Burundi election update:

Situation here is calm although the theme of election rigging continue to grow high with many ballot boxes with votes not counted allegedly being discovered in many pulling stations. The electoral commission is trying to convince the public that they were still kept there for logistic problems! This may be very dangerous in future....

Another update from Burundi:

Bob,

I was able to go with [my wife] the day of voting. People were anthousiasts and voted in calm. Last night, the electral commission announced officially provisional results and the ruling party is coming ahead in all provinces expect in Bujumbura.

In general results are accepted although some irregularities were observed according to the commission and observers. But 8 opposition parties have contested the results that there were rigged. We do not know how it will evolve.

Keep us in prayer as Burundi prepares for the Presidential ahead.

Another excerpt from an email from Burundi:

Greetings from Bujumbura. Thank you for the photo and prayers for our country.

I am pleased to inform you that the first elections for districts passed in peace and these elections predict which party will win the presidential elections . The ruling party is excellently on top .

An excerpt from an email I received this morning from Burundi:

Local elections had started this morning after 2 days of postponment. In Muzye, Rutana porvince, a grenade exploded and wounded a police officer in the voting station in the early hours of Sunday (1:00 am). Those behind it have not yet been identified.

In general situation is calm but people are just fearful and tension among opponents is high. We keep praying and hope for the best.

I have this thing where sometimes after a long-haul flight and I get out in the open air, its like my eyeballs have dried out our something. There's a burning sensation and if feels like my eyelids are sticking to the cornea. It is actually pretty painful, and my tearducts start working over time to compensate for whatever the irritation is. I haven't really figured out what is happening, but I know I don't like it. Today while standing on the curb, I could hardly keep my eyes open or see anything and tears were streaming down my face. I think the woman standing next to me thought I was getting all emotional about being in Canada.

Pretty much every time I go to Kilimanjaro, I stay in the same guesthouse just 10 minutes walk down the road from our office. And pretty much everytime on the first morning after my arrival, I put my briefcase over my shoulder with my laptop, etc, and start up the hill. Literally up, I think it is about a 30% slope so it is a bit of a work out. Usually I pass several school kids, who are traversing the road from side to side, slowly working their way up hill toward the school (they seem in no hurry). Pretty much everytime they greet me with "Good Morning", or "Jambo" (fake tourist Swahili said for my benefit). Pretty much everytime when I get to the top of the hill, I look for mount Kilimanjaro, which is visible about 30-40% of the time. Pretty much everytime I do see it, I feel compelled to set my briefcase down and take a picture (or two). The whole process is starting to feel like deja vu. This time, I did do something different which is check out the tree planting done by the local school with the-organization-I-work-for's support. This planting is probably about 3-4 years old now and doing quite nicely. Students and staff are taking good care of it, and in a few more years they will have a variety of fruits as well as a nice albeit small grove of trees. Check both my usual mountain photo and the primary school fruit tree grove photo below.

I very much regret having to leave Burundi. At least I would like to stay around until the first round of elections this Friday, but I'm already in Nairobi on my way to the next appointment. I guess no one knows for sure what is going to happen, and there is plenty of speculation about all kinds of possible outcomes, good and bad. I wish I had time to just tour around the country, asking people what they think and what they hope for. And I shouldn't criticize journalists too much for not being here; I myself am taking off.

Today I think you and I may have been witness to something remarkable. Since the communal elections are this Friday, today is the last official day of campaigning. Wednesday and Thursday I guess are supposed to be days of peaceful reflection, and election day itself is a national holiday. So today, every party was out on the street, walking, driving cars, renting buses, waving flags, singing, chanting and otherwise trying to show enthusiasm for the party of their choice. We got caught on a main street in a massive traffic jam of party colours and songs. What I saw was different groups from different parties saluting each other with their various party gestures but without malice or hostility. Really it felt to me more like a celebration of the freedom to participate than a belligerent contest. I was travelling in a car with a colleague who is actually from the Congo, and he was just laughing and enjoying the whole spectacle. He said to me,"Bob in all my life as a Congolese, I have only ever participated in one democratic election."

So I'm very hopeful. I know there are rumours out there that things could go badly, but right now, I think many are anxiously optimistic. What I wonder is, where is the press right now? This could potentially be a triumph of democracy, a country moving beyond its violent past, and yet, I see no cameras, no microphones. I did in Haiti. Journalist teams literally on every corner recording as much misery as can be fit into a 30 second clip. So where are they when they might actually have a shot at documenting humanity rising above our baser nature?

I've spent more time on this trip talking about breakfast than I have the elections. Truth is t here hasn't been a whole lot to say so far. Things have been very quiet, peaceful even. I have felt more relaxed and safe on this trip than any of my previous trips to Burundi. One expat who has lived here for several years said that it was almost too quiet.There have been a few politically motivated murders in the past week or so. A Burundian I know who is working quite closely with the election process says that people see an opportunity now to gain power, and they are willing to do anything to get it. However, this is interpreted in the light of rival versus rival, and so far at least, doesn't seem to indicate a pattern of wider social or ethnic violence. Numerous Burundians have expressed this to me in terms of asking God to continue to keep the country safe.

The very first round of elections for leaders at the commune level is this Friday.

Below is a somewhat poor shot of an election campaign parade. Which was mostly a vehicle with flags and loudspeakers. I have seen several larger demonstrations which may have had several hundred people, but these have also seemed relatively peaceful.

Today was Sunday and therefore church plus some touring around Bujumbura seeing the various sites. But before all that there was breakfast. Sorry that my recent blogging seems to centre around food a lot, but below is a photo of this morning's breakfast. Not too terribly exciting except that it represents a small triumph in my struggle with the French language. Yesterday I tried to order a fried egg, and instead got an omelet and fried potatoes. After some language coaching from another guest here at the hotel, I made a second attempt this morning and I proudly display the results below. By the way, what looks like milk is actually yogurt, made here in many kitchens fresh the night before. Very tasty and no additives or gelling agents of any kind.

The next photo is on the Ruzizi river which is just outside Bujumbura and flows into Lake Tanganika. There are several families of hippos scattered up and down this area. I have never seen a hippo get up out of the water like this and was quite excited.

The final photo is of a monument marking the spot where Dr. Livingstone and Stanley famously met. Again in the background you can see Lake Tanganika and the mountains of Congo beyond. After meeting, Stanley went to the Congo from here, and Livingstone presumably went to Tanzania.

Here is the shot of the view looking across Lake Tanganika to the Congo. A bit cloudy, but I think you can see the mountains which are not far off. I'm guessing 20km or so. An hour or so after this picture was taken, the lights of the town of Uvira, became visible. Went back to the same restaurant basically for the fish. And the view.

Tonight I had a meeting with 3 representatives of an education organization working in the Congo. We met appropriately, at a restaurant on the beach of Lake Tanganika where we could look across the lake to the mountains of South Kivu in the Congo itself. I am sorry I don't have a photo of this evening view of the mountains shrouded in haze. It is really quite a beautiful sight. As we talked about the needs in the Congo, the deforestation, the slash and burn, the conflicts in communities, I caught one of the Congolese staring wistfully across the lake. I am also sorry that I don't really have the right words to convey what a poignant moment it was. So I will just tell you that it was quite a poignant moment. Then we ate barbecued fish from the lake, Sangala, or Nile Perch. This I say again is the best fish I have ever had. There is also Nile Perch in Lake Victoria, but somehow it is not the same. Not sure what the explanation is, but I'm just happy that it exists. I should have taken a photo of this meal as well. And the mountains. I may still get a chance before this trip is over.

Today is Ascension Day, and a national holiday here in Burundi. Most have the day off and many go to church in the morning. We worked anyway, at least til mid afternoon. The streets were very quiet, little traffic, either on foot or wheels. The whole situation is very peaceful, idyllic even, almost surrealistically so. At a dinner I attended yesterday evening, a prayer was given asking that God would continue to protect the country during the election campaign. Everyone, I think must be feeling this. It would surely be a major turning point if things could remain as they are throughout the next 3 months.

Today's Lunch

I know what you are thinking: "does Bob really think we care what he ate for lunch?" I don't blame you, but please wait for the explanation. If you look at the photo you will see a green sauce on the left and a white cake like thing on the right. Both of these are from cassava (or manioc). The sauce is made from the leaves, and the cake, called ugali is made from the root. Both are quite tasty by the way, and a mainstay of the diet here. The organization I work for is helping farmers to obtain disease resistant varieties of cassava, since the older varieties have become susceptible to a mosaic virus which seriously reduces productivity. Farmers in our target communities are not only producing more cassava for themselves, they are also able to sell to the local market for a profit, and sell cuttings of the resistant varieties to other farmers and organizations. The other day I was in a meeting of community leaders and listened to them talking about how they are making money, and investing in rental and purchase of new fields to expand production. They were talking proudly of how they are contributing and will contribute to the food security of their communities and even the nation. It was one of those moments for me that makes this job worthwhile. On top of that I get to eat cassava in its many delicious forms.

I have been in a rural area several hours from the capital for 2 days which is my excuse for not blogging. On the return trip this afternoon, we pulled over for a bathroom break and this older gentleman walking along the shoulder of the road held up his hand to us with 3 fingers and shook them. This apparently is the sign of one of the political parties, and then he asked me in Kirundi if I could give him money (btw, I don't understand a word of Kirundi). After a bit when I didn't respond, he started waving another sign, more like a closed fist. Turns out this is the sign of another party. One of my travelling companions told him that we could not give him anything for making that sign. He then went back to the 3 fingers signal in a last ditch attempt to get something from me. I am not sure why he would think I was allied with any party, but I was amused to learn that at least one Burundian is as cynical about politics as I am.

This morning I went to a Congolese church here in Bujumbura. Many of the members at this church are either refugees, or young people who have left the Congo to study in Burundi. I learned that dancing is a big part of Congolese church services. I don't have a photo or video of this, but basically at one point during the service, the front of the church turned into something pretty close to a mosh pit. A lot of people jumping, and some running back and forth while the keyboardist played this rapid percussive riff for what must have been 15 minutes or so. I myself did not participate in said dancing, but it was pretty fun to be there. I was told (by a Congolese) that this is pretty much a fixture of most Congo churches across the board, and that they are influencing Burundian churches as well.

If we measured currency in terms of musical expression, instead of money, Africa would be a world superpower; think about all the musical styles, so influential today, rock, jazz, blues, motown, R&B, hip hop, rap, that have their roots in Africa. Paul Simon's album Graceland is like thousands, or maybe millions of churches here every Sunday. Really, if you only visited Africa on a Sunday morning (or afternoon for that matter), you might think that this was the happiest place on earth. Rhythms so uplifting, and harmonies so moving, it is almost like you leave this world for a while and go to a place where there is only perfection.

The service during one of the more sedate moments

The election campaign opened officially here in Burundi 4 days ago. Over the next 3 months or so, a series of votes will take place for various posts from local commune level leaders up to the president. Although I don't entirely understand the schedule of polls, it seems that there will be a series of votes for president, ending in a final vote in August. So far, the process has been reportedly peaceful. As I came from the airport to my hotel last, night, at 2 am, I saw very little other than the occasional scattering of bleary eyed soldiers along the main road. Of course at that time of night one wouldn't expect to see much anyways, and I noted only one other vehicle on the road, a fast-moving white SUV with tinted windows and multiple antennae sticking out in various directions. The only other thing I saw was a bunch of people clustered out in front of a bar, which didn't seem anything other than normal for a Saturday night.

I am told that, the pattern is that campaigns tend to get more heated as they progress. Obviously we are all hoping that they won't. This is Burundi's first election after a decade and a half of violent internal conflict.

You can read the news for yourself. I will try to keep you posted as to what I see, over the brief time that I will be here.

It's almost 3 am in Bujumbura, but I feel like making an entry, so may as well go with that. Just got in from Toronto, which depending on how you do your counting was either a 24 hour trip or a 30 hour trip (point to point, or airport to airport).

On the Nairobi-Bujumbura leg, the flight attendant was offering what sounded like salmon-chicken. "Salmon-Chicken?" she would say, to every passenger, and then proceed to hand them their tray. At first I thought maybe she was offering salmon or chicken, but when she got to me it sounded pretty much like "salmon-chicken". Which I accepted. Now it did seem to be a piece of chicken meat wrapped around a sort of filling, which could have been, but didn't seem much like salmon, but I thought, maybe. Anything is possible. Seemed like a pretty ambitious culinary venture for airline food, especially in these economic times, and especially between Nairobi and Bujumbura. Still it was tasty, and I was prepared to believe that their might have been a trace of fish in there somewhere.

The mystery was cleared up when the same attendant came around later offering salmon-tea. At that point I realized that the combination of her heavy Kenyan accent, the background noise of an ageing 737, and possibly my ageing ears, had remodulated her, "serving tea" to sound like salmon.