'I've never met kinder people'.Burundi is one of the world's 10 poorest countries. With a population of almost nine million and very little land, it is just now re-stabilizing after years of genocidal gen·o·cide n. The systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group. [Greek genos, race; see gen civil war and present-day battles against malnutrition malnutrition, insufficiency of one or more nutritional elements necessary for health and well-being. Primary malnutrition is caused by the lack of essential foodstuffs—usually vitamins, minerals, or proteins—in the diet. and HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome . Yet if you want to see a devout people truly living their Christianity, there is no better place than this tiny landlocked landlocked adj. referring to a parcel of real property which has no access or egress (entry or exit) to a public street and cannot be reached except by crossing another's property. nation at the northern end of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. Witnesses to this are Heather Pearson, Evan Rudderham and Maureen Bailey, who recently travelled through Burundi as Canadian delegates of the Youth Partnership Visit, an initiative of The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF PWRDF Primate's World Relief and Development Fund ). "Bishop Pie Ntukamazina invited Archbishop Fred Hiltz Frederick James Hiltz is the current Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.[1] Hiltz was born and raised in Dartmouth, N.S. Hiltz earned his BSc undergraduate degree at Dalhousie University in 1975 - major in biology - and earned his MDiv at the Atlantic School to visit the Diocese of Bujumbura. PWRDF's Youth Council was honoured to join the primate primate, member of the mammalian order Primates, which includes humans, apes, monkeys, and prosimians, or lower primates. The group can be traced to the late Cretaceous period, where members were forest dwellers. on this visit and forged a stronger connection with other Anglican youth," says Simon Chambers, facilitator of PWRDF's justgeneration.ca. There was plenty of contact with Burundians, who turned out in enthusiastic crowds to welcome the delegation. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "There was a lot of hugging and handshaking Signals transmitted back and forth over a communications network that establish a valid connection between two stations. 1. handshaking - Predetermined hardware or software activity designed to establish or maintain two machines or programs in synchronisation. ," recalls Maureen, 19, of Vancouver, a political science and French major at the University of Victoria. "I've never met kinder or more welcoming people." Heather, 23, who will soon resume business studies at Calgary's Royal College, describes the Burundian people as spiritual and inspiring. "In Canada, our relationship with God can typically depend on how things are going in our lives, on whether we need Him," she says, "but for Burundians, every part of every day and of every relationship has to do with their relationship to God and with their faith." The trip was the culmination of two years' of planning after young Anglicans in the Diocese of Bujumbura expressed a desire for closer ongoing contact with their counterparts in bilingual Canada. "They wanted to explore establishing connections such as websites and blogs in order to connect with, and tell their stories to, young people in this country," says Heather. The youth delegation visited PWRDF-supported medical and HIV/AIDS clinics and met the operators of a program aimed at getting youngsters off the streets and into schools. Participants placed bricks on the foundation of a housing project for medical staff at a clinic in Rumonge, a small town on Lake Tanganyika. In Ruyigi, they saw animal-husbandry projects help people raise cattle and chickens. They also learned about agricultural research designed to produce higher-yielding and more blight-resistant crops. "I think donors really benefit from knowing what they are supporting," says Heather. For more stories and photos about the Youth Partnership visit to Burundi, please visit justgeneration.ca |
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