Settling in and Strategies

A lot has been going on around here since my last post. I moved into my new apartment on Monday afternoon. It is so great to have my own space and my own kitchen. The apartment is tiny but it is really cute and has a little terrace out the back and a garden. It is also right beside a busy main road so the peace and quiet of the garden is a bit of an illusion. Once I am a little more unpacked I will post a couple of photos here. Now I am busy trying to buy everything I need for the apartment, such as dishes and so on. After work on Monday I stopped by T2000, a store I am familiar with because of it's counterpart in Kigali, to buy some of the main essentials like a kettle and mugs, plates, a pot and pan, knives, forks and spoons, a pillow, sheets etc. Then I did a quick stop at a supermarket for some basic food supplies and went home. It soon became apparent that I had forgotten some of the main essentials of life. Like toilet paper and dish soap. Luckily my friend Monique took me shopping for a few more things at Mutoyi, a fantastic store that I will be spending a lot of time at. I am keeping a list of things that I still need. I added to it last night after trying to make dinner and burning my fingers on the pot. Oven mitts.

Also this week the new Director of my department at work started. She is spending most of this week on things like housing and finding a school for her kids but already I am feeling energized and like there is direction in my job. I never thought I would be this type of person, but guys, we have a Strategy. A Strategy! I am seriously excited about this. It is not done and so I will be spending part of my time over the next little while consulting with other staff members about it, but a strategy means direction, and purpose and steps that need to be taken. It means that what I do over the next five months will be part of something long term instead of a piecemeal mush of things that get forgotten after I leave. It means that this office will be better positioned to sustainably acquire and manage the funding needed to continue meeting the development needs of our communities. So while to some it is just a document of priorities and guidelines, really it is so much more!

I also had several meetings this week of varying degrees of interest. One was about a project that will be funded through one of our support offices and it was great to be part of the discussion about a peacebuilding project focused on children and youth in one of our communities. One thing about my current position is that I feel very removed from the everyday implementation and running of our activities in the field so it was great to finally see how my role fits into these field level activities.

This coming weekend is a long weekend. Did you know, Canada and Burundi share the same birthday? Burundi got it's independence on July 1, 1962. Monique and I are going to explore a bit upcountry, along with one of her colleagues and her colleagues' boyfriend. I haven't met them yet but I am really looking forward to getting out of the city. We're going to explore the Kirundo province which boasts some hot springs and beautiful lakes and we'll be doing some hiking as well. Lots of pictures to come!

Burundi.... Isn't that in India?

When I first started telling people that I got a job in Burundi I was met with a lot of confusion. Most people  had very little idea where Burundi actually was. While at least four people thought it was in India, most people knew it was somewhere in Africa but had no idea where.  So, I thought I would use this opportunity to educate you all about this tiny, beautiful country.

Burundi is a small country located in East Africa. It is bordered by Rwanda to the North, Tanzania to the East and South and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the West. The tiny country has a population of somewhere around 8 million people, most of whom live in the rural hills as subsistence farmers. The capital city is called Bujumbura and is located right on the north eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. This lake is large enough to have a small tide and lots of sandy gorgeous beaches. It is also home to hippos and crocodiles.

Burundi has just emerged from a 13 year long civil war and has had several conflicts, wars, coups and assassinations since its independence in 1961. The peace is still unstable and the country has a lot of obstacle still to face. A staggering 56% *of the population is aged 18 or below and one in every five people are children under 5 years of age. This means there is a huge burden on the under equipped education system and that the majority of the population is not being ‘productive’ in the economy. However, it also means that there is an overwhelming amount of potential for such a young country filled with so much promise.

The average life expectancy at birth of a Burundian born in the early 1970s was 44 years. By 1992, the average Burundian could expect to live almost ten years longer to the age of 54. But by 1999, average life expectancy had dropped to a new low of 43 years. In 2004, this had barely moved with an average life expectancy of 46.6 years. Maternal mortality rates have risen more than 82% since 1992 with an estimated 800 maternal deaths to every 100,000 live births, and infant mortality rate is as high as 106/1000. Mortality rates in children who are less than five years old is a whooping 385/1000 – this is more than twice the global average. In development these statistics are important indicators for the overall health of a population and of the health care system.  I know my friends who are doulas, midwives and who work in maternal health will find these statistics especially striking, and heartbreaking.

Burundi has two, and in some places three growing seasons and there is rain about 60% of the year. It is hard to believe that such a lush, green country can struggle to feed itself but only about 28% of the population is ‘food secure.’ That means that a full 75% of the population faces times throughout the year where they don’t have enough food. There are high levels of chronic malnutrition, especially in children, all over the country. When children don’t have enough to eat, or are missing basic nutrition, they are more susceptible to disease, they don’t develop properly and they have trouble concentrating and learning in school. People were displaced during the war, leaving their land untended. Infrastructure such as roads was destroyed making buying new seeds and equipment difficult and taking product to market challenging. The rain patterns are changing here because of climate change. All of this adds up to serious challenges in meeting this densely populated country’s food needs.

Burundi faces a lot of challenges. But it holds a great deal of promise as well. The people are resilient, friendly and creative. Burundians are multilingual with people in Bujumbura speaking Kirundi, Swahili, French and now more and more, English. There is a lot of potential for growth. This country is a tourists dream. But there is a lot of work to be done.

I am spending my days reading reports about my organizations work here in Burundi and it is encouraging. But I am also spending my days reading about, and meeting about, all the needs there are. There are so many things we want to do, that we are trying to do, but as much as WV is a huge organization world wide, we are very small in Burundi and we have a very small budget. There are limits to what we can do with it. So I am spending my days trying to figure out how we can better partner with other organizations here, and how we can win grants from donors to improve and expand our work. I spend my days reading these heartbreaking statistics while I am cocooned in the relative wealth in the capital city. I struggle with opening my heart to the poverty, suffering and challenges of the people here while at the same time guarding it so that I am not overwhelmed. It is an ongoing struggle, but one I welcome.

*the statistics I have used in this post come from internal organizational documents but are based on figures from various annual reports from the UNDP, as well as from the World Bank and the Government of Burundi. If you have questions about the exact sources please let me know and I will give you proper citations.

Adventures in Bujumbura

This week there were some World Vision staff from other Partnership offices in Burundi to do a baseline assessment. Today I got to tag along with a couple of them as they did a little sight seeing in Bujumbura. We went to the Musee Vivant which is a sad little zoo with Crocodiles, a leopard and a chimpanze. Then we went for a quick walk across the Congo border followed by a drive in the nature reserve outside of town, lunch on the beach. Here are few pictures of my day.

Juliet the crocodile

Beautiful Leopard in a tiny compound

Julio the Crocodile - ya, I though his name would be Romeo too.

He performed some impressive acrobatics and then wanted to be rewarded with food

Beach on Lake Tanganyika

We walked over the border in to the DRC

The river that marks the border between Burundi and the DRC

Watch crocodiles!

Pictures of hippos for my friends Ginny and Abby

I was going to take a video of the hippos for Ginny but then my battery died. Next time!

First Day of Work

Today was my first day of work at my new job. I spent the morning meeting everyone in the office. They were all very welcoming and were very glad to hear that my position was finally filled.

So what is my position you might ask. Good question! It is slightly different than what I was originally told it was but it will be an interesting learning experience for sure. My title is something like Resource Development Intern and my main role is to help with Grant acquisitions. So I will be working on project proposals and liaising with funding sources such as the Dutch and French Embassies, the EU, the European Commission and the World Bank. So.... no pressure! Part of my job is not much different from what I have done in the past. I have read and worked on a number of project and grant proposals in the past but I have never been the main author of any of them. Or even one of the main authors. It is a little intimidating but I feel like I am up to the challenge and can do this part of my job very well. The other part, interacting with the funding giants like the World Bank, this I am still a bit unsure about. Again, I am looking forward to the challenge but at the same time there is a lot of pressure. This is a small program with a small budget here in Burundi and any extra funding and grants would go a long way to making a difference in what can be done here. Unfortunately Burundi has been largely ignored by the donor community and many of those that had been working here are leaving, or have left. This puts organizations like mine in a difficult position. The need is great, but the resources are very few. Hopefully I can help....

I went out for lunch with three colleagues to a restaurant on the shore of Lake Tanganyika where we watched two young hippos playing in the shallow water.  Next time I will try to remember my camera. There was a short wall and a two lane road between us and the hippos but it was really cool to watch. The breeze off the lake was really refreshing and sitting in the garden of the restaurant it hit me. I’m back in Africa!! My job is going to be a challenge, I probably only remember four names of the 50 people I met this morning and my new city is still a complete mystery to me. But I’m living in Africa so as long as I get the occasional lunch with hippos I think I’ll be ok!