November-December 2022

NARRATIVE REPORT

Introduction

During the period of November and December 2022, two HROC basic workshops were planned and conducted with 35 adult participants and 10 children. The first one took place on November 6th to 8th and the second from 12th to 14th. At the end of the workshop, committed participants formed one new Self-Help Group (SHG) and others joined the already established SHGs for economic resilience.

Twelve SHGs met on a weekly basis for saving and credit services. After twelve months of saving and credit, members of the SHGs came to share what they saved and their gains. It’s then that they were ready to initiate or expand their income generators’ activities and start the 2023 saving and credit year. There were 16 women and 4 men in the first workshop, along with 4 little children. In the second workshop, there were 10 women and 5 men along with 4 little children.

Political and socio-economic context

After almost two years working for effective reintegration of returnees from internal and external exile, an issue has risen concerning couples whose children are not registered with the civil administration. Burundi’s law gives a deadline of 15 days for a newborn to be registered. After this deadline, parents are charged money to register their newborn babies. This is a serious concern because an unregistered baby has no right to nationality, education, health care, vaccination or any protection against abuses and violations of human rights.

At IPB/HROC, we would like to support the registration process for all those unregistered babies of our participants, but, more importantly, tackle the reasons or problems that keep parents from registering their newborn babies within the 15 days, keeping the babies from benefiting from all the above rights that Burundian children should have. We will plan for a campaign to register children.

Stories from the workshops

Thierry

I lost both parents separately. In 1999, around the time the war was getting to an end, my parents fled separately. My father took my elder sister while my mother went alone. She had a pregnancy of two months. Unfortunately, that was the last time she saw my father and their first-born daughter who passed away during the war. Afterwards, my mother decided to keep alive the pregnancy despite the advice of other family members to abort it. She gave birth to me and died when I was three years old. This was the beginning of a difficult life for me. Except for one uncle who accepted me, the remaining members of my family refused to accept and take care of me. I had to endure all sorts of misery like not getting food after school. I grew up at my grandparents’ place but later, they also passed away. Then, I was accepted by a charity organization that my mother used to work for when she was still alive. Unfortunately, with the combination of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the charity organization has closed its doors. Thus, I was obliged to stop school in the second year of high school in 2021. Out of all the misery I suffered since beginning my existence, not being able to complete high school and undertake my university studies has grieved me a lot. I am glad that IPB/HROC is like a family to me. I got to know more about trauma. I have really learned a lot and I would like to share the knowledge with my friends. I thank IPB/HROC for this.

Evelyne

I dropped out of school in the final year of the primary school due to the civil war of 1993. At that time, I was living with my mother in Mubimbi while my father was working in Gitega. He was killed during the war and we never got his body for a dignified burial. My mother and I had to flee because of the war. We settled in Bubanza, and fortunately I was able to continue my studies and do the national exam. I remember that I was intelligent and succeeding in class was easy. While I was waiting for the results of the national exam, my family was repatriated to Mubimbi. My father had already passed away and my mother could not support me in getting the results of the national exam. Thus, I had to forget everything about school life. I got married to a husband who from time to time mistreats me. For instance, he took by force 200,000 Burundian francs of my savings that I was planning to purchase a plot of land and got back home drunk. I looked into his pocket and found only 40,000. This kind of situation reminds me of my studies I could not finish. Maybe I could not suffer this way if I could continue my studies.
I appreciate the workshop. I am happy that I got an opportunity to share my story and was listened to.It made me release a little bit of my trauma experience. I will continue the healing process.
More thanks to IPB-HROC founders and donors.

Zuwena

I was grieved by the loss of three of my siblings. They were adults. Also, my brother was a chief of the Muyaga quarter in Gihosha zone. He was arrested in 2015 and jailed at the central prison of Bujumbura. My other relatives and I could not see him till 2021. He was released very sick and we took him directly to the hospital. After one week, he passed away. Up to now, we don’t know what he endured during his imprisonment.

Odette

I was raised in Bujumbura. Since the outbreak of the war in 1993, the mountainous area and the area near-the capital city was seriously affected by war. I remember fleeing in the midst of shootings and we were arrested by the “Tutsi army”. They told us to calm down and pretended to protect us until their fighting with rebel groups stopped. But in reality, they were waiting for their friends to come so that they could kill as many people as possible and they did so. That day, hundreds of people were murdered by the Tutsi and the local government had to bury them in a mass grave because of the high number of the victims. My family and I survived because my father was recognized by a soldier who hid us in a hole. That’s the first experience! The second is about the FNL rebel group’s acts of harm. The FNL rebels used to force both girls and boys to harvest their fields and transport the harvest to their poste. I remember that one day other girls and I were transporting their harvest alongside them. We then met the Tutsi and they started to fight. We could not leave the big bags full of their harvest because the FNL fighters were, afterwards, killing whole families as a punishment for that. This is the kind of life I had to endure as I was growing. Now, each time I see former rebels arrogantly treating others unfairly and say “Caratuvunye” (a popular expression to mean “we fought hard to get the country back”), because they are now in power, I am furious and I ask myself: “do they know what I passed through?”. I remember that I suffered from stomach-ache because of what I went through. That’s why I really appreciated that we discussed how we should handle our traumatic events in this workshop. We certainly should not keep them in our minds and think only about them. We should learn to release them.
Many thanks to facilitators.

Astère

In life, I was grieved by two bad experiences. The first one is related to the relationship with my wife. It all started with the death of my mother in law. After the funeral, I asked my wife to invite her siblings to our home because they were left without anybody caring for them. I sent them to school till one of them got married. She had conflicts with her husband and wanted to leave him. I forced her to remain there and this created a conflict with my wife who, due to that, cheated on me and left me for another man. I pursued her for a while but I couldn’t win her. As revenge, I married another woman who mistreated my children. I had to chase her out and pleaded with my first wife to come back. She accepted but I still have a grudge against her. I don’t know if I will forgive her. The second bad experience took place in the midst of the war in 2015. At that time, I was transporting palm oil from Kamenge to Kanyosha though Nyakabiga of Bujumbura city. As you might remember, it was dangerous for the inhabitants of those neighbourhoods to visit each other. In Nyakabiga and Kanyosha, I was threatened by some people because I was coming from Kamenge. I was even asked to clean up numerous dead bodies which were transported in vans and trucks. Until today, I still feel bad about all those innocent people killed and buried in mass graves because they could not be buried with dignity. From this workshop, I appreciate that you gave us a message of hope. I am now convinced that slowly bad experiences will fade away.

Triphonie

The experience that made and is still making made me cry each time I think of it is about my marriage. I was living quietly until recently when my husband decided to leave me. He went to stay in the salon of his sister. I found him there and pleaded with him to come back but I received a lot of strokes from him. That day, he left with our baby and I slept at the gate of the house till the next morning. I was reunited with our baby but not with him. I went back home and found that all the money I had borrowed from another self-help group with my telephone was stolen. Up to now, I haven’t been able to pay back the debt and this situation has put me in a very critical and life threatening condition. I will never forgive my sister-in-law. When I was sharing my story, the anger I have been living with came back again and I now understand why it is important to manage the anger that springs from trauma.

Self-help groups’ success story

Odette

Odette was born and raised in Muramvya. She dropped out of school in primary sixth grade. She then came to the capital city of Bujumbura to look for a better life. She got married and now she has five children.
The short description of her life does not mean everything is going well. Like many women, she has little to no share of the financial life of her home. Her husband works full time and he does not allow her to participate in the management of his salary and other family possessions.
Odette joined a self-help group (SHG) run by IPB/HROC at the end of 2020. Her major target was to be able to generate some money monthly. She then took a loan from the SHG and in agreement with her husband, built a small house on a tiny plot of land located in front of the main house.
This house is now rented by one family that pays 40 000 BIF every month. The money is boosting the financial situation of Odette’s family.

Conclusion and Way forward

A healing journey is what most of the participants in the IPB/HROC basic workshops need. A journey that starts with being equipped with knowledge about trauma. From that point, participants, their families and the whole community should contribute to the management of internal wounds. Unfortunately, the consequences of wars and mainly the destruction of family ties are serious obstacles for many to experience a deep and comprehensive healing. At IPB/HROC, we strive to educate, support, advise and advocate for a complete, comprehensive and holistic healing that precedes sustainable development.

For this year, 2023, IPB-HROC will launch a campaign to register children that missed being registered at birth due to the 2015 crisis or to parents’ not knowing the consequences of not doing so. We will make lists of children not registered, quarter by quarter in Bujumbura. Once we get a considerable sample, we will apply to the Minister of Solidarity, Human Rights and Gender to advocate for their registration.