Burundi the way I saw it
Drummers are a must see when you are in Burundi. They reflect the rich culture.
What you need to know:
The civil war may have set Burundi back by some years, however, today things are looking up in the country. Even if you are like to face language barrier, a visit to the capital will leave you impressed, especially by the rich fruit basket and cuisine.
Wedged between Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda, Burundi occupies a high plateau divided by several deep valleys and its road from Rwanda meanders round, very steep, with beautiful scenery.
Coffee plantations welcome a visitor to Burundi and in the outskirts of the city; you will see women carrying hoes, babies on their backs – probably evidence that people are hardworking.
The phrase I can use to best describe Bujumbura and its people is “there is an information gap” and it’s evident when even a cab driver fails to know places one could think obvious like the parliament, big hotels and shopping centres like supermarkets. Other people in town don’t even know there is a big conference in their town. “Some of them don’t just care,” says Edward Ndavuze, a cab driver, speaking in his local Kirundi dialect. Ndavuze spent a few years in Uganda as a little boy, so he speaks some English.
Information gap, language barrier and the French man’s bug still eats up the Barundi, in almost all aspects- and they will probably take more years to learn the language of East Africans- English.
Whoever you meet is speaking Kiswahili, French, complicated Kirundi and some speak Congolese- this is a trying time for a Ugandan visitor. “What do you expect of a people that have known nothing but wars?” a colleague asked me.
The war that finally ended in May 2008 had claimed close to 300,000 people. In August 2005, former Hutu rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza was elected president by parliament. The peaceful transfer of power to a democratically elected leader seemed to indicate that Burundi’s 12-year civil war was truly at an end- and indeed it had come to the real end.
President Nkurunziza says Burundi has transformed from “a relatively isolated country, which was associated mainly with internal civil unrest, to a land- linked country with a vibrant economy, improved infrastructure, and a stable socio-political system.”
“Our ability and capacity to accommodate, not only international conferences, but also to attract increasing incidence on foreign direct investments, are clear positive indications of the tangible benefits of regional integration,” President Nkuruzinza said.
Many Ugandans who have visited Bujumbura for long have testimony to the growth of the small city. “When we first started coming here for parliamentary sessions, we would all maneuver to fit in the single hotel that was around those years, but a few years down the road, the capital is booming with hotels and even more are coming up,” says Bernard Mulengani, a Ugandan East African Legislative Assembly(EALA) member.
Roads in the capital are wide, and well made. I am told that all the new developments and infrastructure seen in the capital have been built in less than five years. I didn’t see potholes, I didn’t see any dirty streets expect in the central market.
“A lot of developments that I can’t count have happened in a flash of an eye. The East African community has been the best thing that can ever happen to the country and I’m sure they can never regret joining the community,” says Mike Ssebalu, also a Ugandan EALA member.
The central market closes at 4pm Burundi time, no lunch is available in any hotel or restaurant because the Barundi leave their work places, go home and eat from their traditional cuisine, then take a siesta. The restaurants only operate in the evenings and with the slow reception and service, patience is what a visitor should carry when they go to Bujumbura.
However, on the plus, all the hotels in the city have free internet connections, so even as you wait for that food order which if you are lucky will take not hours; you can make yourself comfortable with internet. And finally when the food comes, it will assure you that Bujumbura is a city of fruits, each type of food will come with fresh fruits in plenty.
Together with their neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi became a full EAC member in July 2007 and thanks to the membership, Burundi which had almost died, has resurrected. “Potholes were the order of the day, the whole town was dirty and there were hardly any cars on the streets. I can now see traffic jam, the speed of development is terrific,” Eriya Kategaya, First Deputy Premier reminisces of the old days in Bujumbura.
Burundi’s economy is estimated to be $2bn. The country has two distinct ethnic groups: the Hutu and the Tutsi. While these cultures have coexisted for centuries and now share a common language and many cultural elements, they remain separate in terms of group identification.
Notwithstanding the language barrier that a first time visitor with no knowledge of French and good Kiswahili will face, Burundi is a place to visit because it has interesting sites.
