Life in Burundi

It’s been quite the experience these first two days here in Burundi. It’s only 6 in the evening and I’m just about at the end of my energy level because of all the talking and negotiating we’ve had to do. We have learned very quickly that you have to negotiate for everything, and you can trust no one. Even our translator, who seems to love Jesus passionately and is very open with us, we’re not sure if we can fully trust. But I guess that’s what you get when you’re white and travel to an African country who for so many years recently was plagued by civil war and distrust in one another. It’s just that it takes so long to get anything done here. On Monday, for us to exchange our money into Burundian Francs, it took over an hour and negotiating with several different people, and even then we still did not get market price. One U.S. dollar is worth approximately 1,250 Burundian Francs, but that’s only if you have a bill from the year 2003 or later. If you have anything before, you’re lucky to get 1,150. It’s hard to fathom, seeing as in the States we use pennies from the 60’s, but that’s just the way it is here. Even going to different banks, as we tried to do, you have to negotiate. We quickly learned that money is king, and since we are white they all look at us as the rich people and we have lots of money so they will try many ways to take advantage of us.

I thought coming here that we might be more welcomed than we have been by the locals. But even when we have given out different things we’re lucky to get a handshake. For example, today we gave out a pair of shoes and a shirt that were a gift from a friend in Austin to a family member here, and when he came to the house he gave no thank you, and instead asked for a plastic bag to put them in. When we said we didn’t have one, he gave a disgusted look, put the stuff to the side, and began talking with our translator. Shortly thereafter he left the house to return to work, no “thanks” or “nice to meet you”, it’s only “what did you bring me and how much do I get”.

But some people have been extremely kind and helpful during our short time here. Gilbert’s cousin picked us up at the airport, and when there were problems with the house he originally had set up for us, he did all that he could to find us a new place and it worked out well. (By problems, I mean that there was a person currently renting who had said they would be out last Sunday, but never left. Now they’re saying they will be there until at least Saturday, but maybe longer. As you can see, there are frustrations in this when you were supposed to have a living arrangement in place.) He drove us around town showing us different places, helped us find internet even though it was already 10 in the evening and he had work the next morning, and took us to his house and we sat in the backyard and drank (they drank beer, I had Coke!) and talked about our visit to Burundi.

On Monday we met with Yves, the man in charge for Food for the Hungry in this region. We talked about the water well that the Gazelle Foundation is trying to put the finishing touches on and we discussed other things that they are doing here in the country. One of my questions was if they partnered with other organizations here, or if they did a lot of things on their own. As we were walking around Bujumbura I saw all different kinds of relief services ranging from Catholic Aid to World Vision to FH to Cordaid, but unfortunately it seems as if many of these groups go at it alone rather than teaming up with each other. Talking with Yves, he told me how many of them have different beliefs and because of that it makes it challenging to partner with each other. One would think that if the common goal is to help the people of Burundi then that would be enough, but apparently that is not the case.

After meeting with Yves, we went over to a man named Simon’s for dinner. He has lived here in Burundi for 10 years, and his wife Lizzie moved in 2004 after they got married. They head up what’s called Great Lakes Outreach (www.greatlakesoutreach.org), and he has written an incredibly thought provoking book about what it means to passionately live out the Gospel. We got to play with their kids for a while and then Lizzie made us a home cooked meal as we sat at the table and discussed why were are in the country and what they are doing and some of the struggles they face. One thing that really stuck with me was that even though he has been here 10 years, he still cannot go to the market to buy things. This is because he is white and there’s no chance of him getting a fair price, so they send their cook to get things for them. (I will get to the cook part in a few minutes.) So he told us about a lot of the independence you give up to live here, that you have to be willing to let go of quite a bit. But he also talked about how great it is to raise their kids in this country. There is no western mentality here, there are no magazines or billboards that promote sex or sexual images, and there is just a lot of other things that we see as essential that really aren’t that necessary. So that really got me thinking of what would you give up for the gospel, which I am compiling a list of during our days and we’ll see how it turns out. Some of that includes air conditioning, independence, any semblance of government support through police, health care, etc., and cable television. They also have to pay for their internet by the minute, so not very much time is spent on the computer.

But what we have also learned is almost everybody has a local who works at their house. Even the lower class – if they own a house – has someone who washes and cooks and cleans for them, usually to the tune of $20-$30 per month. Yes, that’s all they make in a month. The poverty issue has been really eye opening, and we haven’t even been to the upcountry yet where it is supposed to be even worse. So this person goes to the market, cooks the food, is there at the house 24/7. If you have 2 employed, which many do, then one usually sleeps outside the front gate to keep watch. Coming from America and our history of oppression and racism, it’s been a weird adjustment having men serving us like this. But it’s a normal thing here, and it’s not that they are any lesser of human beings, it’s a way to support them and give them work because there are not that many available jobs here for people to earn a living.

I have more thoughts and could go on for quite some time, but dinner is about to be served and we could not miss out on the incredible African dishes we have been blessed with since our arrival!

We thank you for your prayers, and they will most certainly be needed over the remaining time as we are about to begin to really get our hands dirty here in the capital city and next week out in the rural areas.

Iyo Ngwe