Buj

I knew my Heels were gonna win the big game, when our dilapidated African bus pulled up into the breezy, balmy, lakeside town of Bujumbura, Burundi;  a country still in the throes of conflict, with its countless UN convoys and compounds, and the first put-together, decent building I saw was an old car dealership that had, “Old East” written in huge letters scribbled on it’s concrete slab of a sign. I thought of that beautiful campus, and the charming old dorm, and felt like James Taylor was singing in my mind. (Of course last month, when they played Duke for the first time, I was sure they would win, after seeing a guy wearing a UNC girls soccer camp T-shirt at the local market; but instead they blew a 17 point lead.) But I just told myself, basketball is not soccer, and there’s always next time, when it really counts. And they won! Go heels! I wore my blue bathing suit too, just in case.

We had a long weekend, Friday and Monday off of school…and I decided that I was actually not going to do a lot of work this weekend. Not school work, or any other work. I decided I needed to spend the weekend relaxing my body and my mind. I wanted to read and swim and eat. So on Friday, I traveled with a couple of friends on a 6 hour road trip down to the sweltering Bujumbura, Burundi, Rwanda’s neighbor to the south. I still delight in the fact that I can travel to another country for the weekend! Crazy! Life is always an adventure here, and I was blessed to have some time away for another one this weekend.

The guide book advertises Burundi as “beautiful, but tortured.” I would say that sums it up quite well. Burundi is simply gorgeous, I thought Rwanda was the prettiest place on earth, and what I had heard about Burundi, didn’t think it could match it. But Burundi is absolutely stunning. There are mountains and green, rolling hills dotted with coffee and tea. The different shades of green against the landscape are incredibly stunning. I only wished I didn’t have to travel it at Mach 10 speed in a bus. I want to return to Burundi. To the countryside, and visit with people. The first 4 hours we were weaving down and around and up and around hills, and the last 2 hours we were going down to the lakeside, and everything flattened out. You could feel the heat start to grab you, and it started to feel more like Mombasa in July.

And then we arrived in the not-so-bustling or brilliant capital city of Bujumbura. Buj, for short, looked more like a small village town, compared to Kigali. There were no buildings higher than three stories, as there hasn’t been any development in Buj since the early 80’s. All the ministry offices were more like run down apartment buildings in the ghetto. It had the wide colonial streets and elaborate roundabout displays, similar to Moshi, in Tanzania, but the city itself was practically a ghost town. There are UN soldiers standing guard everywhere, and their compound is the biggest deal in town. Coils of barbed wire run along the top of all the buildings, even small stores, and we found many people just hanging around, with nothing to do. Everywhere we went there were groups of soldiers running shirtless in a pack, shouting army chants and sweating it out. Every patch of grass serves as a makeshift soccer pitch, and boys are out there all hours of the day.

I am fascinated by history, and wanted to learn more about this small country that borders my own. Especially because Rwanda and Burundi are so similar. They are both small countries, first colonized by the Germans, and later by Belgiums, and they have both endured awful ethnic conflicts over the last few decades. However, now Rwanda has peace and is stable. International investors and NGOs are flocking to Rwanda to help with development, and the government is highly supportive. But in Burundi, there is no Kagame, no development; and while there is no war right now, the situation is still very unstable. Like Rwanda, the conflict goes back many, many years, and is too complicated to map out here, but things came to a head in 1993, when thousands were massacred in inter-tribal fighting between Hutus and Tutsis, and many refugees fled into Rwanda. The following year, the Hutu Burundi President died in the same plane crash that killed Rwanda’s Hutu President, and it triggered the genocide in Rwanda that lasted 100 days. In the next 3 years, hundreds of thousands of Burundians were also killed in tribal clashes, and the fighting continued during a successful coup in 96. In 2003, the largest rebel group, FDD, finally signed a peace treaty, the UN sent troops in 2004 to maintain peace, and elections were held in 2005. The former rebels, the FDD, were victorious and claimed the presidency.

Their President is a Hutu, and our President Kagame is a Tutsi. Even though both tribes are represented in both countries, each country deals with it in a totally different way. In Rwanda today, there are only Rwandans. There are no divisions. It’s even a crime to even speak of the separate tribes. When asked who are you, they all answer, I am Rwandan. We even have to have “code names” when speaking of the Hutus and Tutsi here. Most ex-pats refer to them as hamburgers and tater-tots. (I’m not joking.) But in Burundi, they really debate their divisions still, and talk about them openly. They say they are Hutu or Tutsi, they discuss them together. They drink together, work together, and since 2003, seem happy to live in peace together. These are two very different approaches to the same problem. I respect that Burundians can openly discuss the past and their conflicts, but at the same time, I think they really need to embrace a spirit of unity and stability so they can move forward and grow in many ways.

I enjoyed Buj. We stayed on the beach at Saga Plage, a lazy shamba on the beach that shared its home to a large caged crocodile and almost-as-large python, who was in the process of hugging a sweet, innocent guinea pig when we arrived. Not fun. We had to hassle more for uncorrupt prices from everyone in Burundi, but I had been warned about that. Buj sits right on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and only 5k down the road from Buj is the legendary spot where Stanley uttered the famous line, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Wow. I only thought I’d read about that place in history books! Life is good. Buj has reputedly the greatest inland beaches on the whole continent, and I would agree. Soft, yellow sand, and the waves of the lake crashing in. The menacing mountains of Congo are in plain view, a few miles away. It’s so crazy to be sitting in either Rwanda or Burundi, relaxing on the beach, and seeing Congo in the distant. It looks so bold, and menacing, almost like if you peered behind those mountains, who knows what you would see! I’ve gotta get there before I leave this continent. There’s an active volcano that a few of us have wanted to climb for sometime, but they have just recently jacked up the visa price to an unaffordable amount. And that doesn’t even include the bribes you will be asked for. The DRC is a different place. I still would like to visit someday. Anyway, the beaches in Buj were amazing. All that was missing was the salt smell.

We ate dinner at an old, carved out ship in the water, that looked like it might collapse any minute. And we spent the day swimming in the lake, and lounging at Bora Bora and the ex-pat hotel. Saturday night, we had a juicy burger at the old Havana club, and enjoyed the view of Buj at night. Not a lot going on though. We made it back in time to catch some live music on the beach. Get this! Literally 10 minutes after we got out of the lake, we looked and about 15-20 yards from where we had been swimming, a baby hippo comes up out of the water! We couldn’t believe it. Maybe we shouldn’t have been swimming there. An hour later, we saw the adult hippo pop up too! Crazy!

On Saturday, I met some retired U.S. Army personnel who were in Buj training their soldiers. These guys did short training contracts all over Africa. Had an awesome Spirit-filled conversation with one guy, from Kansas, who just left the Mormon church, and was doing a lot of searching. His sister was getting married soon and he wasn’t even allowed inside the Mormon temple. He seemed hurt by that, and he started asking me about the book I was reading called, ChristianAtheist, by Craig Groeschel. I listened and talked and shared. My plan for Saturday was to swim a lot of laps, do a lot of reading, not talk to anyone, have alone time, and sleep. I’m so glad God’s plans aren’t my plans. I did get my quiet time in, but I also was given the opportunity to share everything I believed with this new friend. Nothing was forced, and the conversation was just definitely put-together in a divine way. Really cool. Also was able to share with my lawyer friend from Kigali, who is not a Christian, but is open to hearing about my faith. The guys have invited him to their “man-group” Bible Study, and he went last week. He confessed to me this weekend a lot of things he had shame about in his life. And some things he was still doing and practicing that he had no shame about. He’s lived a very privileged life, but has encountered many demons and has tried all there is to try, looking for love and acceptance. We had a wonderful conversation, (after he had some drinks in him), and he was just asking, asking, asking so many questions about Jesus. It was awesome! I just continue to pray for opportunities like I had this weekend; even with strangers! And I pray that I may be prepared. He does the rest! I got some good sun this weekend,(a bit too much), had some awesome Spirit-flavored conversations with friends, and new folks too, still got in 2.5 books! (mostly on the 6 hour bus rides), and just relaxed. But now it’s good to be home! (my African home!) Gonna prolong the holiday, now, with Ramen noodles and sugar cookies tonight, and an early bedtime. Can’t wait!