November 2011 Journal Letter - Sapphire Williams

Friends Women’s Association

Dear Friends,

When I told my friends and family that I was going to Burundi, I could tell by the slightly confused look that I received from most of them that this Burundi place was certainly a mystery – firstly where was it and secondly why was I going there?

I have to admit that Burundi had only entered my common knowledge about 3 years ago when travelling around Ethiopia and meeting fellow travellers adventurous enough to travel around East Africa and make a whistle stop tour of all the countries in the region. It was then that I learnt about Burundi, a tiny but magnificently beautiful country of rolling hills which is often referred to as Rwanda’s twin. Many people know about Rwanda’s painful past but few in comparison know about Burundi’s similar history.
I am on a one year placement with the Friends Women’s Association (FWA) a grassroots organization founded in 2002 by the wives of Quaker pastors who felt that there needed to be an organisation to address the unique needs of women in the communities in which they live.

FWA was founded towards the end of the period of conflict in Burundi and now is an organisation working to thrive in a post conflict society and meet the changing and often complex needs of individuals and their communities in which the organisation has an impact. One of FWA’s main functions is the operation of Clinic Ntaseka based in Kamenge, a suburb of the capital city Bujumbura. The clinic provides free or low cost healthcare including primary care, preventative care, laboratory testing, HIV testing and counselling, and psychological counselling. In addition to the medical services FWA also delivers programmes in microfinance, trauma healing, individual and group counselling and medical and psycho-social home visits. It delivers programmes which extend beyond Bujumbura to other parts of Burundi and programmes through which FWA hopes to promote women’s autonomy and leadership, and to strengthen peace and social solidarity in the areas in which it works.

I work at the FWA clinic Ntaseka. My role is to work with the staff of FWA to help strengthen the capacity of the organisation in areas such as programme planning and development, human resources and establishing and maintaining relationships with funding donors. My first two months have been filled with lots of new experiences which have been exciting at times, frustrating at others but always thought provoking. Adjusting to an organisation’s way of working can often be a challenge for a new member of staff and here is no exception, especially when faced with issues such as no running water at work, infrequent electricity supply and the ubiquitous Burundi time in which all deadlines are fluid! Nevertheless, I am always amazed and humbled whenever I see FWA staff in action working to meet the needs of the community with very limited resources.

My first two weeks at FWA was an intense experience. In my first week I took part in a capacity building workshop, the culmination of a sixteen month project to reinforce the capacity of the organisation. At the workshop I had the opportunity to meet some of the founding members of FWA and to learn a bit about what they felt that I could bring to FWA through my role. The capacity building workshop highlighted many of the structural challenges that the organisation currently faces and although it was helpful to have an overview it was also quite an overwhelming experience as an introduction to FWA.

In my second week I left the city of Bujumbura to travel ‘up country’ to Gitega, situated up in the hills in the centre of Burundi. I was there to observe part of a 3 day workshop on trauma healing facilitated by FWA’s psycho social team.

I arrived at the workshop greeted by the sounds of women singing and then saw that they were also dancing and laughing. This was certainly not what I had expected from a trauma healing workshop! The Friends’ church in which the workshop took place was filled with about seventeen women of all ages and about 7 babies, some strapped to their mothers’ backs with the older ones crawling around by their mothers’ ankles. FWA uses a lot of traditional prayers, songs and dances in their workshops and it very much felt like a joyous occasion. This particular workshop focussed on enabling women to understand signs of trauma and stress to help them to develop healthy coping mechanisms promoting their self-esteem and sense of autonomy. The workshop provided the essential safe space for the women to explore the meaning of trauma and to share their stories, experiences and opinions. Through an excellent translator I was able to learn some of the women’s stories and to realise first hand some of the issues that the women face and the necessity of having such workshops which validate women’s experiences and contribute to developing self-esteem.

Being based at the clinic is the aspect that I most enjoy about working for FWA. Meeting patients, working alongside the doctor, nurses and psycho social team, being part of the FWA staff and community is really an amazing experience which I know I am very privileged to have. I would like to thank you for this opportunity which has already proven within the first two months to be enriching, enlightening and simply life changing. Each day here is filled with reflection as I take in the realities which exist around me. Simply living in a post-conflict society in which peace at a state level is still very young and working for an organisation which is striving to encourage and develop peace within individuals and within communities is a gift.

Last week I had my first Kirundi lesson – we mainly focussed on the alphabet but there are two words that I would like to share with you:

Murakoze cane & Amahoro*

*Thank you and peace

Sapphire