With MCC help, Burundian pastors provide relief to three camps

Mennonite Central Committee
Saturday, 18 March 2000

AKRON, Pa. — Frustrated by rebel attacks, Burundi's government began regrouping farm families into camps, determined to clear the countryside and flush out rebels. By the beginning of 2000, some 320,000 people were in these camps. Residents built their own shelters from banana leaves, sticks and plastic. Initially they were restricted from going to tend their fields and had to rely on relief food.

Then in October 1999 several U.N. officials were killed and many foreign agencies withdrew. Camp conditions worsened. Burundian pastors, part of the Alliance of Evangelical Churches, visited church members in the camps and became deeply concerned about what they were seeing. People had little food, children were malnourished and cholera and malaria were spreading.

As pastors gathered to discuss the situation, their first thought was to provide aid to their own members. Soon, said one pastor, they realized "we couldn't do that — everyone needed help. How could we expect to work at peace and reconciliation in our communities later if we only served our own members?" They drew up a plan to provide a 25-day food supply for 17,300 people in three camps around Bujumbura, Burundi's capital. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), with assistance from Canadian Foodgrains Bank, agreed to provide $122,000 Cdn./$84,000 U.S.

However, the Alliance pastors had no experience with a large relief project like this one. MCC sent Gustav Guenther, who works at the Ephrata, Pa., material resources center, to Burundi to spend a month helping the Alliance plan for distribution, which began on March 3 and is continuing through the end of March.

"I was really there as a sounding board, to think through the project with them," says Guenther. "For example, within our limited budget, what kinds of foods would be best for a well rounded diet of about 2,000 calories per person per day?" They settled on beans, rice, cassava flour, palm oil and salt.

"Then we had to think about what non-food items were needed," adds Guenther. The government had begun to loosen restrictions so people were freer to leave the camps and international agencies were returning, so people were able to obtain sleeping mats, an item the Alliance committee originally planned to distribute. Instead they decided to give soap, plates and cups.

The project proved a learning experience for the Alliance pastors. Two mistakes they are not likely to repeat — buying beans in 100-kilogram bags that were terribly heavy to carry and renting a warehouse on a street too small for delivery trucks.

Guenther also learned about some complexities of aid. "By having people in camps, fed by aid agencies, the government was free to spend its resources on its military campaign," he observes. "Also, because they have friends and family in the camps, some rebels may benefit from the aid."

"On the other hand," he notes, "the people really needed the food we were supplying."

He also learned how differently the world can be viewed. At one distribution site, rain began to fall, dampening bags of flour and salt. "All I could think was — how could God let this happen after we had worked so hard to prepare a good distribution plan?" recalls Guenther. The next day, however, Burundians marveled how the food had come with a "blessing," which is how they view rain.

"What I had regarded as a disaster, they saw as something positive," muses Guenther.

Burundi's civil war has not abated over the last seven years. "On the way to the camps we drove by miles of devastated houses, many with only partially standing walls, overgrown with weeds and bushes," reports Guenther.

Burundi's population is said to be 95 percent Christian. "Alliance pastors were questioning what responsibility the church has in coming to terms and dealing with the violence," says Guenther. "A number of church leaders I talked with, felt the church in Burundi has a key role to play in reconciliation, first by acknowledging its failure, then by making a concrete and sustained commitment to working for peace."

The Alliance of Evangelical Churches is made of 11 denominations, with a total of 12,000 to 13,000 members.

Recently Burundi's government announced that it would close some camps — an announcement that prompts mixed reactions from the residents — some people would like to stay, possibly feeling safer there; others are looking forward to going home.

"The food MCC provided came at an important transition time," says Guenther, who was touched by the many expressions of gratitude from recipients. Guenther is originally from Paraguay but has more recently lived in Winnipeg, Man. He is a member of Charleswood Mennonite Church in Winnipeg.

MCC continues to need funds for this relief effort in Burundi. Checks, designated for project # 5631-2300, can be mailed to any MCC office.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org