Long title I know, but one thing I have learned in the last 4 months is that Africans are a wordy people. This has been frustrating for me at times, as I read or translate reports and documents for work, but based on the protests from co-workers when I try to economize on words and shorten sentences, I have learned to just go with it.
Sorry but I have no pictures. As you may know I lost my camera at in Jinja, Uganda months ago, so I have been using this old digital camera of my mother's which seems to have come from the Flintstone age. The batteries die almost instantly, making it a useless waste of baggage space that frustrates me.
The meeting was an opportunity for women from the DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi to share their National Action Plans for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/720/18/PDF/N0072018.pdf?OpenElement) which essentially deals with women, peace, and security. The UN presence is really felt in Bujumbura. They have cars, buildings, and compounds all over the city. One of the first things I saw when I came off the plane was some blue beret peace-keeping officers from the Middle East.
The meeting was opened by the First Vice President (yes there are 2 VPs) of Burundi who showed an impressive commitment from his government to increasing women's involvement in government and security forces, and efforts to fight gender-based violence. He had quite the entourage when he came into the room and he spoke very well. This was followed by speeches from higher up UN officials and a representative from the government of Finland (who funded this project).
My job there was to take notes for the report I would have to work on later, and help with administrative things needed to make the conference run smoothly, since the organization I work for was organizing the conference.
Bujumbura was beautiful, with the huge ocean-like Lake Tanganyika. This lake is the second largest and second deepest freshwater lake in the world and it spans four countries (according to Wikipedia!). The city also has some impressive hills that add to the green landscape. In this way, it reminded me of Kampala, except it was much less populated. The people from Burundi and Rwanda look alike and speak the same language, and have the same ethnic groups. The two countries also share a bloody history if tribal fighting and genocide.
That is one of the great things about this project; regional networks are being built among people that share a history and a future. At this conference, the three countries came up with a Regional Action Plan based on input from the experiences of each country.
One thing that is lacking is that despite studies being conducted with women from all walks of life in these three countries, the voices of underprivileged women still need to be brought louder to the table.
The picture is not mine; it's from (http://jardinons.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/les-incroyables-jardiniers-des-collines-du-burundi/). I did see some Burundian drummers as I drove by them one day. They were celebrating a wedding (it is common to have drummers in traditional clothing perform at weddings).
1 comment:
so that's wha you were up to in Burundi.
Burundi Ismail. that's a pretty name.
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