First impressions...the city itself is beautiful. Also, I think we are having better weather then Chicago (according to the parents) and the East coast - 70s/low 80s, low humidity and breezy - perfect in the shade.
Bujumbura Skyline
The driving here is crazy - I am sure there is some method to the madness but I am glad I am not the driver. They really do carry things on their heads!!! And women really do have babies tied to their backs in some sort of elaborately wrapped cloth.
Carrying a baby....
and carrying purchases from the market.
There seems to be a high rate of unemployment - a lot of people mostly, men and youth, meandering the streets. Also, there seems to be some sort of public works thing going on as people are doing what looks to be random work on the side of the road. I have been told it is in preparation for the 50th Independence Day celebrations.
Oh, and everything looks like it is in some sort of compound - all things are behind huge walls and gates, at least in what seems to be the nicer part of town (i.e. where the roads are better paved and things are cleaner). Bridgeway has put me in a hotel for the first few nights (I think they still haven't found me housing, but I am not going to worry about that now). I think that besides the hotel I am the only white person I have seen...anywhere!
Bed nets to help prevent getting bitten by mosquitoes
Thought this was sort of a cool picture :)
The local NGO, Ikibiri, has provided me with a contact person, Leon, who seems to be tasked with picking me up and taking me home everyday, and helping me out in the city ( I feel sort of bad, but he doesn't seem to mind).
But, back to my main point - so Leon took me on a driving tour of the city and I saw no white people, none! zero! nada! Even though we drove by all these international NGOs, UN and US embassy compound things - I expected to see people on the street? Going about daily life?
Next week I am joining Liz (the person who hired me at Bridgeway Group) in the country side to attend a training she is giving - no internet access then. I will have to warn my parents ;)
July 1st is there 50th year of independence and you can already see the preparations - I am told it is going to be a big celebration. Should be very interesting.
Lastly - when I first came into the office - everyone was sitting around the main conference table as if they were waiting for me to give a speech or something - it was so awkward. All I side was "hi" and that I brought them chocolate (a whole bag of toblerone - which they devoured). Also, everyone's English here is very limited, and my spoken French is pretty limited...so it has been interesting to say the least...oh well. The office, by the way, is beautiful - it has this old colonial feel with high ceilings, exposed brick and wide opens windows.
View from Outside
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| View from inside |
Love the pictures!
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