All together there were seven young men from Burundi, Africa, were representatives of an organization called Jeunesse Volontaire Sans Frontier and had been invited to the Congress to share their stories and to to put on a huge exhibition of African Drumming and Dancing.
Over the course of our stay we all got to know each other very well and the layers of cultural misperception peeled away. As I stood on the golf course that afternoon, I was captivated by the story of these future Humanitarian leaders of Africa.
As a child I had always enjoyed golfing, one of the most popular American sports, but this experience like no other. In fact, golfing with my new friends turned out to be one of the most rewarding and hilarious experiences of my life. It was an excellent opportunity for Yves, Mamu, and Amedee to get to know me a little, as well as a little bit about the culture I came from. Eventually they all got the hang of it, but our opening tee off was filled with laughter, as Mamu could not seem to hit the ball. Each time he missed his face would grimace and Yves and Amedee, would fall to the land laughing and saying, “Aye Yae Aye Yae Aye Yae Aye!”
After Mamu hit the ball (a pretty good one I might add), Amedee got up and missed on his first time as well. Again, all three of us bent over laughing with him. “No, No No!” he said.
“Mamu, that is only once. You miss four times.”
He was finding any way he could to compete. If Mamu missed it four times, and he hit the ball on the third, then he would be the champion. Amedee kept asking me, “So how does one win?”
Yves as well, “So if I do this, do I win?”
It took us thirty minutes to finish one hole. I followed along, holding their ID tags while they swung. As we got closer to the green they had all really got their swings down. The only problem was since they were close to the pin they kept hitting the ball over onto the other side of the green!
I cannot explain the joy these men had while they were playing. They were so excited to learn the sport. At the end of the hole they all shook my hand and said with big smiles “we have to go again!”
There is something amazing about the amount of joy and happiness they are able to generate. It perplexes me, perhaps because I was raised in such a privileged society. I catch myself confining these human beings into “lesser stereotypes”. I find too many of us are “helping” Africa because it allows us to perpetuate our helper-helping-the-pitied-complex. Even though I haven’t had any obvious issues with this complex, I have no doubt that at a subconscious level I do.
Instead of being so quick to give money to a Non-Government Organization, or religious charities, I believe each privileged person across the world could give a tremendous contribution to Africa by simply becoming better educated about the country. One could do this by studying a map of the continent and learning a simple amount of geography. Such an easy effort can open the doors to a deeper knowledge of the culture, challenges, and political situations of these countries. Without any preliminary knowledge of Africa how will any money given to Africa be of genuine Humanitarian intentions?
Take a look at a map of Africa, count about three countries north of South Africa and you will find Burundi. Burundi and Rwanda are two comparatively small countries in the middle of its bigger neighbors; Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Kenya. The population of Burundi is made up of three main ethnic groups: the Twa, the Tutsis, and the Hutus, the same as Rwanda.
What many people, including myself, did not know is that genocide broke out in Burundi in 1993, a year before genocide of Rwanda in 1994. For a longtime the Tutsis remained in control of the Burundi government, but in 1993, a Hutu, by the name of Melchoir Ndadaye, was elected President for the first time in Burundi history. Just months after coming into office, Tutsi soldiers assassinated the new Hutu president and the country erupted into violence. Tutsi forces (essentially the Burundian army) fought various Hutu rebel groups across the country. According to my friends from Burundi, this violence killed close to 800,000 people.
One of the most powerful Hutu rebel leaders was named, Peter Nkurunziza, which is Kirundi for “good news” but as Amedee said with a subtle laugh, “at the time it wasn’t good news.”
His forces were spread out across Burundi. The Burundian military negotiated a cease-fire with Nkurunziza in December of 2002, brining peace to most of the country. Now, Nkurunziza is set to become the president of Burundi, and has allied his forces with Burundi government troops in fighting the only remaining significant rebel faction. This rebel faction is led by Chief Agaton Rwasa.
Rwasa is also a Hutu, and was allies with Nkurunziza prior to the cease-fire agreement in 2002. His troops are hiding out and attacking from the Mitumba Mountains, located in the Bujumbura-rural province on the western border of Burundi. Leftover mercenary forces from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Zimbabwe are fighting along side Rwasa’a Hutu forces. From the mountains they are often able to bomb the capitol city of Bujumbura.
The Burundians I have met say a huge problem is Rebel soldiers only wear battle fatigues at night. During the day they put on t-shirts and walk through the villages and cities, watching troop movements and looking for citizens who are reporting to the army. If a villager is identified as an informant someone shows up at their door in the middle of the night, and locks their mouth shut by shoving an enormous padlock through their lips.
The young men from Burundi at the World Youth Congress, including my golfing buddies, were children while the bulk of the violence and genocide was going on. “If we’re alive today, it is because of God.” One man says it, while all the others nod their heads.
I joined the band of drummers every day for lunch in the cafeteria. I have been amazed at how patient, compassionate, and understanding they are about the West’s, often total lack of, knowledge about Africa. Amongst themselves they are always joking and laughing. Even with everything they face, when it comes time for being happy they know how. None of them wear the strained smile I so often see in the western world’s cities; the kind that makes the sparkle in the eyes retreat so they become glassy. It is not the smile I have given in bars which is the product of my ego, trying to convince women who may be looking, that I am happy and confident, and fun to be around.
Many of the Africans whom I met at the Youth Congress are going, or have gone to college. They are doing better and have access to more amenities than the rest of their country, so I presumed that they were sheltered from the violence. I assumed that that was why they could be so happy, but as I spoke with them more deeply about what they do when they are in their country I discovered there is no hiding from the dangerous situations that the people in their country face.
Back home in Burundi; Amedee Kezimana, Mamu Nzeyimana, Alain Nyimo, Marius Bicira, Eloge Gashame, Desire Niyongere, and Yves Namashikaye are part of an association made up of 150 people across the country called the Jeunesse Voluntaire Sans Frontier (JVSF). Together they take their drums into the Bujumbura-rural province to the villages that have recently been attacked by Rebels and they play for the people. They sing and dance, and in the message of their music they tell the people of Burundi it is alright to return to the village, to feel joy, and to feel good again. They get feedback from the six Jeunesse Voluntaire Sans Frontier provincial branches and try to get funding for supplies and equipment that are needed to improve the quality of life. They also try to educate the children who are the main source of new recruits for rebel leaders such as Chief Rwasa. Many of these children are kidnapped and taken into the forest filled mountains where they are given Ak-47’s and forced to fight. Still others have simply known violence their entire lives.
Members of Jeunesse Voluntaire Sans Frontier go into the villages and educate the children on war while at the same time trying to bring them joy through music. “As cultural performers we try to make songs of love and peace so people can see that we are one.” Desire Niyongere told me over lunch one day.
The dream of creating a perception of unity is more than just a new age concept to these young men. “Politicians they teach us, ‘this one is not your brother, this one hates you, you are different than these people. So politicians profit when youth are in war,” says Desire.
At Jeunesse Voluntaire Sans Frontier they are trying to promote volunteering and solidarity in youth so that our generation can change our country.
This is all in the face of incredible danger. The Rebels of Chief Rwasa in the Bujumbura-rural have learned about their organization and they tell me they receive death threats slipped under their doors. Often, they have to enter the warring provinces just behind the front lines of government troops. Despite the risks, Desire tells me that one major accomplishment was organizing a football match between Hutu citizens from Bujumbura-rural and Tutsis from the city of Bujumbura. “It was cool because afterward we drank Fanta, shared what we had, danced together, and we realized that we are one.”
On top of all of their cultural performances, members also assist in several other humanitarian actions. They have worked with the Catholic Relief Services and United Nations volunteers trying to raise funds to pay off citizens’ medical bills because hospitals often detain any patients who are unable to pay them, even though no food is provided. They run radio advertising campaigns to see if wealthier Burundians are willing to donate money or rice to help feed the sick and starving.
Jeunesse Voluntaire Sans Frontier hopes to expand into Rwanda but, even for such a promising group of future leaders, getting funding is an enormous obstacle. They recently requested U.S. $ 140,000 to help demobilize over 400 younth who have left the forces of Peter Nkurunziza since the signing of the cease-fire. “Many children are taking ganja, they taking wine, so they can forget the bad spirits in their mind,” Desire informed me.
Too many innocent people have played active roles in the tragic genocides of the last eleven years. The youth of Africa are most often the soldiers of Africa as well. Jeunesse Voluntaire Sans Frontier is working towards teaching them a useful trade and providing them with counseling in order to help them reintegrate into civilian society.The request for funding was included in the Common Humanitarian Action Plan for Burundi in 2005 and submitted to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Their request for funding was denied by Ibrahim Fall, the representative of the U.N. Secretary General. According to his reply, funding was incredibly short in 2005 because of the amount of money spent on tsunami disaster relief in Southeast Asia.
The severe lack of aid to ease the sufferings of Africa is not a new problem. Recent global events in Scotland, such as the Live 8 concert, the G8 summit and the World Youth Congress have only recently raised awareness of a problem that has been killing Africa for decades. Simply put, there have been a lot of promises and not enough action. In 2004, according to the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) of 2005, U.S. $1.6 billion or 48% of the proposed necessary programs went unfunded.
Just as it has been said so many times before, tens of millions of people suffer and die in Africa each day.
Even in the face of so many inhumane actions, and so many broken promises, my new friends from Burundi still hold on to their hope and laughter of life. A perfect example of this took place as we were walking to the golf course. A big goose living in the pond jumped onto the land and started honking and flapping its wings. Mamu said something in the Kirundi language and Yves and Amedee started laughing. I asked Amedee, what did Mamu say?
“He said, ‘that goose is saying he is happy to be in Europe, because in Africa he would be food for dinner!”
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