SOS Children in Burundi

Burundi Map

Overview of Burundi

The Republic of Burundi in Central Africa is one of the continent's smallest countries and one of the world's poorest.

Eight years of civil war, in which over 200,000 people lost their lives, have destroyed much of the infrastructure. Food, medicine and electricity are still in short supply. A lack of basic social services and limited economic opportunities mean most of the people are subject to continuing disease, trauma and displacement.

Our Work in Burundi

Gitega

We began working in Burundi in 1977 when a village was built in Gitega, the country's third largest town. SOS Children's Village Gitega has thirteen family houses and three youth houses where teenagers can take their first guided steps towards independent lives. There is a nursery school and a primary school which children from the surrounding area also attend. A small farm and vegetable garden provide food for the families in the village.

Bujumbura

In 1985, we opened a community in the Nyakabiga district of the capital, Bujumbura, at the north-eastern end of Lake Tanganyika. It has thirteen family houses and eleven youth houses, altogether home to over 260 children and young people. Like Gitega, it has a nursery, primary and secondary school - attended by children from the local community as well as families in the SOS village. A clinic was opened in 1992 providing general medical care for the neighbourhood.

Muyinga

Following the outbreak of civil war in 1993, SOS Children launched an emergency aid programme in Muyinga Province, building a temporary home for children orphaned in the conflict. This emergency project was transformed in 1997 into a permanent SOS Children's Village. SOS Children's Village Muyinga, with its fifteen family houses and two SOS Youth Homes, is just outside the town on the top of a hill called Mukoni. A few farms have been established in the area and there is a market, a hospital and a secondary school in Muyinga. Alongside the village, SOS have built a nursery and a primary school which serve the needs of the neighbourhood as well as the SOS families.

Rutana

The fourth SOS Children’s Village opened in 2006 in Rutana in the central southern region of the country. There are 14 family houses for 170 children. In addition there is a kindergarten for 75 children in three classes and a primary school for 210 children in six classes. There is a SOS Social Centre that each month supports over 100 vulnerable children from the local communities whose families have been affected by HIV/AIDS. There is also an SOS Medical Centre that treats 1,000 patients each month.

Aids Orphans in Burundi

See also Aids Orphan Projects in Burundi, Africa.

Life in SOS Children's Villages Burundi: First steps at school

Jacques was admitted at SOS Children's Village Bujumbura on 1 September 2009, after the death of his mother while giving birth to his younger sister who was also admitted to the village. The two children were welcomed in a loving family where they found a committed SOS mother as well as warm-hearted brothers and sisters. On 7 September when schools reopened in Burundi, Jacques, who was already three years and a half old, made his first steps at the nursery. Our colleague in Burundi followed him and forwarded us echoes of his first school day:

Jacques arrived at school accompanied by his SOS mother. He did not feel greatly surprised. He was calm, and observed the environment for a long time before he began to play with the other children.

The most difficult moment arose when all the pupils have been asked to enter the classrooms. Jacques began to cry because he did not want to enter the class without his mother. He was afraid that his mother would leave him at school and he wanted to go back home with her. This small moment of separation was not easy for his mother too, as the child kept asking for her. On her way back home, Jacques' mother felt a loss after being separated from her son. But, she was obliged to leave her son at school as he was beginning a new era of his life.

Jacques said he now loves going to school because there he finds children of his age. He goes to school to play with his friends and classmates. He is happy to go to school every day.

*name has been changed to protect privacy

SOS Children in BurundiLocal Contact

SOS Villages d'Enfants Burundi   

BP 2003

Bujumbura   

Burundi             

Tel: +257/22 220886, +257/22 220887, +257/22 223622   

Fax: +257/22 211060   

e-mail: info@sosburundi.org

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