Reconciling Youth and Police in Bujumbura, Burundi

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Context

A new urgent calling was launched by the headmaster of the Musaga secondary school. We should note that Musaga zone is where the 2015 demonstrations occurred with high intensity of violence and has taken longer than other areas to recover. The headmaster underlined the fact that students were taking drug and prohibited drinks withsexual assaults at a high level. As results, they are once again are abusing teachers and supervisors plus conflicts between themselves.

In responding to the call, three (3) HROC basic workshops were conducted during the month of October and 76 students attended.

The objectives of the workshops were (i) to help those students to recognize and understand trauma, (ii) help them to know how to deal with trauma, (iii) help them to know that life continues after a traumatic event, and (iv) help them to reconnect themselves to their communities and rebuild society.

During the workshop many exercises were played to creates spaces of safety and rebuild mutual trust and confidence and openness from one another. 

Testimonies:

Alain:

What wounded me mostly is the fact I lost my father very early when i was still a baby and grew up without him. The absence of a father allowed my paternal uncle to mistreat my mother until he took for himself our own plot left by my father. My mum was crying each time mainly in the evening because of this plot. When I was in the primary school it happened sometimes that I came back home finding my mother imprisoned by my uncle to forbid her to continue claiming for our plot. I used to cry many time by missing my mum at home and what to eat after class in afternoon.  

Besides all bad things I mention above, children of our uncle used to beat us each day as they were more mature than us and were strong enough since they had all necessaries and enough food to eat. My grief reaches a stage where I isolated myself each time and started to speak in my mind or sorrowful singing.

My mother endured all that struggles and stayed with us. She took us to school and me as the last one I’m preparing to end my secondary school. Others are attending university. What is bad now is that my mother is suffering the intestinal cancer and her health is very fragile.

Let me say, I’m glad to have participated in this three days workshop in trauma healing. Now I come to know how the situation we went through in our family wounded us and the consequences of that. What is more positive for me is to know how to assist myself and my family.

In conclusion, I come to see that many pulpils need to learn about trauma and its consequences on individual, family and community in general. They need to know how both victims and actors of violence are both traumatized and need assistance to overcome it.

Many thanks for IPB for its teaching which is building bridges between destroyed communities including young students.

Christella.

My strong grief comes from the fact that I lost all my parents when I was a little one. My father died when I was 3 years old and my mother when I was five and we were five children. These deaths were due to Burundi civil wars. Due to the problems we were in my old sister left the school and accepted a precocious marriage. Our old sister left us and we were crying without any consolation. Our parental uncle took us four to his home even though he didn’t have enough to take care for us along with his own children. At the age of attending school I missed school material and this multiply my grief too.

I prayed the lord to get courageous and I finally attended the school. I was always missing something among the needed material or school fees. I developed some negative behaviors such as isolation as I didn’t want to play with those still having parents. I didn’t want to hear someone tlling about good things from their parent. I have also problem on memorizing things and I don’t hane any positive thing for my future. I have fear with me of dying any time.

Following the teaching from this three days workshop I fell a little bit trust and hope of the future. I fell also courageous to fight for a better future by studying more and more.

I feel also that my grief is released at a certain stage. I will continue to assist myself to widen my healing. I’m going to help my old brother and sisters as they have some signs of trauma following the list we learnt in this trauma healing training.

More thanks to IPB

Godefroid:

I t was on a certain Monday that I lost my older brother who was in charge of all family needs. He woke up and went as usually to his daily job as a carpenter. At 1:00 pm, he felt ill and his colleagues evacuated him to the hospital and unfortunately he passed away at 6:00 pm of the same day. That death shocked me at the point I lost love to anybody.  Since then I started to isolate myself. I don’t fell courageous to sit with other young people for joking. I fell always unhappy of everything even taking studies. I have made tentative to leave the school but i missed where to go and what to do in place of studying. Today I come to understand that I went through a tragic event and that after it life must continue. I come to understand that what happened left in me wounds and their consequences are trauma.

I’m glad that I come to know the symptoms I do hold. What is more positive is that I come to know how to overcome from trauma I do hold.

Bonfils:

What forbade me any joy in my life was the absence of my father who left my mother and went to live with a second wife. I stayed with my mother and finally my father passed away. My mother didn’t have a brother or a sister as she was the only one child in her parental family. My mother and the second wife to my father became both widows and the situation between the two worsens itself.  The second wife was menacing day by day my mother saying she must go back to her parental family. In this situation of misunderstanding and quarrels, the second wife died too. The neighbors accused my mother to be part of this death. Some saying that she poisoned her. I got more regrets to see our neighborhood ignored us and accused us of witchcraft.

My mother was crying a lot and developed finally a life characterized by a strong anger. I use to cry myself by the fact of living in a family without any joy and where crying is like a regime or a must. I had developed some symptoms of trauma and my mother too looking at the list learnt in this workshop. I’m glad to get this opportunity to learn about trauma, its causes, symptoms, consequences and the way to overcome from it.    

I will continue to assist myself and my mother. I commit to contribute so that our community starting by our school be safe place exempt of trauma.

Clairine:

At the age of three, I lost my father and I missed his affection and this affected my behavior due to his absence. I grew up in my grand father’s home who was also wounded by his son’s death too. My mother was struggling alone to support my old sisters and brothers. Our paternal uncle who loved us died too by car accident in the same period as my father. My mother wounded once more by her brother’s death. She used to ask a question concerning how we think we could afford the daily life. Myself I was asking myself who could pay for my studies. My family and I are living under a strong grief. We have fear that we should dye younger as our father and uncle did. I was living day by day without any future plan. After this three days workshop I’m glad to learn about trauma and how to overcome from it and that : after traumatic event, life must continue.

I will continue to put in practice what I come to learn and I wish IPB should continue to assist us in expending our healing and plan for us a way of follow up. IPB should train us to be facilitators in order to disinfect our community and be a safe place to live in harmony and good coexistence.

More thank for IPB and its facilitators who permit me for the first time to share my traumatic event and I fell a little bit released.

Conclusion and recommendations

Recognizing different forms of trauma that men and women face, such as coercion to violence or sexual assault, participants wished to some sessions split up by sex. Since facilitation is made out of three and at least one male or female in each one, the provisory solution was that anyone who wishes a special listening session should meet one facilitator of the same sex to share its traumatic experience smoothly. It was also convened that during the follow up, some sessions will be split up by sex.

As recommendation, peace clubs were suggested to be implemented and have an agenda of community activities to be done during this 2018-2019 school year.

Both participants and the headmaster appreciated positively the peace work accomplished.