(Here's a reposting of the letter I sent earlier this month about my trip. It gives some background info on the situation the people are currently encountering.)

Burundi: What’s going on?

Background
Situated in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, Burundi is a tiny nation that has been plagued by war and tribal conflicts since its independence from Belgium in 1962. Like its neighbor, Rwanda, the Hutu and Tutsi tribes have clashed over political power, beginning with a genocide of over 200,000 Hutus in 1972 and culminating in a brutal civil war that lasted 13 years, leaving over 250,000 dead before its end in 2006.

Refugee situation
During this period, nearly 800,000 refugees fled Burundi and landed in refugee camps in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Congo. Refugees were generally confined to the camps, dependent upon United Nations (UN) aid and unable to return to Burundi or integrate into the countries to which they had fled. A small percentage of these refugees were approved to resettle in the United States, but the majority must now return to Burundi.

Current politics
In 2005, a Hutu government was elected and in 2006, a fragile peace agreement was signed by rebel groups, officially ending the civil war. International agencies are now encouraging the return of Burundian refugees to their homeland and the UN is providing a few months’ worth of food, cash and educational assistance to facilitate their return.

The future
The refugees’ futures remain uncertain. The Burundian economy, largely dependent on coffee exports, was destroyed by the war. Residents who fled lost their homes and land and are unsure what they will find upon their return. At least one rebel group has refused to fully comply with the peace agreement and it is unknown whether they will begin fighting against the government again.


Burundi: What’s my connection?

In my current job with the Refugee Resettlement Office of Catholic Social Services, I have met several Burundian Hutu families who came to Charlotte as refugees in July 2007, and assisted them in learning English and American culture. They were part of the small group in Tanzanian refugee camps allowed to come to the U.S.

Uphold the rights of the poor and oppressed
Through personal contacts, I have been offered the opportunity to volunteer with Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Bujumbura, Burundi. They are a non-governmental, faith-based organization whose mission is to “uphold the rights of the poor and oppressed” (Isaiah 82:3), a theme which is at the heart of God throughout the Scriptures.

LWF has been charged with the monumental task of developing a strategy to assist the returning refugees in re-establishing their livelihoods in Burundi, including reclaiming land, planting crops and finding a place to call home after so many years of instability. My task will be to use my skills as a native English speaker to assist the LWF director in developing a strategy document for Burundi that will determine their course of action for the refugees over the next five years.

I will be spending the month of February in Burundi, working in LWF office in the capital city of Bujumbura, traveling to several project intervention sites in rural Burundi where returning refugees are arriving from Tanzania, and visiting a refugee camp in Tanzania.

My purpose for this trip is three-fold:

• To gain a better understanding into the lives of refugees overseas, providing a greater foundation from which to serve them in the US
  
• To contribute to the task of LWF-Burundi: to aid thousands of Burundian refugees in returning to their homeland
• To explore the possibility of God leading me to work in East Africa for a longer term