I was out and about in Bujumbura with a friend one Friday evening and I remarked on the traffic. Bujumbura is not a city that normally has heavy traffic. Chronic fuel shortages means that most people walk everywhere. This particular evening, however, traffic was relatively heavy. “The border with D.R. Congo has been opened” I was told, which is definitely a good thing as it means the conflict just some 20km away has died down for a while. People were going back to visit famil

Upon entering Burundi I get a visa at the airport. As with most countries the visa is limited to 30 days. If I want to stay longer I can renew it at the immigration office in Bujumbura which, because I usually stay for around 6 weeks, I always do. I am more than ably assisted in this by an Anglican Chaplain to the police, called Pastor Alfred, who knows just about everyone in the Bureau de Migration, including the boss. This year there was an entertaining mistake. The new vi

The road to Rumonge The word “Muzungu” used all over east and southern Africa for a white person means someone who rushes around, often to no discernible purpose. I guess all of us carry in our minds the stereotypical African person who takes his or her time, is never in a rush, always relaxed: “hakuna matata” as they say in Swahili. Like all stereotypes it’s not really true. African life can be a real gallop from one thing to another and involve some long, busy and demanding

A trawl of sights and thoughts from my final few days   As usual I am writing the last, at least for now, of my Burundi blogs on the way...

In Bujumbura one has to walk   Over the last three years I have commented on the shortage of fuel in Burundi. The first time I came to...

I have made some friends in my various trips to Burundi. One such friend is a Roman Catholic priest from Bukavu in South Kivu, just over...

I took an early morning bus trip from Newry to Dublin airport and checked my case in for the journey to Burundi. Checking my case...

One of the biggest challenges facing anyone doing any kind of business in Burundi is that the country is chronically short of hard...

Early in my stay here in Burundi I got an email from the travel agent which handles all of CMSI’s travel arrangements. It was a warning...

I had forgotten some of the facts of African life but have been rather dramatically reminded of one in particular: power cuts are a...

Well here I am, back in Burundi, teaching students at Bujumbura Christian University. Last year I arrived and found it all very new and...

I am writing this on the first of many flights that will take me home. We take off in bright sunshine straight into the wind, out over...

Burundi has one main language, Kirundi. Wherever anyone goes in Burundi everyone speaks Kirundi. This makes it very different from many...

This past weekend, I went with a very friendly Clément Ninziza for lunch at a rather flash hotel along Lake Tanganyika. It was great to...

Sometime plans go astray: nowhere in the world more than in Africa. Things just happen and everything you planned to do goes out the...