: We all had fun! The coolest thing about it was that they were having music on the beach so it all ended up in a party, everyone dancing happily.
Later on our drummers asked me whether I’d like to join them in coming to one of their shows at a wedding. It was interesting to take part in this event, although I didn’t understand what was going on, but even cooler was that the boys were glad to have me with them, to chat and joke around and that they were able to invite me for a drink with the money they earned that day. I really appreciate the Burundian tradition of sharing everything. If people are invited for dinner for example, and in the end more people then expected turn up (what very often is the case), people are glad to welcome other guests and to share what’s there! People here tend to share what they have, no matter how little this possession is – in my eyes it is something our western culture can learn of African society.

The boys floundering about in the water

Francois and I

Johanna and me dancing with the boys to Congolese music

Our drummers at the wedding ceremony

Marathon de la Paix

Bujumbura's City Centre crowed with thousands of people

Chantal, Arnold and lazy Claire "walked" 1 km in the City Centre

Among thousands of runners, about eighty of our children took part on the 6th of December in the “Marathon de la Paix” in Bujumbura.
They ran either 1, 5, 21 or 45 km, and many of them were amongst the first to get into the finish line. Besides a t-shirt, footballs, tons of orange marmalade and apricot jam the fastest received shoes, tricots, school material, etc. But what made them the happiest were this extraordinary day itself and of course the medals for their participation!
There should be more events like that one in Bujumbura/Burundi. A bigger cultural variety especially for children would be desirable.

Christmas cookies

In Germany it is tradition to make some cookies before Christmas. So my co-volunteers and I took some of our smaller children to our head’s restaurant in order to make some for Christmas’ Eve with them. They had so much fun, squashing the pastry around, making a huge mess, and nibbling the ingredients and of course the cookies – which were very delicious and on Christmas Eve much sought-after.

Anna and Cornelius supervising the mess

Doriane and Arnaud concentrating on their task

A Christmas Carol

Christmas was fantastic – we all had a blast! We had a Christmas party in each home, everything was nicely decorated and the children got a very good meal:
Rice, sombé (manioc leaves, prepared like spinach), igitoke (fried bananas) and on top of that a piece of meat which they only get on special occasions.
All the children put up an amazing program with singing, dancing, sketches, drumming, quizshows, and so on. They did such a great job! So they really deserved their Christmas presents which we volunteers wrapped individually for every single child. The highlight of every party was – of course – the dancing to African music in the end. I will never forget their smiles that day – it was awesome!
In this way I want to say special thanks to Josephine Ndao who made the Christmas parties financially possible! She was visiting Burundi for several weeks, volunteered in the homes and raised money among her friends and family in the States and Canada in order to finance the Christmas parties, and especially the food which was in consideration of the contemporary prices not cheap.

A lemon tree in the orphanage's court functioned as our Christmas Tree

Our children playing the nativity scene

The girls performing traditional ruandese dances and songs

The boys dancing a Hip-Hop performance

Chanelle (used too much powder on her face), Nadia and Claudine happy about their presents

Epiphanie and Olga dancing and joking around

The boys in the Streetkids Centre playing theatre on Christmas - The topic: The lifes of streetboys - peer pressure, drug abuse, violence, theft

The boys making fun of the habits of burundian women in a play

Everyone's eager to answer the wardens questions in the quiz

Drumming performance in the nicely decorated salon

The children in the mother-and-child home munching their delicious Christmas meal

Kenny, who's mother died last year of AIDS, and his gift

Making a fool of myself while trying to perform the traditional dance with the young mothers

Josephine Ndao from Senegal and the HIV-positiv Pascal

Hope you got a good overview of the recent events – promise to be back soon with some news!

Love

Eure Claire

The world-wide economic crisis struck also Burundi – the maintenance of the projects of the Fondation Stamm are impeded by the rising prices for food and petrol, and by the reduction or even the stopping of the financial support of partner aid organizations.

Hundred kilos of last quality rice (“non-sorted”) are required for our homes.

Within the last three months the price per kg for this rice rose from 1200 to 1400 Fbu -a perceptible difference on the children’s plates.

By the way: Last year rice of this quality cost 600 Fbu/kg – and unfortunately this increase in prices applies for all foodstuffs in Burundi.

Every Burundi Franc is watched; the rent, food, school fees and salaries have top priority.

 

So there’s nothing left for other projects at present.

 

On the occasion of Christmas my co-volunteers and I decided to write an appeal for donations which is linked to this email. Therein we describe our plans for certain projects which we consider important for the children, but lack the financing.

 

On top of that one of our girls – Rose, 15 years old – turned out to be ill with leukaemia.

The illness is in its initial stages and with an appropriate treatment she has an 80-per-cent chance of being cured. There’s a doctor in Nairobi who already said he would treat and care for her; nevertheless the medical treatment is not free of charge, and we’re all desperately trying to raise money for it!

 

I would be so pleased if you supported us in our plans – passing on this link to your friends and relatives would already help us!

 

appeal-for-donations-christmas-08-claire1 

I wish you all a great holiday season, and a merry Christmas!

                                                        

Thanks a lot – Murakoze cane!

 

Love

 

Claire

 

 

P.S.: My next article will hopefully online this weekend – there’s so much to tell about!

 

 

Last weekend we discovered that there was food missing in our fridge. As there are four of us, and we don’t always eat together, we normally tend to think one of the others must have taken the last piece of bread, etc. But then a sausage, the first piece of cold meat we had at our house and which was given to us by Verena, had suddenly disappeared, as well as half of our bread and bananas. First we had to discover that some of the children were searching our rubbish for food or other “useful” things which already is a quite awkward feeling and then they steal our food. You might ask yourself how this is possible… The rubbish of all houses in our Home is thrown on a pile in the garden and burned (everyone does that here in Burundi, it’s cheaper than the refuse). In this way we can’t hide our rubbish, actually none of what we’re consuming here. Our fridge was standing in the salon where the children are taught and coached, because they used to put the babies’ milk inside every now and then. Thus they were able to look at what we were having inside all day long. Our consequence: We moved the fridge so that only we have access to it.

Stealing our food is bad enough, but some of the children steel also among themselves. Parallel to the fridge case we found out that the guitar that one of the boys was given to by the Fondation (a gift of a former volunteer) had been stolen, as well as some eggs of the chicken on our grounds which belong to certain kids.

After two weeks of “investigation” we found out together with the wardens that a group of boys has stolen and sold the eggs and the boy who said his guitar had been stolen has sold the guitar himself..!

The guitar incident disappointed me the most as it was not only a gift of a former volunteer to him, but a gift to all the others in order to make music together. In addition to that the children don’t seem to mind thieves among them or they cover even up for them.

As a measure to prevent further thefts, we volunteers stole their beans Friday night, so they had no beans to got with the corn purée (which I think is pure quite disgusting) the next day!

We wanted to show them how we felt that morning without breakfast, and how it feels to be stolen in general. It might sound tough, but we really want and need to put an end to these repeated thefts, after all they don’t live on the streets any more. By punishing also the innocent ones, we hoped those would start to complain to the others, and improve mutual respect.

But on the other hand, those are kids with difficult backgrounds. Some of them lost their parents, brothers or sisters, others were violated and/or are HIV-positive, experienced horrible things on the streets. Bringing them up is definitely not easy.

 

But where is our area of responsibility? In educating AND bringing them up?

 

Definitely.

 

But in which way?

 

I often feel more or less in the parental position rather than that of friend or sister. After all friends or brothers and sisters also impart general values and knowledge, but in a less authoritarian manner, in a playful way. And I would like to see myself in the position of a friend or a sister.

 

Living together with the kids doesn’t make it easier for me to get in touch with them. I often can’t distinguish between work and spare time. I constantly have a bad conscience when I don’t do anything together with the children or I feel bad when I’m leaving the home, because of my work in the other homes or in order to meet some friends, for I could spend that time with the orphans, too.

It has been much easier to get in touch with the boys and girls of the other homes, as I spent the time there more consciously. I don’t blame the children in our home, not all, because their comportment actually is not much worse than in the other homes, but the difference is that we’re not called to account or feel as though we are called to account for the events there.

 

I think I have to keep some distance to feeling responsible, unless I’m directly affected, in order to become real friends with the orphans.

 

I now have a notion how difficult it is for parents, relatives and those who work in an educational job, to bring up children, to retain the staying power, patience, passion, and to find a fair way.

 

I really pity my family and teachers for having had to deal with the problems I made when I was younger, but simultaneously I thank them for their effort and their belief in me, so I’m now able to make my way…

 

Now don’t believe there are only lows here in Burundi!

 

I really enjoy my work, my English class with the street urchins is great, every week I can tell that they’re making progress. And I feel they’re starting to put trust in me, when talking about our backgrounds, our problems.

 

Last weekend we reintegrated to women from the mother and child home which also can be seen as a progress. They asked themselves if we could help them to go back to their home town, where they want to start a “petit commerce”, e.g. to grow vegetables and/or fruit, produce soap, palm oil etc. and sell it.

The women in our mother and child home became pregnant by rape or by irresponsible boyfriends who fled after having made them pregnant or because of their own irresponsibility. Some of them go to school, others are illiterate but receive at least alphabetization.

In terms of the “illiterate reintegration” the two women, who are actually younger than me, were given an aluminium sauce pan, three cups, seeds (carrots, salad, beans, onions, etc.), a hoe, clothes for their baby, and some money for the bus ticket and as starting capital for their small trade.

We appreciate their own initiative in saying they want to leave the home so that they can earn their own living, although it isn’t easy with a baby. Unmarried mothers seemingly become often fair game if they don’t stay with their family.

In this case the two mothers will go back into the interior to live among their relatives…

 

Thanks again for all your nice emails and messages! I’m really sorry if I don’t response directly, but I promise I’ll write back!

 

See you

 

Love

 

Claire

 

- Photos of some grand moments attached!!

 

Streeturchins playing with my camera

Our daily view - underneath the clouds the outline of the Congolese mountains

The young mothers producing our Christmas angels

The little Rascals in the Mother and Child Home

Appoline, warden of the Mother and Child home, and her headgear suited to the rainy season

Before the football match of our street urchins agains those of Don Bosco

Guess who lost: "England"! ;P - In the background the Burundian mountains

 

Dear Friends and Family,

 

It’s been nearly 4 weeks since I wrote the last time, and I’m really sorry about that!

Again, a lot of things happened which I had to digest first. And talking about digestion: In between I suffered about a week from diarrhoea, seemingly caused by amoeba…

 

In this way I want to thank you all for your birthday greetings and everything else that arrived for my special day here in Burundi! I had an enjoyable and unforgettable day!

 

Slowly but surely my working life gets going, too, my schedule is about fully drawn up, and I can’t complain about the amount of work during the week.

In addition to my English and computer lessons I’m going to spend twice a week in our Mother and Child Home where we just started to offer the girls a sewing-machine course. We believe that the girls require an apprenticeship with which they can earn their leaving as soon as they quit the Home.

Furthermore the girls can contribute to developing a self-supporting organisation in fabricating school uniforms or souvenirs such as Christmas angels (further information see homepage burundikids.org), handbags, bedspreads, cushion or duvet covers and many more.

This week I visited the centre in order to see whether the instructions are going according to plan, the production of the angels is running, and if there are any materials missing.

I was so happy to learn that the girls are all eager to learn how to sew and therefore set up a schedule together with their teachers in which the groups and dates are fixed.

Initiatives on one’s own and independence are some rare features here in Burundi, especially when white people are involved on which one can rely on. Therefore I’m always twice as happy to see them work independently.

For the beginning the girls are taught by a former street urchin of our home “Centre Birashoboka” named Pascal. Originally, he should have been reintegrated into his family few weeks ago, but he doubted to have promising prospects for the future among his relatives. However, we needed a sewing instructor in the Mother and Child Home and he possesses sufficient sewing skills, so the Fondation offered him a temporary job as a sewing instructor as well as an accommodation close by the home.

In this way Pascal had his first sewing lesson on Monday, and as far as I can tell, it went really well. The girls learned the general stitches, and they all made a big effort in order to sew precisely.

I’m curious to see tomorrow whether they’re keeping up the good work. My job in this home is to overview the sewing course and the production there, providing our future “needlewomen” and the tailors with material I purchased, and also with assignments for the course as well as the ordering of souvenirs.

 

Aisha learning how to sew

 

When I went there the second time this week together with Anne, a student trainee from Luxembourg who studies “education of street urchins”, I was literally disillusioned.

 

Anne had commanded two bedspreads which she wanted to pick up. She gave the tailor a small amount of money as a reward and out of gratitude to share among the group of tailors and assistants. She wanted to pay the full prize for the bedspreads directly to the Fondation Stamm later on, as the used material was paid for by it. Unrest spread among the girls, and then I slowly began to understand, as I heard the word “amahera” (money) repeatedly. The girls, who assisted to fabricate the bedspreads, were expecting to receive more money! That was outrageous!

It had been entirely inappropriate to pay on the one hand the tailors, who of course earn a fixed salary and apart from that were doing their job, and on the other hand pay the girls who live and eat for free in the home, get free clothing for themselves and their babies and in addition to that receive an education. We made clear to the girls that we see their behaviour of taking incessantly as a huge affront, and that they could leave the home straight away if they’re not appreciating the support and opportunities the Fondation offers them.

 

Apart from that my computer course is going well, the boys in the street urchin home all attend it out of great enthusiasm. Last Monday, my second course had only forty minutes of practice as a power failure occurred (which happens quite often here in Burundi), nevertheless, the boys were happy to have had at least several minutes of practice. One can tell that the boys are already making progress, although they have only access to the computers once a week, in our course. At the beginning it was quite difficult to teach something I have never learned consciously, something I learned by doing, by trying out, since I always had unrestricted access to a computer. Each computer lesson reminds me of my privileged life in comparison to the Burundians of the same age.

 

My English lessons are still a lot of fun although I’d wish some of my pupils would take it more seriously. They really want to learn English on the one hand, and on the other they don’t really mind if the lessons are cancelled. I noticed this while I was ill. If I don’t call them expressly, no one shows up…!

 

There’s a terrible commotion concerning discipline, i.e. punctuality, reliability and mutual respect, for each other and the possessions of others, among the children and youngsters in all our homes. Of course we keep trying to impart these values daily, but not always with continuous success.

It’s a process of rethinking. They need to learn that they can’t take everything for granted, their accommodation, nutrition, clothing, and education. It’s a big task to make clear to them that they receive free further education – a huge privilege here in Burundi – and that the effort they invest in their education will pay off in the future.

 

You see, there are highs and lows here in Burundi, too, and I’m trying my best to preserve the memory of the highs and to face the challenge of overcoming the lows.

 

See you soon!

 

Love

 

Claire

The boys with a "telephone" which we made out of milk-powder cans

Ezekiel listening carefully

 

With the street urchins in Kanyosha