Y'all will love this....here is an African dance video from a Tanzanian village we visited. Unfortunately, I did not actually get to participate in the dancing!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
PICS OF BURUNDI AND TANZANIA
Members of the basket-weaving cooperative in Cendajuru, Burundi
The classroom I mentioned in an earlier post....the children sit on the floor that you see here, with virtually no supplies. The teacher lives behind a partition in the back corner of the room.
The cutest kids...in a Batwa village in Burundi
The reception center for repatriating refugees in Burundi. They will receive the supplies shown here before returning to their villages.
Homes in Camp Nduta, Tanzania
One last look at the refugee camp in Tanzania, before heading to the USTuesday, March 04, 2008
I have been in 8 airports since Saturday afternoon, from Bujumbura to Kigali to Addis Ababa to Rome to Washington DC to Charlotte to Chicago and finally to Omaha, NE. Also, a 70 degree difference in temp during this time period! This may be a record, though I am not sure. Any thoughts? Due to the crazy travel schedule and lack of sleep I have not had a lot of time to process my experience from this side of the world. I can never forget the experiences I had there, from the kids calling out mzungu (white person) on the streets, in the most friendly way, to the desperate villages with no food or education to all of the wonderful people I met and worked with every day.....I am glad to be home but wouldn't trade the experience for anything! Looking forward to sharing more with all of you soon..
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
La vie africaine....
My time is winding down...I will be leaving here on Saturday afternoon, March 1st. I'll see everyone in Charlotte on Sunday afternoon, March 2nd. A few quick notes for today:
My time is winding down...I will be leaving here on Saturday afternoon, March 1st. I'll see everyone in Charlotte on Sunday afternoon, March 2nd. A few quick notes for today:
- I killed a snake in the house two nights ago. Yep, my vegetarian self chopped the serpent into three pieces with a South African hunting knife! Unfortunately, I did not get a picture...
- I'm going to Congo (aka DRC)! The border's only a few miles away, so it's easy to get the extra passport stamp...
- We're going to look for hippos tonight at Cercle nautique. They often graze along the lakeshore right along the road...
Sunday, February 24, 2008
My co-workers and I in the Ruyigi field office (Bugera (aka Father Mo's long-lost twin brother) and Isidore)
Loading the repatriation convoy at Camp Nduta
My home in Bujumbura
Yesterday we finally made it to the beach. It's about 90 degrees here. There are beautiful beaches on Lake Tanganyika-- the water is wonderfully warm and there are the soaring mountains of Burundi and Congo in the distance. There's also a legendary crocodile named Gustave, but fortunately we didn't see him :) This week I'll be finishing up some reports in the LWF office, shopping at the market, and saying goodbye to Burundi :( It really has been an amazing experience and I'm looking forward to sharing stories with all of you..
Friday, February 22, 2008
Hi from Bujumbura!
I've returned to the capital of Burundi after two weeks in the rural areas of Burundi and Tanzania. The remainder of my time will be spent at the LWFoffice in Bujumbura, writing their country strategy and whatever other documents they throw my way :) So far, I've been sorting through a lot of UN statistics (as you facebook junkies may have learned from my facebook status update!) on how Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the region, despite being surrounded by several of the most conflict and poverty-stricken countries in the world, like Rwanda, DR Congo, Uganda and Kenya, and one of the poorest in the world (169 out of 177 countries measured, according to the research). Upon our return to Bujumbura, I rode through neighborhoods I hadn't seen before, where stark reminders of the conflict still remain: crumbling government buildings and bombed-out houses nearly covered with weeds. Throughout the country, you see young military and police officers (some wearing secondhand American high school letter jackets), stopping traffic with Kalashnikovs strapped to their backs.
Still, there are signs of hope on an individual level:
villages who are welcoming returning refugees, secondary students who returned from Tanzania and are helping their Burundian classmates with schoolwork, formerly non-literate basket-weavers writing receipts as they sell their their handicrafts, women accessing water from wells instead of walking long distances to rivers and streams, primary students attending classes for the first time, packed churches (I attended a 7 am mass with over a thousand people, packed onto tiny benches for nearly 2 hours)...
I've returned to the capital of Burundi after two weeks in the rural areas of Burundi and Tanzania. The remainder of my time will be spent at the LWFoffice in Bujumbura, writing their country strategy and whatever other documents they throw my way :) So far, I've been sorting through a lot of UN statistics (as you facebook junkies may have learned from my facebook status update!) on how Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the region, despite being surrounded by several of the most conflict and poverty-stricken countries in the world, like Rwanda, DR Congo, Uganda and Kenya, and one of the poorest in the world (169 out of 177 countries measured, according to the research). Upon our return to Bujumbura, I rode through neighborhoods I hadn't seen before, where stark reminders of the conflict still remain: crumbling government buildings and bombed-out houses nearly covered with weeds. Throughout the country, you see young military and police officers (some wearing secondhand American high school letter jackets), stopping traffic with Kalashnikovs strapped to their backs.
Still, there are signs of hope on an individual level:
villages who are welcoming returning refugees, secondary students who returned from Tanzania and are helping their Burundian classmates with schoolwork, formerly non-literate basket-weavers writing receipts as they sell their their handicrafts, women accessing water from wells instead of walking long distances to rivers and streams, primary students attending classes for the first time, packed churches (I attended a 7 am mass with over a thousand people, packed onto tiny benches for nearly 2 hours)...
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
I'm back! It's Wednesday, I know, but I just now got easy internet access. Last Thursday, we left Tanzania and returned to Burundi, settling for a few days at the LWF field office in Ruyigi, a VERY small town in eastern Burundi.
Friday: We visited a basket weaving cooperative in Cendajuru, a mountain village located between Ruyigi and the Tanzanian border. Many of the women are returned refugees who learned their weaving skills through TCRS in the camps and are making these baskets from natural and recycled materials. I worked alongside them for a few moments- but my basket-weaving skills are on par with my knitting skills (ie below zero), so they will not be recruiting me to the co-op anytime soon! These women have now resettled in Burundi - some in their villages of origin and others in villages near the Tanzanian border. They seemed to be enjoying their work immensely and are now working on marketing the baskets outside of Burundi. I bought quite a few to bring home - some as gifts, some to sell. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow, so you can take a look. I've got a few ideas on how to market them, but welcome any contributions.
The remainder of Friday and Saturday were spent visiting various villages where the residents are marginalized- one village consisted of expellees - Burundians who had been living peacefully (but not legally) in Tanzania. The government suddenly and forcibly removed them to Burundi; they were working in their fields one minute and the next they were returning to Burundi on foot, leaving all their possessions behind. We visited a school where there are two teachers for 165 students- the lead teacher is literally living in the back of the classroom due to lack of resources. LWF is currently assisting this school to get desks for the students (they're currently on the floor with just the teacher and a chalkboard)..
It's difficult to summarize what I've seen and experienced here. In some ways I feel like I've been here forever, but there have been so many different and intense experiences that it's also flown by. What I've sensed most profoundly is the need for a place to call home, to be settled. After talking with so many different groups (refugees in camps, those on their way to the US, those in limbo, returnees, displaced villagers and those who never left their homes), it's clear that the ones living in uncertainty had the most distress. Seems obvious, I know, but it reiterates that helping people create a home (whether in the US or returned to their communities of origin) is critical. Lacking that sense of home and community is what makes it difficult for me to be here, though I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. So, for those of you working so hard (my co-workers at home :) to provide that for refugees, keep doing it. For the rest of us...don't take it for granted. That is one important lesson I will take from here..
Thanks again for the comments..they are much appreciated! I have felt very safe during my time here (no rebels lurking in the bushes, as far as I know) and have been working too hard to get into any trouble :)
Friday: We visited a basket weaving cooperative in Cendajuru, a mountain village located between Ruyigi and the Tanzanian border. Many of the women are returned refugees who learned their weaving skills through TCRS in the camps and are making these baskets from natural and recycled materials. I worked alongside them for a few moments- but my basket-weaving skills are on par with my knitting skills (ie below zero), so they will not be recruiting me to the co-op anytime soon! These women have now resettled in Burundi - some in their villages of origin and others in villages near the Tanzanian border. They seemed to be enjoying their work immensely and are now working on marketing the baskets outside of Burundi. I bought quite a few to bring home - some as gifts, some to sell. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow, so you can take a look. I've got a few ideas on how to market them, but welcome any contributions.
The remainder of Friday and Saturday were spent visiting various villages where the residents are marginalized- one village consisted of expellees - Burundians who had been living peacefully (but not legally) in Tanzania. The government suddenly and forcibly removed them to Burundi; they were working in their fields one minute and the next they were returning to Burundi on foot, leaving all their possessions behind. We visited a school where there are two teachers for 165 students- the lead teacher is literally living in the back of the classroom due to lack of resources. LWF is currently assisting this school to get desks for the students (they're currently on the floor with just the teacher and a chalkboard)..
It's difficult to summarize what I've seen and experienced here. In some ways I feel like I've been here forever, but there have been so many different and intense experiences that it's also flown by. What I've sensed most profoundly is the need for a place to call home, to be settled. After talking with so many different groups (refugees in camps, those on their way to the US, those in limbo, returnees, displaced villagers and those who never left their homes), it's clear that the ones living in uncertainty had the most distress. Seems obvious, I know, but it reiterates that helping people create a home (whether in the US or returned to their communities of origin) is critical. Lacking that sense of home and community is what makes it difficult for me to be here, though I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. So, for those of you working so hard (my co-workers at home :) to provide that for refugees, keep doing it. For the rest of us...don't take it for granted. That is one important lesson I will take from here..
Thanks again for the comments..they are much appreciated! I have felt very safe during my time here (no rebels lurking in the bushes, as far as I know) and have been working too hard to get into any trouble :)
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