Buyé HIV/AIDS Centre

John Gee, a member of the Diocese of Edmonton, is currently in Burundi, working in the Diocese of Buye for a three-month stint. We welcome this guest post to the blog.

The Integrated HIV/AIDS Centre was opened at Buyé Hospital in 2012. The hospital, near All Saints' Cathedral, was originally built by the Anglican Church but is now operated by the Burundian government. The Diocese of Buyé still has an interest in the hospital and sponsored the construction and equipping of the HIV/AIDS Centre, partly with grants from the Canadian Primate's World Relief and Development Fund and the Diocese of Edmonton.

The centre is spacious, immaculate, and well-equipped, in contrast to the rest of the hospital which largely dates from the 1930s and is in urgent need of renovation. Several hundred people come every month for voluntary HIV testing. The rate of positive tests is low and getting lower, suggesting that prevention efforts are having an impact. There are also about 150 people with HIV attending the centre every day to receive their medication. During their visit they also receive other health services as well as spiritual counselling from the Rev. Deo Nkunzimana, HIV/AIDS coordinator for the diocese. Most people in Burundi are Christian so this combination of services does not present the difficulties that it would in Canada. Deo uses the information gained from patients to focus his efforts in HIV education.

I have worked in the HIV/AIDS sector in Canada, and I am profoundly impressed with the efforts in this area in Burundi. People here face great barriers, particularly with respect to nutrition, but the effects of the prevention and treatment work have been overwhelmingly successful. Deaths from AIDS, once a daily occurrence, have practically stopped. The Anglican church has shown tremendous leadership in battling the stigma associated with HIV and helping those infected towards health and self-acceptance.

Worship in Burundi

John Gee, a member of the Diocese of Edmonton, is currently in Burundi, working in the Diocese of Buye for a three-month stint. We welcome this guest post to the blog.

Anglican services in Burundi tend to have a strong Evangelical flavour. Sunday morning at St. John’s, Ngozi the service was Morning Prayer – the first time I have experienced that on a Sunday morning in years. 

Services last for at least two hours and no one complains. Every church has 4 or 5 choirs (children, youth, young adults, women, mixed) and each of them has to make a contribution. St. John’s has a particularly good music director who accompanies on both electronic instruments and traditional drums. Perhaps the most enjoyable for me is the unaccompanied singing - everyone here seems to have an enviable sense of rhythm and pitch. 

In Tanzania I found I could sing along phonetically in Swahili fairly easily, but Kirundi is more challenging! Nevertheless I enjoy following the printed words and noticing familiar patterns in prayer, hymns, and scripture. Usually I am sitting next to someone who can interpret so that I get the gist of what is happening. I am always welcomed during the announcements; I find the attention a little overwhelming, but the hospitality is unmistakably genuine.

Community Day

John Gee, a member of the Diocese of Edmonton, is currently in Burundi, working in the Diocese of Buye for a three-month stint. We welcome this guest post to the blog.

On Saturday I helped out at a Community Works project. Every Saturday, all over Burundi, people volunteer to work on infrastructure projects in their local communities. Originally the purpose was to rebuild what was destroyed in the civil war, but now that has largely been accomplished and new projects are being tackled.

I was working on construction of a new local government office in Buye, near the cathedral. We were pouring the concrete floor slab. Pouring concrete is not the same in Burundi as it is in Canada. There is no cement truck. The concrete is mixed in a shallow pit in the ground. Most of us formed a human chain to carry the wet concrete in plastic containers to where it needed to go. There were hundreds of people there, many of whom engaged in energetic singing and dancing to keep up the energy level. Bishop Sixbert participated, and the president of Burundi, who is Anglican and originally from Buye, was supposed to put in an appearance but was delayed. His advance guard did show up and helped mix concrete.

A wedding in Burundi

John Gee, a member of the Diocese of Edmonton, is currently in Burundi, working in the Diocese of Buye for a three-month stint. We welcome this guest post to the blog.

My first activity on arrival in Burundi was attending the wedding of Bishop Sixbert’s niece. A wedding here is an elaborate affair that goes on for at least two days.

On the first evening we had the “give-away” which is hosted by the bride’s family, in this case the bishop. The groom’s family is expected to provide a payment to compensate for the loss of the bride’s services to her family. Originally the payment took the form of cows. Now it is a large basket of fruit with a small basket of money hidden inside. Before it is presented, there is a protracted negotiation over the price with lots of humour and innuendo. Eventually agreement is reached and the bride is produced. Then everyone joins in feasting and celebration.

The actual wedding is the next day. In Burundi the civil and religious ceremonies are separate. First the couple attend at the municipal office for the civil marriage. Then everyone goes to the church for the service. It is a full liturgy with communion; the order is immediately recognizable to Canadian Anglicans even though it is conducted in Kurundi. However, the congregation participates more actively, interrupting with applause and “Amen” at every opportunity.

After that is the reception, hosted by the groom’s family. The couple come into the hall through a ceremonial arch and adorn each other with jewellery. The cake cutting is similar to what would happen in Canada. Then there are many speeches and incredibly beautiful traditional dancing. The festivities carry on through the night, but my hosts thoughtfully didn’t make me stay for the whole thing.

Catching up

The following few posts are a late addition to the blog to catch up with the last few days of the visit of Bishop Sixbert, Clotilde, the Reverend Dominique, and Canon Bibiane to the Diocese of Edmonton in June.

A Day in the Countryside

Wednesday, 11 June, we visited Camrose. Archdeacon Jacques Vaillancourt welcomed us to St Andrew's Church where we opened our worship by planting a tree for reconciliation with Aboriginal People. The tree had been blessed by the two bishops at the Pentecost service.

Jingle Dancer

After a wonderful lunch, we visited three farms where we saw

Cows

and Sheep

and lovely people!

It was a lovely day for a visit to the countryside!

We relaxed with our hosts over a splendid meal before piling into our cars for the journey home. Thursday we would bide farewell to our firends from Burundi, as they would embark on the long journey home filled with memories, and leaving us with a sense of shared joy at their visit.

Touring

Tuesday, 10 June, we met with John Gee, a member of the Diocese of Edmonton who is pursuing studies in Theology and International Development. John will be spending a few months in the Diocese of Buyé.

Next we had lunch at Augie's Cafe, an outreach ministry of St Augustine's Church, in Spruce Grove.

Finally, we had a chance to play tourist a bit, and shop at the West Edmonton Mall.