Burundi

I got to take my first business trip a couple of weeks ago. And not just my first business trip – my first international business trip … pretty exciting stuff in a yikes-that’s-a-grown-up-kind-of-thing-to-do kind of way :-) Plus, it completed my “tour de East Africa:” living in Tanzania, vacationing in Rwanda & Uganda, visiting Burundi for work, flying through Kenya (yeah, yeah, so it doesn’t quite count; hopefully I’ll get that Kenyan passport stamp later this year), and seeing the mountains of the DRC from Uganda (I know, that doesn’t count either, but I’m not enormously keen on getting all that much closer to the DRC!)

For all that I spent a week in Burundi, I was there for work and didn’t get to visit Bujumbura (its capital) or any of Burundi’s supposedly amazing inland beaches, so there isn’t really anything exciting to report.

I stayed with another PiAf fellow though, which was nice. Plus, it was good to get to see some of the country that Kibondo’s refugees are returning to, as well as some of the projects that LWF-Burundi (our partner organization) has been implementing there. AND, unlike Tanzania (which was colonized by the Germans and then the British), prior to independence Burundi was occupied by the Belgians, which means that a trip to Burundi = a chance to eat some really good bread … and a chance to drive on the “correct” side of the road (which, after several months in Tanzania, was actually a little unsettling!) Another local delicacy (yes, I’m counting bread as a delicacy) that I got to try was pineapple wine, brewed by the nuns of convent in Ruyigi – not only was it delicious but resourceful, too! I’m told that there are a few other varieties of fruit wines (orange, possibly banana, etc.) and that they’re available on this side of the border as well, so should the opportunity arise, further research will be forthcoming!

I also used the trip as an opportunity to keep my ears open and pick up a few phrases of Kirundi (which is very similar to Kiha). So now, when the Mamas in Kibondo laugh and exclaim “anajua Kiha!” (she knows Kiha!) after hearing me use the handful of greetings that I know, I can respond, “ego, ndazi Kiha ukeuke” (no, I only know a little bit of Kiha) … which doesn’t actually do much to convince them that I don’t know Kiha (if anything, it just impresses them more), but it’s still definitely a crowd-pleaser, so we all walk away with smiles on our faces :-)