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