The rainy season seems to have already begun. It has rained briefly about every day last week, but the heavy rain here is worse than the well-known English shower!

Thus the sky clears gradually and the outline of the massive Congolese mountains opposite the lake is discernable. ..

 

Last Sunday, we were invited over to Emmanuel, the joiner of the Fondation, who lives together with his wife and six children in Gatumba, a small village about ten minutes outside Bujumbura, and about an hour from the border with the Congo.

His house was the comparatively prettiest house in the neighbourhood. It was made out of bricks and had proper windows and doors. The other houses seemed to be huts, plastered with only clay.

After we had sat down in his self-made furniture he directly offered us Coke and Fanta which is considerably expensive for ordinary people. We sat together and talked about his stay in Germany he had just returned from. There he stayed with the family of a former volunteer and was able to gain an insight in different joiner’s workshops. Therefore Emmanuel was very eager to share his experiences with us, and it was very interesting to listen to a Burundian talking about his impressions of Germany.

As we had only arrived at Emmanuel’s at about three o’clock in the afternoon, we weren’t expecting any meal at all, but to our great surprise, we were served a substantial meal consisting of rice, spaghetti, chips, peas and carrots as well as beef (a meat dish is above all standards)! The meal was absolutely lovely, the first and best home-cooked meal we had here in Burundi. Afterwards Emmanuel suggested going for a walk to the River Ruzizi which is quite close to their home. On the way to this famous river more and more children of the neighbourhood accompanied us. In the end each and every one of us was taking at least five children by the hand.

The lovely thing about it was that these children simply seemed to be happy about the fact that they could go for a walk with us. No one stretched out his hand or asked for money. Sadly, about every child we come across asks us for money (even toddlers). Many of those are comparatively well-fed. Is it drummed into the children from earliest childhood that white people are generally rich and should always be stopped and asked for money?

Probably yes, but on the other hand, “muzungus” generally have a lot of money in comparison and comport themselves in such way, so they themselves/we are to blame…

After we had reached the bank of the river, we saw some boys splashing about happily in the water in between the reed, in the background two hippos bathing calmly. This was such a fantastic and peaceful sight.

We had a really lovely afternoon at Emmanuel’s so that we decided to invite him over in return, and cook a German meal for him.

 

Last week started our Kirundi course in the French School here in Bujumbura. I must admit that it is quite hard to follow the teacher at the beginning, but with a little effort and coaching from our children this will also work out.

One day I drafted an instruction for our computer-course. Many of our future students have never worked with a computer before, they don’t even know how to use the mouse, thus I had to write down many steps which we don’t consciously think of…

Another day I distributed clothes which function as micro-credits together with Clothilde, an employee of the Fondation Stamm. The women were given about thirty garments for 500 FBU each. After having sold the clothes the woman have to pay the 15000 FBU to the Fondation and put away 1500 FBU of the profit. This guarantees that the women, the next time they receive another microcredit, come back to pay their debt and especially don’t spend all their profit at once.

The handing-out of micro-credits really is a good initiative, but the women still lack a business sense. A possibility would be e.g. to buy and sell fruit and vegetables, to start an own, independent trade. 

It will be Anna’s (co-volunteer) area of responsibility to improve the system of micro-credits and to draw up individually adjusted contracts for the help-seeking people.

 

Distribution of clothes which function as micro-credits

 

5 year old Kiki and 2 year old Grace

 

I prepared and gave my first English lesson in the street urchin home “Centre Birashoboka” last Friday. I began with the greetings and presentation in English.

It went surprisingly well, although the boys weren’t accustomed to the teaching method I used which demanded some initiative of their own. I wanted them to present themselves as detailed as possible in English and then pick another one of the group who should do the same. This actually is nothing spectacular with us, but in this country teacher-centred teaching is about the only teaching method practised in schools…   

 

A demanding game of volleyball in Centre Birashoboka

 

At the moment I’m really looking forward to finally start the English course with the first group in our home today, as it has been quite difficult to make appointments with the children who all go to school at different times a day.

 

 

I also provided an artist with work who will manufacture Burundian necklaces which will be offered for sale in Germany. I’m hoping he’s able to carry out this job as expected and finish it until the arranged meeting…

 

 

Time flies by here in Africa, nevertheless I’m thinking a lot of those back home…!

 

 

“Tuzosubira” – See you later

 

Claire

 

Simba, our guard-dog, and its 4 weeks old puppies

 

Cornelius together with cheerful Kenny

With cheeky Kiki

 

Hello to everyone,

I’m still alive, just didn’t have much time to write down my experiences.

I’ll try to write weekly from this point onwards otherwise it’s way to difficult to sum up all the events in one article.

In this way I want to thank you for your nice comments concerning my blog! I’m glad to hear that so many people are interested in what I’m up to here in Burundi!

Hope you enjoy this article, too, although it’s quite long!

Love,

Claire

 

We, the four volunteers, mainly spent the last weeks with settling down in our new home town Bujumbura, establishing a daily routine. Housekeeping, even if it sounds ridiculous, still takes up a lot of time since we are not used to going shopping every other day at the market, to doing all the cooking and gardening, to washing our dishes and clothes by hand, to keeping everything clean in order to feel at home, but also to set the children in the orphanage “Centre Uranderera” in which we live, work and play with a good example.

The volunteers 2008/09 of the Fondation Stamm: Cornelius, Johanna, Anna and me

 

My comfy bedroom

 

Handicapped Cedric, our permanent guest, sleeping on our kitchen floor/courtyard

 Lena, an ex-volunteer of the first generation (2006-2007), spent the first three weeks with us and introduced us not only to the customs and habits of this country but to local friends and to other “muzungus” (white people) who live and work here, principally for international aid organisations (UNO, GTZ, Worldvision, etc. – by the way, all sorts of aid organisations imaginable are “colonized” here in Burundi). She also explained the structures of the Fondation Stamm to us and generally shared her experiences concerning her work and the children with us. In this way we rapidly gained a detailed overview of not only what we are able to do within the Fondation, but of what urgently is needed.

So my tasks for the beginning will be to teach/coach adolescents English in “Centre Uranderera” and “Centre Birashoboka” (street urchin home), as well as to pass on basic computer knowledge in these homes. Another area of responsibility will be the collection of designs for souvenirs of Burundi, e.g. jewellery, baskets and other decorations which should be fabricated by locals (for example the women of the mother and child home) in order to be sold in Germany in favour of the Fondation Stamm. I am really satisfied with my varied responsibilities, although it sounds in fact a great deal of effort.

I have already put up lists for my English course and the computer course in both of the homes in which the children can enter their names.

On Monday I will arrange the timetables for the classes together with the wardens. It is a little difficult to make an appointment, because some of the children go to school in the morning, others in the afternoon, due to the lack of schools. 

Street urchins in their dormitory in Centre Birashoboka

Jan (a visitor from Germany) and me learning how to play the drums

 

Last week Cornelius, Johanna, Anna and I enrolled for a Kirundi course in the ‘Centre Culturel Francais’, here in Buja. We noticed that our language skills in French are not sufficient for the simple reason that many people here, especially the children, hardly speak any French, and if they do, not very well. I personally find it very difficult to understand the locals when speaking French (though it should be noted that my French skills aren’t that good either) as they pronounce the words differently and mix up particular letters, e.g. “L” and “R”. Therefore my name is mainly pronounced “Crara”, but written as “Clele”…

Last week Cornelius, Johanna, Anna and I enrolled for a Kirundi course in the ‘Centre Culturel Francais’, here in Buja. We noticed that our language skills in French are not sufficient for the simple reason that many people here, especially the children, hardly speak any French, and if they do, not very well. I personally find it very difficult to understand the locals when speaking French (though it should be noted that my French skills aren’t that good either) as they pronounce the words differently and mix up particular letters, e.g. “L” and “R”. Therefore my name is mainly pronounced “Crara”, but written as “Clele”…

However, we have already picked up some words in Kirundi, i.e. greetings, and it is remarkable how the locals react to white people saying “hello” and “how are you” in their mother tongue. The majority of them look at us in surprise and directly start talking to us effusively in Kirundi. I think it shows the natives that we are willing to learn their language in order to make conversation which again brings about mutual appreciation and respect. 

 

With sleeping Lea

 

Those few Kirundi words are even useful for negotiations at the market where we buy our food and household goods. Most of the time, since our skin colour is white, we have to negotiate heavily to obtain the appropriate price. If we didn’t negotiate, we would pay at least three times as much as normal, in this way we only pay twice as much…

As much as I would like to report on everything I experience here in detail I confine myself to the most interesting event of the last two weeks: Our trip to the city/province of Muyinga which is located in the north east of the country.

The four hour journey took us through the mountains, and was once again a great spectacular, as we had these great views on Bujumbura and of course the landscape itself which is mainly covered by banana and eucalyptus trees or tee plantation. And it is still great to look at all the people living and working in the interior of the country, pushing their bicycles which are loaded with at least five crates of “Coca Cola” or “Primus” (the local beer) or with goats or pigs on their rack up these huge mountains.

We had our first stop in Ngozi, a city in the North of the country where we had a glance at the orphanage of the Fondation Stamm. As we drove on we had to pass a “bumpy” track (and that’s putting it mildly) which led us to our first official stop, the agricultural project initiated by the Fondation, a few miles inland from Muyinga.

This agricultural project offers the students the attendance at an almost one-year course in agricultural education for which they receive a degree. The handing over of their reports was the day we arrived so that many students had already been awaiting us. They showed us their fields on which aubergines, manioc, potatoes, and many more are cultivated, and also their cows, chicken and goats which especially were of big importance that day:

Every apprentice received a goat together with his report, the three best in the class received even two! 

The object of this project is to train the people how to earn their own living by e.g. livestock farming and in addition to that make a profit.

It is also aimed at the possibility of selling some of the agricultural products such as eggs, milk, and vegetables so that the profit is used for the self-support of the project, the payment of the teachers and the tools as well as the expansion of the fields and the stock breeding. 

A graduate and her gift

 

 

 

Anna and Cornelius together with the graduates in their school which consists of only one room

After we had spent quite a lot of time in the agricultural project we set off to our hotel since it was already getting dark and therefore could not return to Buja that day.

The hotel and the restaurant we’ve been to that evening were nice, but one thing was really unfamiliar to us: There was no running water all over Muyinga or the countryside in general!

Thus we had not only to shower but to flush with the help of a bucket of water…

The next morning we visited the orphanage of the Fondation Stamm in Muyinga which at present provides for about 35 boys. There we distributed clothes among the children and played with them.

From the beginning I noticed a small boy of about 11 years who had this badly bandaged shin.

I made further inquiries in order to find out what happened to him. Then one of the children told me he had scalded himself a few days ago. His bandage looked as if it had not even been changed once after the incident, as it was already soaked in blood and secretion.

I decided to drive to hospital together with him, another boy from the orphanage and their female warden. In hospital, the waiting room for the ambulance was crowded but the warden managed that we were given priority. I did have a bad conscience as there were others who were injured probably worse than the boy, but it said to myself it was for his sake, not for mine.

I can only guess what the warden must have said to the responsible person. I think my skin colour and the associated wealth must have been of crucial importance…

The surgery proved to be a pathetic sight. Used bandages lying around, old and dirty equipment on a non-sterile desk, the equipment itself must have come from the sixties.

After having put the dirtiest piece of cloth under the boy’s leg, the male nurse (there was no doctor to be found in the whole hospital!) began to unwrap the bandage, and the boy started to scream and double up with pain as the bandage has been stuck to his wound. The huge flesh-wound began to bleed again. The nurse tried to dab away the bleeding clumsily and constantly sprayed disinfectant on the wound which must have been horribly painful. While doing this he kept interviewing me and seemed more interested in talking to me than fixing the injury. Then he wanted to apply a new dressing in exactly the same way as it has been done before, so that that it would again stick to the open wound and rip off the scab. I asked him weather he didn’t have any cream especially for scalding, and he answered “no”.

So I sent the driver to the next chemist’s in order to buy some “Flamazine” which we then directly put on the wound. Then the nurse again wanted to apply the dressing on it without putting this stuff on (some kind of disinfected net) which would prevent the bandage from sticking onto the flesh. I had to show him exactly what I meant and in the end I applied the dressing myself. It was incredible. Incredibly devastating. At that point I understood why the boy was afraid of going to hospital.

Where’s no money, there are no professional people…

On our way back to Buja we stopped to see the pygmies, the so called Twa. They live in their own community in small huts made out of straw far from other inhabitants. All women were carrying babies on their backs, some of the women were smoking. They were all wearing ragged clothes and no shoes. Looking at the bloated faces and bellies of the smaller children one could see that they were suffering from mal nutrition.

After we had a short glance at their hoods and fields, Verena wanted to distribute some clothes. As we had only two sacs of clothes, the pygmies appointed one from its own ranks to distribute the clothes fairly. But this chosen one strictly rejected the job, saying: “I want to stay alive!”

Gradually we understood what he meant: The pygmies began to fight over the clothes, tearing the clothes nearly in pieces. As the distribution didn’t work out the way we imagined we finally left them with the clothes, and an even more monstrous scene arouse: A pitched battle for the clothes broke out!

At least 200 pygmies were hitting, kicking and screaming at each other as if they were deadly enemies! I have never witnessed such a scene, it was terrible.

 

 

A pygmy hut

 

In attempting to distribute clothes among the pygmies

I wondered weather we were doing any good with distributing the clothes among the pygmies.

Good intentions don’t always seem to be enough…

 

 

 

 

 

 

About two weeks ago I arrived here in Burundi, ”the heart of Africa”.

It’s totally different from what I have ever seen or from what I have imagined-

but it is just great!

Here are some of my first impressions and experiences in Burundi…

On our first day in Africa our patience had already been sorely tried: After we had landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we (the four volunteers) had to find out that our transfer flight to Bujumbura, Burundi, was cancelled. Unfortunately nobody at the airport could tell us if there was a substitute flight or when this one would take off. We were put off so many times by the airline employees that we thought we had to wait for the next day before our flight would leave. But eventually, after 5 hours time, our plane was ready to take off.

This was the very moment in which I realized that I really am in Africa, “in the slowest clock of the world”…

We finally got to Bujumbura after a two hours flight. At the airport itself we got our visa and where eventually picked up by Philipp, an ex-volunteer from Germany who now works for the Fondation Stamm as a main occupation, but on a voluntary basis. Apart from his main occupation (public relations) he looks after and supervises us, and is there if we have any problems.

On the way to our new home we had the possibility to gain an overview of what was going on in the streets of Bujumbura.

I have never seen so many people on the streets, carrying about everything one can imagine on their heads, not only bags, but baskets full of bananas or other fruits, boxes, crates, etc. And often men, women, small children carry several things at the same time on their heads.

Other people were riding their bike in twos with additional luggage in oversize.

The same can be said about the motor cycles and other vehicles. They are generally overcrowded with people and crammed full with other stuff. There are cars with steering wheels on the left and the right hand side.

The traffic literary is a mess with seemingly only few traffic regulations, constant honking and deceptive movements.

Wooden shacks pop up in between simple concrete buildings which have hand-painted advertising on their façade.

A lot of dust is in the air, the smell of smoke perceptible.

Beneath it all, there are five white people who attract a lot of attention. People wave, children run along behind us. Some of them shout “muzungu” in astonishment. “Muzungu” is the Kirundi word for “white (rich) person”.

Our new home is the orphanage “Centre Uranderera” which accommodates about 70 children and adolescents. We were welcomed heartily, although the children were very shy in the beginning.

There are three houses on the property, each and everyone equally built.

One is the boy’s the other one the girl’s and babies’ house. And the third one is ours.

Sometimes I feel bad about the fact that I have a bedroom which is exactly as big as the dormitories of the children in which at least sleep five of them.

I must say it is clean and comfy although everything’s really simple. Unfortunately cockroaches feel the same, and in fact a rat has been our guest for a short time, too.

The first days we had enough time to settle down, get used to the climate, and get to know the boys and girls in the orphanage and their wardens.

Each day we visited another project of the “Fondation Stamm”, all of them located in different districts of the city.

The first stop was the home in which street urchins live.

There the drummers welcomed us with an indescribably fascinating show. Afterwards we chatted a bit and then had a game of volleyball.

The next stop was a mother-child-home and a kindergarten which keeps a small orphanage in poorer districts of the city. There again everyone was pleased and happy to meet us.

We have also been to the school of the Fondation which runs a kindergarten, too, but at present there are school holidays in Burundi so that no children were to be found.

Last Tuesday we even been to Gitega, the second largest city in Burundi, to visit the orphanage there and have a look at the vocational school which is built on behalf of the Fondation.

The trip to Gitega was really impressive. We had to drive through the mountain range and therefore had the chance to glance at Bujumbura and the lake from above. It was also interesting to see all the people who drive or walk up these huge mountains, again loaded down with all sorts of stuff. The clever or richer ones with a bike pay the lorry drivers in order to hold on to the back of the lorry so that they are pulled up the mountain which certainly is no harmless venture.

We have also already been to the Lake Tanganyika which is absolutely marvellous. One could think it is a sea because of its size and its waves.

Last Friday we had our first official task which was to sort out the cellar with all the contributions in kind. This cellar is located in the restaurant of the Founder, Verena Stamm, our boss and mentor.

We were all glad but exhausted after this had been done.

The next task will be to sort the newly arrived donations and put them away.

Now that we have gained an overview of the projects of the Fondation Stamm we are able to decide where we would want to work in the future.

I myself want to work with adolescents, so I could work in the street urchin home “Birashoboka” and in the orphanage “Centre Uranderera”. I could teach English and German which they are all eager to learn or I could do coaching in general, etc.

I let you know where and what I’ll end up doing…

For the time being,

Lots of love

Claire

P.S.. Didn’t have enough time to load up some photos! It takes ages here..!

Hello everyone,

just wanted to let you know that I’m fine! I have only restricted internet access so that this message will only be a short one.

If I’m able to get to an internet café   I will post details about my first week here in Bujumbura later on.

Lots of love

Claire