Burundi Experience
Historically the principal obstacle to peace in Burundi has been the ‘ethnic’ conflict between the Tutsi traditionally ruling minority and the Hutu majority. Since independence in 1962 Burundi has experienced continuing resurgence of ethnic clashes, attempted coups, coups and inter-communal violence. The continuing violence and massacres that has scarred Burundi’s post-independence history has created a culture of violence which is hard to dissolve but one which ActionAid Burundi has begun to address through the use of Reflect.
Use of Reflect: The Reflect programme began with 11 trial centers in 1996. Currently the program has extended to 84 centres with some 3000 Hutu and Tutsi participants of which 53 per cent are women in Bujumbura and Ruyigi.
Since the launch of the Reflect programme in 1996 positive changes particularly in the area of peace and reconciliation have taken place and had been successful in bringing people together that had previously been in conflict. Community members including those who are part of the Reflect circle and others feel that the Reflect circles have brought a very positive trend in the community in terms of peace building, reconciliation, and rehabilitation. Participants both Hutus and Tutsis, participate in joint activities such as road construction, brick making and gardening. Another contributing factor to the success of the programme was the initiation of joint dialogue between the two groups on how to stop and manage the conflict. Participants engage in meaningful dialogues that enable them to identify and build trust amongst the group.
The Reflect circles have also had a significant impact during times of heightened insecurity as the continued dialogue and understanding has prevented mistrust within communities using Reflect. Rwayogora Petronilar in her mid 30’s is a member of the development committee in Bweru village has also noted the contribution of Reflect to peace building and reconciliation:
‘Reflect participants in this Bweru circle are exemplary. I am saying this because after we returned from exile in Tanzania, most of us feared to send our children back to school because earlier in the ethnic conflict children were massacred in schools. But to our surprise after the circle started the participants were the first to send children back to school because they had studied about the importance of education and also peace and reconciliation’.
Ejo: Ejo in Kirundi means ‘yesterday’ and 'today’. Ejo is a monthly news journal, which publishes letters, stories, and news of peace building activities in the community. Through Ejo, communities are able to give their personal accounts of their efforts to rebuild life after conflict and the challenges that they are now facing. It has a circulation of 40,000 in Ruyigi and neighboring provinces. The Ejo journal and peace posters have added great value to the process of peace building within the Reflect circles. The experiences of those within the Reflect circles are featured in Ejo and participants make regular contributions to the journal. One such woman made this contribution describing the benefit of the Reflect circle to her community.
“The first time we came to this school, we thought we came to study how to read and write only. Surprisingly, we found that we studied things of everyday life, problems we faced in our surroundings. We organized talks about peace, school, farming, stock-breading, neatness, health and the causes of our problems so that we can solve them together”.
See also: Education Action (15) Article, 2001 - Peace Building through Communication in Burundi; Education Action (13) Article –The contribution of Reflect to peace building and reconciliation in Burundi