From my heart to yours

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Petit beau pays

I know this is going to sound a little cliché since everyone is trying to be more of a patriot than others by changing their profiles, uploading pictures of your flag, talking about sagamba Burundi (without even knowing what it means), but I will be speaking from the heart and tell you how I really feel.

Petit beau pays since I left you, I have never been the same. I look at your pictures and remember the good times I had when we were still together. I miss you I really do. I remember the sunsets at the beach, the chilly evenings ruguru, the hills and trees, lakes reflecting the deep blue sky, hippos and crocodiles that were so scary but at the same time reminding us that we were home. I remember your sons playing umupira mwibarabara right beside your daughters who were jumping ropes.

I remember 6pm running in someone’s house kuraba dessin annimé and with this I remember the face of the parents that got home around that time to find 30 kids seating quietly in the living room but as soon as the cartoon was over it took them 10 sec to leave the place. I remember the Sundays after church, when the whole family gathered home to share a delicious meal but that was only when tutagiye kuri beach.

Petit beau pays nukuri I miss you. But one thing is for sure you hold a big place in my heart. I hear a lot of things concerning you and it saddens me, but I know petit beau pays that you are strong and forgive easily. I’ll do you a favor today and tell you stories of your children.

Your children are so beautiful and handsome that other people can’t help but appreciate us internationally (ibaze some are even modelling for big companies around the globe). We still have that value of gushigikiranira in rough times. We love gathering to share a drink or 2, iyo hari brochette hoho it’s something else. But petit beau pays, something is bothering me but promise me you won’t be mad when I tell you about it.

See Ubuntu and Ubumwe are not that present anymore. I thought that by know matters of Hutus Tutsis and Twas would not mean much. But apparently parents are still identifying other families as “barya batutsi, barya bahutu…” and us children can’t really identify ourselves as Burundians without considering our ethnicity.

See we want to be recognized for the good that we do even before we do it. Kandi rero we seem not to be happy when others succeed or get credit for something they did right. There are plenty of other things I choose not to tell you, kuko you would be disappointed in us. Muga don’t you worry it’s going to be alright, tuzokwisubirako.

Petit beau pays, 

This year is the 54th since you became independent. But really we all know you were fighting silent battles. I come to tell you that “Ejo ni heza” even if we’ve spent a year saying that. I can tell you that in the next few years your children are going to make you proud. We only have to remember that it all starts with unity. Petit beau pays, this was just a letter from my heart to yours.

I promise to make you proud and to always represent your colors with pride. I love you now and forever.

Your Gapfasoni