Bujumbura, Burundi…what do you hold for us?

In November I travelled to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi with my good friend Rob for a scouting trip that we did for our families.

The sun rising over Africa, viewed from 10,000m above somewhere in Ethiopia

The purpose of the trip was to investigate Hope Africa University and to see what kind of ways our skill sets could fit in with what they are trying to accomplish. I will be finishing my PhD this year – so we’re thinking about what will come next. I’ve been in some preliminary discussions with a couple of Universities back in North America – but this opportunity to serve in Africa came up, and we are anxiously very excited about it.

The banana is for scale…no the bun is…nope. I guess the coffee cup shows the relative size of both.

So….if I have a mechanical problem…”YOU” will come to my rescue. I might explore other options.

View from the rooftop patio of a fantastic French boulangerie / patisserie in Bujumbura. Looking over Bujumbura, Lake Tanganyika and the mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the other side.

I’ll put up some more thoughts on the details of what we’d be doing there, and why, and how – but I wanted to just give you some idea of that this is the direction we’re heading – and give some sense as to what Burundi feels like.

You know you’re comfortable carrying stuff on your head when you have a wheeled suitcase – that instead of pulling along the ground – you put on your head.

I maybe a bit sceptical but…I’m not sure that’s my definition of happiness. OK -‘Happyness” maybe.

Of course there are similarities to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (where I was last May doing research) – but it was quite different in many ways. Being 1/5 of the size – it just feels so much smaller. Not anywhere the same kind of traffic, or noise, or commotion. ( if you want a quick overview of the country, click here for one from BBC)