Mennonite
Central
Committee

Burundi: Union Chretienne Pour L'Education et le Developpement de Desherites (UCEDD)

May 2004

Viator and Alexandre are two typical boys in Grade 2 at "The School of Hope." They are best friends and are virtually inseparable. At school or at home they are either working together or playing together but always helping each other. Each day after school, they go into the forest to collect firewood for their mothers. Sometimes they see snakes hanging in the trees or lying on the path. They proudly told me that when they see little snakes they kill them with a piece of wood. When asked what they do when they see big snakes, they sheepishly replied that they flee. When they have both found enough wood to please their mothers, they return to their homes and exchange the fire wood that they are carrying on their heads for water jugs. They walk to the water source and each carry 5 liters of water home to their mother. I asked if it is heavy to carry 5 liters on their heads. They grinned and said it was easy for them. I also asked if they are sometimes angry that they have to do their chores each day. They were puzzled with my question. Why should they be angry they wondered, because if they didn't help get wood and water, how would their mothers be able to prepare food for them to eat?

We talked a little bit about their dreams for the future. Viator said that he wanted to be a local administrator (community leader) so that he can help "correct the bad people in the community - like robbers." I asked him what he knew about robbers and he told me a story of how recently his uncle's goat was stolen by his neighbor. He was caught by the local administrator and taken to prison. Later on when he was released he searched for Viator's uncle and attacked him, permanently damaging one eye. He was taken back to prison. The role of the administrator impacted him and that is why he has decided to be a community administrator. Alexandre (the top of his class) wants to be a School Director so that he can teach other students. I asked why he wants to be a School Director and not a teacher. He replied that he also wants to manage the school.

There was an obvious warmth between the two boys as they helped each other answer. When asked why they were best friends, they replied that it was because they always help each other–something already very evident to me.

Seemingly typical boyhood dreams and friendships and yet this relationship is all but typical. It is miraculous in fact that these boys even speak together, play together and work together. This is because one boy is Batwa and the other is Hutu. How has this come to pass when historically the the Hutus and Tutsis refused to even eat in the presence of the Batwa? This is an example of the success already achieved in this school, a school built through the help of Global Family sponsors. Two of the guiding principles of this school are that the Batwa would be integrated into all aspects of Burundian life and that the discrimination and prejudice against the Batwa would stop. The lives of Viator and Alexandre are a living example of this and it is already spilling over into the lives of their parents. There is a new future coming to Burundi and it is starting with the children!

 

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