The Burundian Connection

Liana and Belise are Burundian women and although their roots take them back to the small East African country, Liana and Belise met in Australia. Belise, a professional in accounting, has been in Melbourne since 2005 and has been away from her native country since then. She finally revisited Burundi last December. At her end, Liana arrived in Australia in March 2013 through an AusAid scholarship to study international community development at Victoria University. The two women have differing experiences of Burundi and they describe in their own words what makes them so proud and feel love for their country.

Liana

Liana describes “Burundi is a small and beautiful country located in the East part of Africa along the banks of Lake Tanganyika where you can eat the tastiest fish. Burundi is a warm country with welcoming people and rich in culture”. What is a bit less known about the country is that it was first colonised by the Germans who ceded control to Belgium at their defeat at the end of World War I in 1918. At that time and until early 1960, Burundi and Rwanda were a single colony known as Ruanda-Urundi. Belise and Liana agree on what makes them proud of Burundi, “the Burundian drummers are very well known and they make us proud. It’s about what they sing when drumming”, continues Liana. “The lyrics are about the pride of the country, of being Burundian and what the country has accomplished”. Not only does the sound of the drums have a deep meaning and bring pride but “all young women are very proud of performing traditional dances. Also, the songs have a meaning, to a particular group and teach the history of the country”. Drumming, dancing and singing reflect perfectly the Burundian culture as they are strong socialising elements of Burundian society. Burundians are very social and Liana, who is from the capital city of Bujumbura, talks about her experience. “People take time to talk to each other. At celebration events like births, people come together, play music and dance. The particularity of Bujumbura is that it is a small and beautiful capital where there are strong social connections between people and it is easy to get to know each other which is even emphasised in the Burundian countryside”.

Belise whilst travelling across Burundi

Belise, who left Burundi as an 8 year-old with all her family, spent about 11 years in a refugee camp in Tanzania before arriving in Australia in 2005. That same year when Liana landed in Australia, Belise took off for Bujumbura to rediscover her native country and reunite with family members who have been away from her for too long. Belise too describes “throughout my road trip across Burundi, I was welcomed and fed in every house. I’m amazed how friendly, hospitable and peaceful Burundians are”. With her father from the Northern town of Kayanza (near Rwanda) and her mother originally from the central town of Gitega, Belise got to reconnect with Burundi on many levels; with the vast green hilly land, her loved ones and friendships formed during her time in Tanzania. Burundi, like Rwanda, is the native land of the Twa people and is also inhabited by Hutus and Tutsis who have also suffered hard times during their history. Today the people’s connectedness makes the Burundians society peaceful, strong and ready to rebuild the country.

Liana says “the strength of our community is social cohesion. It makes you feel you’re part of something. Poverty is really relative, the fact of not having a work and earning a living it’s big here [in Australia] but back in Burundi it’s okay for a sick person who can’t work because they’re supported by someone, the neighbour for example. We are very interdependent and it keeps us  stronger because what matters is not what we have but what we share”. Liana is very grateful for this opportunity to study international development in Australia as she is passionate about sharing her skills and knowledge to rebuild the country. “It was a great opportunity for me  because I came to that stage of my life where I really wanted to work with people back in Burundi because we are in this rebuilding stage of the country and I thought I lacked some skills”. She found inspiration for social work from a previous experience with the Friends Women Association to improve women’s conditions especially for those with HIV in areas stricken by the civil war. She claims that it was “a life-changing experience to see the project empowering women and breaking this cycle of trauma. Women were socially and economically excluded”. She witnessed “they [women] found strength. Women who fought against each other and are today sitting side by side and starting a business together. That is what showed me that if at grassroots level people who intensely lived that conflict period can manage to get to that level of reconciliation so nothing can stop them to rebuild and follow a better future for them, us and future generations”.Liana talks about the same women who in order to end the war in Burundi managed to create a coalition of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa women to be one united voice at peace talks. Since then, it has been decreed that a 30% quota of women must be repesented in Burundi’s decision making structures.

Today Liana and Belise admirably follow the steps of their aunties and elders who have shown love, compassion, peace and unity between one another. The two friends are now contributing in Australia. Belise joined the Africa Media Australia non-profit organisation to assist with filming activities to broadcast news throughout Australia’s African community and Liana is an active member of I Am A Peace Soldier campaign launched in June this year by the charismatic and role model David Nuyol Vincent to encourage people for ‘fight’ for peace with words and love.

Far From Africa makes it onto Africa Media Australia

 

The Land of the Ngola Dynasty

© Marion Cabanes – 12/07/2013

Angola, based in South West of Africa, is another Lusophone country (Portuguese speaking). Open to the Atlantic Ocean, its history and geography have given the country unique cultural characteristics. The country was colonised for hundreds of years by the Portuguese who, captivated by the beauty of the country, settled down in Angola. Today’s Angola is shaped by a Portuguese community, 8 main tribes (Umbundu, Mbundu, Bakongo, Lunda-Chokwe, Nganguela, Ovambo, Haneca and Herero) and other African nationalities coming from neighbouring countries.

Justino, an Angolan student at Deakin University majoring in International Business, Management, Trade and Policy, talks about his native country. Angola is a “beautiful country, so accepting with almost no racism and no tribalism. Portuguese have remained after colonial times and formed families with Angolans”. Proud of being Umbundu, Justino explains “we have managed to create economic prosperity but we never look down on other tribes”.

Angolan history is very rich and Portuguese have, sometimes, paid great respect to it. Prior to their arrival in 1482, Angola was divided into kingdoms. King Ngola was significant in the region and not only did he give his name to a whole dynasty of kings but to modern-day Angola. Justino proudly tells about how Queen Nzinga Mbande negotiated with the Portuguese to limit slave trade and territorial occupation. This highly respected Angolan figure from the 17th Century was Queen of the Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms (present-day Angola). Sent by her brother King Ngola Mbandi to negotiate a peace treaty with the Portuguese, she successfully became an ally of and respected by the Portuguese Crown. To protect her people, she was even baptised as Ana de Sousa Nzinga Mbande which ended slave raiding in her kingdoms.

Sadly the Portuguese rulers breached the agreement terms which prompted Queen Nzinga Mbande to tenuously lead a war against them until her death at the age of 81. By that time, she had managed to set her people of Matamba on equal footing with the Portuguese colony. She is still praised today by Angolans who have erected her statue in Luanda, capital of Angola. She is remembered for a political and diplomatic acumen, great wit as well as her military tactics.

Queen Nzinga Mbande

1975 is the year when Angola gained its independence from Portugal and also when a civil war over presidential power broke out. Angola experienced 30 years of civil war in the 20th Century (1975-2002) and today is becoming an increasingly attractive place for its vast natural resources, flourishing entrepreneurial sector and constant investments in infrastructure.

Justino witnessed the economic development happening nowadays in Angola. The current president Jonas Dos Santos is “investing greatly in entrepreneurs, housing programs with improved sanitation and education”. Today Angola’s education system “offers night schools for adults who were unable to study during the civil war”. The Angolan Government has also taken the initiative to teach the local languages at school as well as encouraging pupils to wear traditional clothes.

Justino doesn’t hide his strong desire to learn Ovimbundu (the language of the Umbundus) because “I would like to be part of it. It’s also part of who we are and it would be too sad to lose our own language”. He hopes that the country won’t be given away to foreign investors but be rather beneficial to Angolans. “Build Angola for Angolans”, he asserts.

He sees himself being a business investor like his dad because “it is investment in Africa and I want to contribute back home”. His ambition goes beyond making an economic impact for Angola but also political as he adds “I want to make sure that an economic development won’t change people deep down and people aren’t left behind unnoticed, unheard in the economic progress as it could have negative impacts”.

He encourages Angolans to come and “try” Australia as it is an unknown place for many Angolans. “Australia has given me the opportunity to meet other Africans and made me realise that we don’t explore our continent enough”.

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