- The world wide web was opened for Burundians in August 1997 offered by the provider Centre National de l'Informatique (CNI). Back then unlimited access was $150 per month (which was then the annual per capita income) and was partly used by foreigners working in Burundi, partly by businessmen and government officials. These days some more common Burundians living in the capital can afford a home-connection as well. The Office National des Télécommunications (Onatel) is a state-owned corporation in charge of the provision of telecommunications services in Burundi. They have been offering dial-up connections for some three years, while ADSL was launched a few months ago. I know of…

- 8 August 2007, by Sarah Harting in Bujumbura, Burundi. Four of my friends in Bujumbura are students in informatica, two of them have their own laptop, a gift from a friend or relative outside Africa, the others have to learn without a computer. The university has 30 computers for its students, in the last year only there are 100 students. Most of these computers don’t work, and are not being repaired, and they are shared with another university in Bururi, in the south of Burundi. This means that from time to time the 7 still working computers are send to Bururi, or the students in Bururi have to go to Bujumbura to use a computer. Some of the students in the fourth year don’t know how to tu…

- 13 July 2007, by Sarah Harting in Kirundo, Burundi-A friend of mine in Bujumbura once took me to the birthday of a French girl who works for APECOS (a Burundian organisation that helps orphans). When I mentionned that I wanted to go to Kirundo to see the problems there they told me that there is a section of APECOS in that area of the country and gave me a phone number of one of the persons working there. The first time I went to Ngozi the people I stayed with took me to Kirundo but I didn't get the chance to contact or meet this person. When I met the French girls later in town, one of them told me that they would be going to Kirundo for a few days and that I could join them, of cou…

- 20 June 2007, by Sarah Harting in Bujumbura, Burundi-Sunday morning Alice took me to church, I had gone there last year with her as well. We walked up to the main road and a bus came to get us together with a few neighbours. Everybody went to the same church which is on the other side of Buja [Bujumbura]. We picked up more people until the bus was full. I never knew that Alice loved to sing. She managed to get the whole bus sing, all the way to church. When we arrived my friends tried to search a translator for me, but in the end one of them translated for me. My Kirundi is getting better though. Luckily while others were singing, I had a song book and I realized that I could underst…

- 19 June 2007, by Sarah Harting in Bujumbura, Burundi-On Saturday I was invited to a wedding. My friend said that he would be busy taking pictures and that his parents would take care of me. I had to be in the church at 15h. They showed me my seat on the forefront. I just waited, watching what was happening. Some time later somebody came to me, asking if I needed a translator. I acquiesced and then moved to a place where my translator and I could sit next to each other. After the service my friend introduced me to his parents. We then drove to the place where the next event would take place. I had no idea about what was going on, but I’m used to that. We arrived in Nyakabiga, in the nor…

- 19 June 2007, by Sarah Harting in Bujumbura, Burundi, photo: cybro.info-The airport is just outside Bujumbura. If you enter the airport there’s a big hall, with right in front a panel showing arrivals and departures, with only arrivals actually marked. On the left is a door for arrivals, on the right a door for departures. Stairs going up lead to a restaurant and a small shop for tourists. It might have been because we were late, but there were very few people leaving. Mama’s sister got herself a card that shows ‘visitor’ so that she could join mama up to restricted areas. We waited and waited; saw some other people leaving and finally we could go home. We had come with two cars and…

- 18 June 2007, by Sarah Harting in Bujumbura, Burundi-In the meanwhile I said goodbye to “mama” who was leaving for Europe for a month. The morning before she left we went to the market with Alice, my “cousin”. Alice took my mobile phone because she was afraid it would be stolen. The market is really crowded so I had to stay close to mama who would walk before me, and Alice behind me. Whenever mama wanted to buy something like clothes she send Alice to ask the price, because she looks like a schoolgirl and would get a lower price than mama. “If they saw me the price would be even higher”, mama told me. When we bought food some small boys came to us selling plastic bags. The lucky one fo…

- 17 June 2007, by Sarah Harting in Bujumbura, Burundi-I’ve been in Burundi for two weeks now. I spend a lot of my time hanging out with friends I met last year, and new friends that I have been e-mailing with when in Europe. My friends here have shown me some interesting things like the market and a wedding. I have also been busy trying to get some work done, since that is why I am here. The ‘mission’ I mentioned last time is travelling throughout the country and writing about famine that is a big problem in Burundi. Whatever I will write will be published on the website of the NGO Burundi Worldwide Initiative. When I arrived I send an e-mail to my friend in the United States who w…

- 4 July. Hello! I'm writing you from Africa again! I left Friday the 1st of June in the evening with Ethiopian Airways from Amsterdam heading first to Frankfurt then to Addis Abeba. I arrived there in the morning and had to wait for two and a half hours and took another plane to Bujumbura via Entebbe. I arrived in Bujumbura at 13h where two friens I had met last year, and another friend that I met on the net were waiting for me. We went to Face2Face to have some food, roasted fish and chips and a Fanta Citron, the food I had been dreaming about when in Europe! I changed some money and bought a new sim-card (my phonenumber is (+257) 79 464 476) and the brought me home. I stay at the…