Citizen of nowhere

I've been wanting to publish this story for a while but never got round to it. In memory of our fantastic maid in Sudan. Miss you loads, dear, I pray that wherever you are, God will protect you.

Orange plastic flowers, pots of cheap nail polish, and a broken piece of mirror ornate the shelf of Azeeza’s (not her real name) lodger room. Silently, she reads the newspaper article that reports of the Khartoum government’s expulsion of 1,200 of her compatriots, all sent back to her home country, a country that no longer knows her name. Her crime: loving God a bit too much.

Azeeza was born in 1975 in Eritrea where she was raised in an Orthodox family. At an early age, she moved to Ethiopia with her father before settling back in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, to teach mathematics to junior school students. Life was difficult in those days, but most families managed to make a living, Azeeza remembers: “I was hoping to save money to go to University, but instead I had to support my family”.

At this time, Eritrea was fighting a bloody war with Ethiopia for independence, which it gained in 1993. “I remember voting in favour of our independence”, says Azeeza, “it was the last time I actually voted”. For in 1994, Azeeza’s life took a dramatic turn. She started studying the Bible with a colleague from school and became a Jehovah’s Witness, a decision that would transform her life.

As she refused to serve in the military, she was met by violent opposition from the Eritrean government, who kicked her out of her teaching job as a civil servant and stripped her of her citizenship. “In a few months, I lost my work, and my family rejected me because I could no longer support them, and they hated Jehovah’s Witnesses”, says Azeeza. A rejection that may be explained by the fact that the government would collectively punish the families of devoted believers or army deserters.

Azeeza retreated in her faith community, found a job as a cashier in a small shop and in her spare time would teach Jehovah’s Witnesses children, who were themselves banned from attending public school. “There was real fear among believers at the time”, she explains, “everything had to be done underground, otherwise people would denounce us and we would be imprisoned. We would secretly meet in private homes before sunrise, when most people were asleep”.

The situation became so desperate that in 2005, Azeeza joined the thousands who have fled the country to seek refuge in neighbouring Sudan. After a bus ride to the western town of Tesenay, she walked across the border into Sudan, hiding with a group of people. “I dressed up in traditional clothes so that people wouldn’t notice me. There were spies everywhere, even children, and if they spotted me, I would have been arrested”.

Of the roughly 165,800 Eritrean refugees in Sudan, some 69,400 live in the 12 camps operated by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the east, while another 57,000 live outside the camps. Azeeza recalls the tough living conditions: “After two days of walking, I reached Kassala and walked into a camp. They interviewed me, gave me a refugee ID card, some sorghum, oil, pots and pans and told me to live in a grass hut with some boys and girls. But I had come with no clothes, nothing. There was no door, no privacy, we all ate and slept together. No-one was helping us, and we were left fending for ourselves.”

Despite being prohibited from leaving the camp by the Sudanese authorities, Azeeza went to Khartoum, leaving behind her ID card confiscated by the police. Once in the city, she found work as a house maid and joined the local Jehovah’s Witness community, where she now teaches the Bible. “I am not happy here, life is difficult. I have no papers, no right to work – I am a citizen of nowhere”.

Is she sometimes angry at God for the way her life has turned? “No, I’m not. The Bible says that ‘we will be persecuted for our faith’”, she quotes from the Scriptures. “People misunderstand me, they think I am narrow-minded. But when they see how I live, how I am interested in their lives and how I honour my commitments, they change their mind”. When asked whether she will one day go back to Eritrea, Azeeza’s eyes wander at the window with a sad expression before she sighs and softly replies: “maybe... maybe”.

Azeeza's room in Khartoum, with plastic flowers, nail polish and local basket

Azeeza and I were born the same year, I often think of how our lives have turned out

Burundi votes!

Today marked the beginning of a 4-month election period, during which Burundians will elect their representatives at the municipal, presidential, legislative, senatorial and local levels. I had the chance to be involved in observing the process, so I followed a local NGO as they visited small localities in the rural area of Bujumbura.

The weeks that led to this first round of elections have been marked with a few tensions between members of political parties, sometimes involving intimidation, even violence. Many Burundians have confessed that they feel nervous about the outcome of the vote.

But today, as we went from one village to the next, entering polling stations (often located in schools), greeting staff and observing the process, the atmosphere was rather relaxed. In order to ensure transparency and peace, members of various civil society groups, local NGOs, churches, political parties as well as the international community had been invited to sit in polling stations so that they are satisfied that everything will go according to plan.

women came in force to vote

And generally things went well. Massive numbers of people arrived early in the morning and patiently queued, until they presented their registration card, received the bulletins (between 12-17 depending on the district) for each party and 2 envelopes (one for the party of their choice, the second for the discarded papers), made their choice in the voting booths, and finally dipped their left-hand thumb in an ink bottle as a proof that they had voted.

Meanwhile back in Bujumbura, headquarters of local associations and the Independent Electoral Commission, were receiving regular reports from their observers present in each locality. Obviously, a few irregularities have been noted, such as an insufficient number of bulletins, or political representatives spotted giving a “helping hand” to officials to distribute bulletins, or voting booths out in the open for everyone to see next to a waiting line of people. In one district, one local councillor was caught in the possession of several electoral cards. In another, an old lady was found sneaking out of the voting station with the remaining bulletins. But all in all the day was thankfully peaceful.

Time will tell whether people will respect the outcome of the vote. But as they wait for the results, Burundians hope very much for the continuity of peace and stability in their country.

voting stations opened at 06:00 this morning

officials distribute the bulletins representing each political party

a voting booth - sometimes a bit too transparent?

"your choice in the white envelope, the discarded bulletins in the black one"

the seal of democracy

The Holy Grail of Safari Parks

Round 2 of visitors. This time it is my parents who made the amazing 26h journey from Europe to Bujumbura. Since it was their first time in sub-Saharan Africa, we decided to give them a little adventure and drive to Tanzania to see some wild life.

Although we were not convinced that taking our pumpkin would be such a good idea – see previous posts for reasons why – we decided against hiring a local vehicle and set off south after much prayers and preparations.

After almost 7 hours of tarmac roads with lots of potholes, we stopped in Kigoma, across the Tanzanian border to overnight at Jacobsen’s beach, probably Tanzania’s best kept secret. Sadly our first puncture meant that we had to repair a tyre and we got there too late to fully enjoy the sunset over Lake Tanganyika and the simple but lovely facilities.

We left early the next morning, and after 10 very long hours on dirt roads across stunning sceneries (and a 2nd puncture/repair session), we reached the gates of Katavi National Park. Katavi is the 3rd largest game reserve in Tanzania, yet claims to have the highest density of wild life in any park of Africa. With less than 1,200 visitors a year, it is also one of the least visited, giving you a taste of what Africa must have been like 50 years ago, which earned it the nickname of "the Holy Grail" of safari parks.

Problem is that Katavi is a dry-season park. Given that we were visiting at the end of the rainy season, tall grass and ample amounts of water meant that animals were scattered across the very large park and therefore a bit difficult to spot. But what you manage to see is truly amazing because it is just you and the game in a vast plain.

The fun bit is that you are allowed to drive yourself in the park, which makes for memorable experiences when your guide tells you to cross over a pool of water where a family of 25 hippos is resting less than 10 meters away, or when the track you’re following takes you insanely close to a herd of 200+ buffalos looking like they’re about to charge your car. We did see an incredible amount of giraffes, impalas, bucks of all sorts and colourful birds. Sadly no big cats or dogs, although we were guaranteed that we’d get great sighting had we only come in the dry season.

"dont' worry", said our guide, "they're just teasing you - you can safely drive nearby..."

The 200+ buffalos we disturbed during their morning stroll. Not a happy sight.

A giraffe summit

As we drove home, the last bit between Kigoma and the Burundi border proved to be epic. We opted for a shortcut which we were told the Chinese were about to finish building. Unfortunately torrential rains poured for 3 hours the morning we left, soaking the thick layer of dirt the Chinese had laid just days before. The 15km up to the border turned into a vast lethal mud swamp, through which it was only possible to manoeuvre by driving in 1st gear, with the car swaying dangerously by 180 degrees each side. Never in my life have I been driving in such tough conditions. At one point, the car fell into a ditch and it took 2 hours and locals with their hoes to get us out of it. Needless to say we provided a much-welcomed attraction to the nearby villagers who cheered and clapped as the car was finally extracted.

Five hundred kilometres later, another 2 punctures and a renewed trust in our amazing car we reached the safe grounds of Bujumbura, tired but crowned with an Indiana Jones aura, and with a few more stories to tell than we’d have ever bargained for...

the pumpkin is safely back home

New career as a tourist guide

Recently we’ve been quite busy entertaining visitors. In Sudan, except for our parents who braved the heat, no-one ever came to visit us. Yet ever since we’ve moved to Burundi, tens of people have lined up to come and stay at our little palace. What they don’t realise is that there isn’t much to do in Burundi. Honest. Now, I have to concede - there IS a nice beach, green hills and the Congo mountains, grilled fish and tasty meat brochettes, and mango/pineapple smoothies. But drive a few miles outside Bujumbura and that’s it, you’ve seen most of this beautiful (yet very small) country.

So it was an extremely pleasant surprise when our friend M announced that he and his 3 kids would be coming all the way from Khartoum to stay with us over the Easter week-end. Despite some major glitches along the way including DHL, laborious visa processes and the loss of yellow fever certificates, they all made it safely and we had a wonderful time. We went to the “Musee Vivant”, a small and dingy local zoo where the star attraction is the feeding of live hamsters to sleepy crocodiles, leopard or great python. We were slightly worried that M’s kids (all aged under 6) would find the experience traumatizing but instead they seemed to take great pleasure in cheering for the poor thing to “Run!Run!Run!” before it was finally snapped by a mighty pair of jaws. Other highlights included touching chameleons or snakes and letting them crawl around your neck, which the kids – adults less so – absolutely loved.

R and her new friend

E and her new friend

About 90 minutes south of Bujumbura, a new resort has opened on the shores of Lake Tanganika. With little huts on the beach, a tennis court and a volley net, Blue Bay is the perfect place to relax away from town at the week-end. We drove there for an afternoon and ate pizzas and swam in warm (and crocodile infested?) waters. Finally Easter Sunday was spent relaxing in our garden with a couple of friends, and playing croquet.

G helping with a game of croquet, in his own way

One day after M and the kids had returned to Khartoum, my good friend L visited from Kinshasa. Determined to relax from the chaos of Congo, she came armed with books, nail polish, cute dresses and one word: “hippos!” So I took her to the Rusizi reserve, the closest wildlife park to Bujumbura where hippos, crocs, antelopes and birds abound. One memorable moment was when L – who had never seen hippos until then –asked the guide if he couldn’t lure them to the shore (where we stood with an armed guard) so that she could approach them and get a better shot. Luckily she didn’t get his reply in French, nor saw the smile on his face.

All in all it’s been a very nice few weeks and given a few more visitors, we could well become the next official tourist guides of Burundi.

The Rusizi channel, with the Congo mountains in the background

Come to mama L...

Gym Tonic

I’ve put if off for too long, but now I HAVE to tell you about one the funniest things in Bujumbura. It’s called Gym Tonic and at the risk of sounding as naff as the girl introducing each session on my fitness DVD, “it’s incredibly hard”!

I found out about Gym Tonic through a friend, who insisted that it is a really good work-out. But while I nodded with a polite smile, my smug self thought that it couldn’t possibly be true, and that judging from my experience of Africa and sports (or rather of Sudan and OMG-are-you-kidding-why??-no sport), I should be treading on safe ground.

And at first, I clearly thought I was. Most Gym Tonic participants, Burundians for the vast majority, are either males in their mid-forties with a significant beer belly or as Mma Ramotswe would put it, “traditionally-built women”. As I handed my $2 entry fare to the attendant, I believed that those years spent in Sudan doing crazy aerobics by 40 degrees on a roof terrace were finally going to pay off. Well, they did not.

Enter the instructor, a Burundian athlete of Olympic proportions. There’s no time for small talk here, so quickly he starts the session with accelerated techno-dance music. The pace is unbelievably fast and for the next 90mn it will not stop. I look around and my neighbours, who appeared so inoffensive at the start, have now mutated into über-humans. The whole experience feels like a boot camp, with everyone shouting and grumbling in unison as they kick and punch the air.

But worse is to come. After 30mn of fighting to catch my breath, the instructor decides to put on some Congolese music while staff helpers lay steps in front of every participant. The ordeal continues with more jumping and clapping to reach a climax as the instructor screams “Now daaaaance!” and everyone with no exception starts swirling around their step in perfect rhythm. Everyone but me.

I cannot say what amazed me the most. Was it the fact that I was so unfit despite all my Sudan efforts? Or rather the sight of all these people who managed to keep pace despite... well, their shape?

In any case my friend was right. Gym Tonic is a good work-out, it certainly rivals any well-polished Western class and I will kick and punch and dance on anyone that attempts to mock it in the future.

(You didn’t seriously think I was going to post pictures as well, did you?)

A visit to the Batwa

In my not so many years of traveling through Africa, I have met a few people for whom my heart was broken. Among them were the elegant Peuls in the desert of northern Senegal, farmers fighting the drought in landlocked Burkina Faso, HIV positive women sewing beads for an income in Burundi, or landmine victims learning to live with their injury in Sudan’s Nuba mountains.

I will always remember the day I met the Batwa pygmies of Burundi. I first came across them four years ago when I was working for a development agency and I saw them again last month. They are among the poorest of the poor.

Although the Batwa are the oldest recorded inhabitants of Burundi, they were subjugated in turn by Hutu, then Tutsi tribes around the 15th century and have since been a minority. Illiterate for the major part, they are under-represented in all aspects of life in Burundi. They have often been evicted from their land and have been deprived of their rights. As a result, they get the least fertile, most inconveniently located land, which no-one else wants, where they live in small communities withdrawn from the rest of the world, often in utter poverty. Women eke out a living by making pottery, while the men work for food by carrying sacks of grains or other goods for people to and from the market.

Of course poverty is a difficult concept, and I will not attempt to compare ethnic tribes and establish which ones are poorer. But what strikes me with the Batwa is their reluctance to change.

For a start, they see themselves as a separate people. When asked which tribe they come from, most Hutu and Tutsi will insist that they are Burundians. A pygmy will reply that she or he is a Twa. Then centuries of submission have made them understandably very suspicious of foreigners. Development workers often find it much more difficult to teach Batwa ways to improve their lives (such as building more sustainable housing, sending their children to school, taking up agriculture or adopting some basic hygiene and sanitation) than their fellow Hutu and Tutsi citizens.

I value the work of organizations that run projects specifically designed to help the Batwa. Yet I cannot but ask myself how long and what it will take for an entire generation to learn to trust others, to do things in a different way, possibly even to embrace a new culture so that they will survive. If anyone knows the answer, please let me know.

the Batwa (pygmies) are smaller than the average Burundian person

A Twa building his hut, made of wood and leaves

A Twa child

Pygmy woman curious at the visitors

The angels of Gitega

Despite a dramatic journey upcountry, a lovely surprise awaited us in Gitega, the second largest town in Burundi. A few miles past the centre of town, Youth for Christ runs an orphanage for about 25 kids. Most of them have lost their parents to various diseases, including HIV-AIDS, or were abandoned by a single parent that couldn’t cope.

I had never been to an orphanage before, and at the risk of sounding terribly naive, I was somehow obsessed by images of places in Romania where children have barely enough to eat, get beaten up by their wardens and live in abject poverty. Romania being far richer than Burundi, I just didn’t know what to expect.

As we step out of the car, a horde of children run towards us with huge smiles on their faces and one by one, start distributing hugs to each adult. “What is your name?” they ask in broken English and are terribly proud when they can reply “my name is Laurette” to the same question. Not impressed by the colour of our skin, the children pass by us and jump on the Burundian leader of the project who's visiting with us, tickling him and burying their face in his chest. There is incredible joy and love in this place and I feel humbled.

We visit the dormitories, tidy brick barracks where about 4 children share a room on bunk beds. We are told that for the first time in their life, children can have their own bed, whereas in Burundi most of them will usually share their bed with their sibblings. The place is clean; the children are well-fed and look genuinely happy. The house mothers nod graciously as tell their protégés not to overwhelm the visitors. One child takes my hand and for a few moments, we stand there looking at each other in silence, content. Suddenly I am at peace.

Youth for Christ’s vision is to raise a generation of young Burundians who will be healthy, educated and God-loving – men and women of integrity who will be ready to take up the challenges of their country. For 50 US dollars a month, they house/dress/school/feed a child. The project is so popular that the local authorities have granted YFC permit to build another site on the opposite side of town. If every child in Burundi could grow with the grace, unconditional love and support that these orphans receive in Gitega, the face of the country would certainly change in 20 years.

Laurette looking very cool

Kids having fun during a class break

Learning hard

Tea break at school...

...and the all so popular football