A note to our fellow Burundians at home
I have to admit. I am writing from a place of frustration. It doesn’t happen often, but it is happening today. I thought about waiting to write this until I’ve moved past this, but I want to use it as fuel instead. Before I get too far, don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. Just one of those little annoyances that happen often enough that I feel the need to address it.
What is the issue, you wonder? As I mentioned, this is specifically to our fellow Burundians who live in our lovely homeland. We know you care for us. We know you are concerned about our lack of access to the beautiful things Burundi has to offer. We appreciate it. Really, we do. We appreciate when you ask how we are doing, especially as we face a pandemic and an election season that has left most of us nearly broken.
We appreciate the sisterhood and brotherhood you attempt to show when you ask things like “none hiyo muraronka ibiharage?” For as long as I have been in the US, I have answered these questions. “Ariko ngira ntimuronka agakeke!” This used to be the only thing we didn’t have here. Nowadays, even that’s not a problem. We have imikeke iri frozen straight from Burundi and Zambia. While I am here, let me also share that a lot of US cities have African (sometimes Asian marketed as African) stores that sell ibintu vyose wibaza ko bidahari. This includes but is not limited to ibiharage, ubushize, ibigori, amateke, ibijumpu, indagara, etc. Bimwe bimwe birabura uburyohe nkubwo tuzi hiyo, ariko birahari.
My frustration today was a result of someone who responded on one of my posts to express that he will send me uburobe kubera ino tutaburonka. Ummm my friend, you are responding to a post of uburobe nafotoye jewe nyene. What magic brought me this magical thing that looks exactly like uburobe that I posted to celebrate the fact that we indeed do have access to some of the beautiful things Burundi has to offer?
Now that I’ve been as clear as I can about the things we do or do not have here, let me suggest some ways to interact with your fellow Burundians abroad. Ask about their lives. Make no assumptions. Believe it when they tell you how they live, until proven otherwise because we know some of us invent grand images of reality we haven’t lived. smh. That’s a topic for another day.
Until then, I’ll go enjoy my uburobe in peace. 💚
