Burundi youth centre giving hope for the future

In 1990, Burundian Roman Catholic Bishop Simon Ntamwana conceived the idea of a centre in the capital, Bujumbura, to cater for the youth living in the city's troubled northern districts. By bringing together the youth, the Roman Catholic Church hoped to shape a new generation of Burundians who would rise above their ethnic, religious and political differences and work for the good of the country. The idea was simple. Anyone aged between 16 and 30 years was welcome to partake in the activities of the centre, to be known as the Centre des Jeunes de Kamenge. The centre opened with little fanfare in September 1993. However, a month later Burundi's first democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, was assassinated in a coup that plunged the country into civil war. The UN estimates that at least 300,000 people have been killed and at least 500,000 more made homeless as refugees or internally displaced persons. "With the war, the project became more important than ever," Father Claudio Marano, the Italian priest who has been running the centre since its inception, told IRIN in May 2003. "In a war where Hutus were killing Tutsis and Tutsis were killing Hutus, the centre had to continue promoting the idea that we must live together." The centre found itself caught up in some of the bloodiest scenes of the fighting as it was trapped between the ethnically divided and troubled northern city suburbs of Kinama, Kamenge, Buterere, Cibitoke, Ngarara and Gihosha. The centre was used as a field hospital but attacked by different armed groups that accused it, in turn, of being pro-Tutsi or pro-Hutu. Eventually, Marano said, the killings became too much around February 1994 and staff was evacuated in an armed convoy. During a visit to the centre in May, at least 180 identity cards belonging to the youth who used to frequent the centre were pinned on a wall outside Marano's office. The identity cards belonged to those who had died in the war, and serve as a chilling reminder of the years when the battle raged. Marano said that people eventually realised that extremists were behind the ethnic violence in the area and, in reality, the people were happy to live together. "The centre was a place where young people could meet and share their experiences. Once together, they realised that whatever their ethnic, social or religious background, the war was a disaster for everyone," Marano said. Despite the war, the centre has grown gradually. Its 21,000 members frequent the facility to play football, volleyball, basketball and tennis. They also have access to the library, a chance to learn languages, surf the Internet, watch films, or just relax. In a noisy room, above the racket of young boys playing ping-pong and table football, Shila Baonganda, 16, explained how much of a difference the centre had made to the lives of northern Bujumbura youth. "I come here two or three times a week," he said. "Mostly it's to take part in the activities, watch a film or play table football. But I also know that if I come here, I have much more of a chance of making friends from all over town." The non-residential centre, mainly staffed by volunteers, is supported by various organisations, including the French, Belgium, and Italian cooperation agencies; as well as the EU, the Italian Episcopal Conference, Misereor, Careme Suisse, and Manos Unidas. Since worried community leaders complained that many young people were choosing to go to the centre rather than stay in their neighbourhoods, the centre's managers have broadened its activities and begun working with civil society groups, schools and churches - reaching at least 200,000 people. Volunteer facilitators at the centre said that having overcome the challenges, the benefits of activities offered at the facility were gradually becoming noticeable. "At the beginning it was difficult," Guillaume Harushemana, a peace and reconciliation volunteer at the centre, said. "But now we have lots of people coming forward as attitudes have changed." He said although there were still those that did not believe that peace, dialogue and reconciliation were the right steps forward for Burundi, most saw the Burundian problem in a different way. "They now visit each other and work together without believing in the things that had kept them apart before," he said. "However, those in power are not living the Burundian reality," he said. "They get on with life without taking the time to find out what the people at the grassroots level feel. The only time they invest in these neighbourhoods is for political rallies." Marano also said that signatories of the Burundi peace process, agreed upon in August 2000 in Arusha, Tanzania, and the subsequent political changes experienced in the country were one thing, but the real changes must come from the grassroots, which had been "robbed" of a chance to take part in the real dialogue. "The fact that most Burundians have kept on working their land despite the war, the bombings and the injustices shows that Burundians are prepared to work to resolve their problems. "Sadly, because of the situation, resolving the problem has meant feeding their families. Burundians need a chance to develop and resolve the problems within their society," he said. Few doubt that the centre deserved to win the 2002 Right Livelihood Prize, awarded by the Swedish Parliament for outstanding vision and work on behalf of the planet and people. This award is also known as the alternate Nobel prize. It was established in 1980 and now has more than 100 laureates from 48 countries. The winners, usually about four each year, share out the prize money of US $230,000. But, more important for Burundians, Marano said was the setting up of more centres such as the one at Kamenge, where the youth could meet, become conscious of their position and find out what they could do to improve their lot.