It is best that where it rains, it rains again

By Elyse Ndayihimbaze, Innovation and Program Development Manager at Help a Child Burundi: Part 2

Between a rock and a hard place

Hunger, the high cost of medical treatment and lack of water were the main problems IDPs faced in their first days at the relocation site. Fortunately, in the years 2020 and 2021, humanitarian organizations, churches and other well-wishers responded in numbers to address their basic needs. “The first year was good,” Maria states, “we had food, NFI kits and good tents to live in. Our children had back to school kits. However, help came to a sudden halt for an extended period of time.”

To put this into perspective, the Ukraine crisis had a negative impact on humanitarian aid in Burundi. From January 2022, most organization cut their budget for disaster responses in half, while others stopped their humanitarian interventions altogether. The international community focused its attention on Ukraine, thus being unable or unwilling to provide the same level of support to other crises.

Along with the announcement of reduced funding in 2022, a second wave of floods occurred in Gatumba in January 2023. One of the IDP relocation sites was also flooded, so even more people moved to the Sobel IDP relocation site. Some IDPs became beggars, others indulged in illegal activities such as commercial sex, stealing or trading prohibited substances. Others left the country to look for better opportunities elsewhere.

The lack of mental stability caused most IDPs, primarily youth, to indulge in unhealthy habits. “Apart from losing all their belongs, IDPs were also traumatized. Their lives changed significantly as they were forcefully moved from their homes into the streets or relocation sites.” Samantha, a Social Action For Development (SAD) staff member shares. “Children abandoned school in numbers, support would either not come or come irregularly.”

Building back better

Help a Child has been supporting households displaced by natural disasters since 2020, at first with cash for shelter along with non-food items (NFI) kits, food aid and loans promoting their economic recovery. In 2022 and 2023, the organization adapted its intervention to match the most pressing needs of IDPs through a climate smart agriculture project. This intervention included trainings on positive parenting and early stimulation, psychosocial support and SGBV prevention for parents.

“The beauty of being at Sobel is that when we go farming, our children are taken care of in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) center,” Thérèse shares. “We see changes in the behavior of our children, they are more interested in school, their grades have improved and even at home, they are more willing to do chores and spend time with us as parents,” Tite adds.

In these ECD spaces, children are encouraged to think critically, to read, write and develop life skills. This is done through board games, music, dance, team sports and tutoring. Overall, parents are thankful for the services provided by the center. On a downside, care givers report that children sometimes express that they do not have dinner, breakfast and at times no meals at home for consecutive days.

Both Thérèse and Tite were farmers before being displaced. “Farming is costly. Having lost everything in the floods, I did not know how to resume farming. So being taught how to start small with a kitchen garden was an eye-opening experience,” she shares. With the gained modern farming skills, the farmers saw instant progress in the quantity of vegetables and fruits grown on the farm. “We saw the benefits of drip irrigation techniques,” Thérèse says. “We were well on our way to a big harvest but the water shortage due to the tank explosion and thereafter generator failure resulted in a major setback for us.” Tite expresses.

Priority IDP relocation needs

In 2023, an additional 250 IDP households were trained on modern farming techniques. The new members are thankful for the support given by fellow IDPs, Help a Child, SAD and Holland Green Tech staff. They dream of returning to their homes, where their children can study, where they can swim in the Lake, play football and learn their parents’ vocation (primarily fishing and farming). Their collective request towards the government, donors and other well-wishers is relocation support. Among the things they need are construction kits or cash for rent, agricultural start up kits, land to farm as cooperatives and multiplication of certified seeds.

At the wake of a new raining season, the farmer group closes the interview with mixed feeling, “it’s about to rain again, this is good news for our crops, but our hearts are still concerned about the families currently in Gatumba. Some will be displaced again; they are not praying for rain like we are. Others might also find themselves homeless given the worst-case scenario. We pray for God’s hands to cover us all as we enter a new year, to enter it with good news.” Thérèse concludes.

By Elyse Ndayihimbaze, Innovation and Program Development Manager at Help a Child Burundi. Part 1

Charity fatigue

In the past decade, new humanitarian crises and natural disasters have emerged on a more regular basis. The international community has failed to address them all at the same time, leaving already fragile states weaker and in need of more recovery support. One of the poorest countries in the world that is often overlooked is Burundi. The Burundian population has endured cycles of civil wars and unrest, extreme poverty, chronic malnutrition and of late, climate related disasters. Until now, the nation has not been well equipped to address these challenges. How do the people of Burundi, and the organizations that aim to support them, keep their hopes alive in such difficult circumstances?

We’re all in the same boat

Often awake before the sun rises, Tite goes for a walk to fill up jerry cans with water prior to the arrival of other solidarity group members. As birds fly from the darkness into the light, Thérèse, the solidarity group leader joins him, and they begin to review key activities for the day. We are visiting the Sobel Internally Displaced Person (IDP) relocation site, not far from Bujumbura, Burundi’s largest city. Previously a state-owned farmland, the site is now hosting the largest community of IDPs in Burundi.

Tite leads the group into devotions and a word of prayer, thereafter, the weekly planning meeting begins. 2 hours of hard work pass and as solidarity group members leave the farm, Thérèse invites us to talk to Maria, one of the members of the group.

“I was raised as an orphan,” Maria expresses. “When I grew older, I met a man who became my husband. We had a son, a second, a third and a fourth one together but then one day, everything we had built began to fall apart. A group of militias attacked our neighborhood, and injured me.” In this incident, Maria broke her left hand but managed to flee and survive. Her eldest son whom she lives with today was equally lucky, but sustained serious injuries. Unfortunately, the blood of her other 3 children became one with the ground in the process. Maria and her son and husband fled to DRC. She did the best she could to heal but up to date she can only work for a few hours at a time. “After numerous unsuccessful attempts to recover, my husband left me for another woman with whom he could live and labor. I returned to Gatumba with my son in tears and hopelessness as my luggage.”

Climate related disasters

From 2020 up to 2021, Burundi experienced cycles of torrential rains, heavy winds and floods which resulted in increased human displacements across the nation. Today there is a total of 68,810 persons displaced due to climate change in Burundi. More are expected to join this number if the nation fails to find a lasting water management system.

Where Maria looked to find hope, floods in Gatumba (in the East of Burundi) worsened the situation causing her to become homeless. “My house was destroyed and our family farm in Gatumba was flooded.” Thérèse shares trying to comfort Maria. Next to her, Tite also opens up, “likewise, we left our house in a hurry, when we returned to see our home, it was no more, same goes for the crops we were expecting to harvest. All household items were gone. The only thing we had left were the clothes we wore.” It was a devastating season for IDPs to have no opportunities to make their talents useful nor make ends meet for their children.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]