All Eyes Upon Us, Ijenda, Burundi

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Tea Fields around Ijenda

The view from Ciella Lodge was beautiful overlooking the little town of Ijenda set in its lush green valley. Dominated by a huge catholic church and religious buildings, Ijenda is famous for tea with a bazillion small tea plantations dotted about the surrounding countryside.

That morning, Marie-Andree and her colleagues had dropped us off as they headed out into the country to photograph Burundian Traditional Dancing. The 45 minute drive was steep and windy, but exceptionally scenic. We soon discovered that Marie-Andree's friend/driver is an ex-rally car driver, so was quicker than we'd expected! Less scary than a minibus though, and with less vomit! (as per yesterday), we were grateful for the ride.

Typical round houses near Ijenda

Picking Tea

Marie-Andree's friend, Astere, was the owner of the lodge and was super helpful with lots of ideas of how to get out to see the area cheaply - and not so cheaply! We decided to walk across the hills beside the hotel to explore the interesting-looking villages with their traditional round houses and tea plantations. I couldn't get over the vivid colours of the patchwork of fields. We walked far taking a circular route in to town. We were sad to see the locals asking for money though, calling "Faranga" (Kirundi for Francs) and holding out their hands. We've been to many poor countries and of course, people ask, but not every person we encounter on a hike in the countryside! Surprisingly, it was Martin rather than me, that got irritated by this. To make light of their constant requests, I busied myself scaring the kids, playing monsters. They were very tentative at first, but soon realised this was a game - and that I didn't want to eat them! - and they played along.

As we'd noticed from the view from above, there was not much to town: just the main road going right through, and several lanes branching away from the huge central church. We found some good food at the church 'hotel' and then strolled the lanes. Of course, we got many stares as we said hello and met a few 'characters'. One that stood out for his friendliness and sincere interest was a man named Pascal. As we struggled through with broken french and his bits of English, Pascal said 'come,come' and insisted that we meet his wife who might have better luck in communicating with us! His house was less than a minute

Pascal, Gaudanse, family and the grand maison

away and Gaudanse, his wife, was busy sorting through ears of dried maize preparing them for milling. She welcomed us with open arms and next they gave us a full tour of their 'Grand Maison',  the big house, a pleasant home of two rooms, their garden with various fruits and veggies (of which we got some tasters and demos on how to eat them), and their cow 'shed'. The cows were out to graze, but you could tell that they were very proud of their seven cows - an indication of their wealth. Gaudanse talked of their daughter who lived in Canada - Edmonton, so there was that extra connection with them.

We liked Ijenda and decided to stay longer to explore the area. This meant we would have to move hotel to conserve a little money as there were no Bureau de Changes around - of course. The church hotel

The crowds that formed around us - All Eyes Upon Us

had cheap rooms and, we knew, reasonable food. Our plan was to explore the next town, Mugamba, a scenic drive away surrounded by tea plantations. We waited like everyone else, for a minibus on the side of the road, and waited and waited. Our timing was perfect (or not, depending on how you look at it) for suddenly we were swarmed by a crowd of people. A mixture of young and old, we think must have been coming out of church (it was Easter week), and surrounded us. The massive crowd stretched right across the road and all we could see were a sea of black faces, white eyes and big smiles. Occasionally, a man would come around with a stick to scare them all back away from the road, but then they would gradually creep back trying to get a better, closer look at us. We estimated about 200 people staring at us, which was a little freaky, and we were overwhelmed. After what seemed a long time of waiting we heard a "Michelle" from afar. 

Michelle in the streets of Ijenda - we like the pots on the heads

It was Pascal. So nice to see a familiar face! He tried to help us get transport running around asking people, but we were losing motivation and the idea of a coke and hanging out with Pascal instead, was much more appealing. The crowd thinned as we moved away, and I felt some relief not to have all those eyes watching our every move. We invited another guy, Devalou, who had been waiting for a bus too, to join us and so we 'chatted' for quite a while.

Knowing that we were most likely meeting up with our Buja friend, Natacha, for a little road trip the next day, we decided to abandon the whole idea of Mugamba; we would be driving through it tomorrow anyway, and so would at least be able to enjoy the scenery. Being mid-afternoon we still had daylight and walked for a while in 'Pied Piper' fashion out into the countryside. More tentative games with kids and more stares. We were keeping an eye on the clouds, but still somehow got caught out and the heavens opened. We were soaked. The big storm (it is raining season after all) eased up a little and we  installed ourselves in our room, but the rain was so bad that the electricity went out (which is usual) and then, not so normal, water was coming in through the window sill forming puddles in our room! It was not so bad, and we chuckled as we thought 'Oh, the joys of Africa!'. * Mush

Enjoying a Coke with Pascal and Devalou

Things Michelle will remember:
1. The vivid colours of the countryside: the brick-red earth and the bright leaf green of the tea.
2. The vivid colours of the people, and Devalou looking at his photo and saying in surprise, " Oh, I am very black"! Yes he was! Even against Pascal. We laughed as we compared our very different skin.
3. The yummy steak and onions at the church restaurant.
4. Getting stared at by what felt like a bazillion people!
5. How Pascal, not once, asked us for money, in fact he wanted to buy us Coke's. And then how his face lit up when we took various food and gifts to him on our last day. Sweetie!