Burundi Friends International

BFI is elated to be among the grant recipients of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation! BFI's grant will advance tech skills in high schools for social progress and economic empowerment.

Patrick J McGovern Foundation on Twitter “We’re announcing $4M to nonprofits on the frontlines addressing economic, social vulnerability for those most impacted by the pandemic. These grants are aimed at relieving hunger, preventing homelessness, providing aid to refugees, and supporting veterans. https://t.co/pf7rTjco8t”

Happy Volunteer Appreciation Week! Join us as we celebrate BFI’s talented volunteers, who make our mission come to life. The story of BFI intern and volunteer Peilla Ishimwe will inspire you as you applaud her latest good news. Then mark your calendars for a world-spanning concert with Suzuki musicians in Burundi and the U.S. — our all-volunteer team that creates beauty, unity, peace, and joy!

“Never in my life did I think I’d be here,” says 23-year-old Peilla Ishimwe, describing how the gift of educational support has sent her around the world to train as a social worker and advocate for women and communities of color. Peilla grew up in Gitega, Burundi, the youngest of 4 in a middle-class family. After her father passed away in 2011, the family encountered many challenges. She explains that men are the main breadwinners in Burundi: “Women are known as someone’s daughter, someone’s wife.” Without her father, how could Peilla pursue her dreams of higher education?
Enter Higherlife Foundation, a Zimbabwe-based nonprofit that combats gender inequality with opportunities in education, health training, and economic empowerment. When Peilla was in the 10 th grade, she learned of Higherlife scholarships for girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet a roadblock loomed: she spoke French and Kirundi but would need to pass a rigorous English test and interviews to qualify. Higherlife helped by enrolling Peilla in an English course. After intense study, she passed the screening and was selected from 10 applicants for the scholarship program.
Higherlife sent Peilla far from home, to eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) on the eastern border of South Africa. There, she was able to attend Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa – one of Africa’s top schools, designed to graduate global citizens who will make a positive impact on the world. For her final two years of high school education (2015-2016), Peilla completed Waterford Kamhlaba’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, which prepares the students to attend some of the world’s leading universities. And this was only the first of a remarkable series of international educational opportunities for Peilla.
Faced with a political crisis at home in Burundi, Peilla decided to apply to colleges in the United States. She selected Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, which offered a full scholarship and the opportunity to earn an undergraduate degree in social work. “I did not know where Iowa was, I was just going to school and that was enough for me,” says Peilla. When she reached Iowa in 2017, she found that she needed to learn how to navigate a very different life. As she wrote in Where Passion Meets Purpose and Profession, Peilla
had the distinction of being Luther College’s first international student from Burundi. “I have had to adjust and adapt to a new culture. It has taught me resilience and brought strength to my character and personality.”
Peilla dove into her coursework, focusing on issues faced by women of color, immigrants, and refugees. She repeatedly earned distinction on the Dean’s List as she worked toward a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. But Peilla yearned to see her family and home country after so many years apart. In 2019, she googled “nonprofits Burundi,” discovered Burundi Friends International, and contacted Executive Director Julie Marner. Julie called back within 24 hours, immediately seeing what a treasure Peilla would be to BFI. They set up a 7-week internship in the summer of 2019, in which Peilla served as a Community Facilitator with BFI’s Women Empowered (WE) program in Burundi.
During her BFI internship, Peilla met with groups of 15-25 rural women that had been formed to save money and start small businesses. Using her natural teaching ability and gift of languages, Peilla encouraged the women to fully participate in the savings methodology, practice new leadership skills, and accomplish personal and community- wide goals. She also worked with BFI staff to collect and process data, reviewed the pilot project, and identified challenges – helping to improve processes for the entire program. At the conclusion of the program, Julie met Peilla in Burundi, and they traveled to Gitega to visit savings groups together. Julie noted how warmly Peilla was received by each member. “Her manner of relating to them was kind, friendly, humble, and professional. Her address to each savings group offered support and inspiration.”
Since July 2019, Peilla has assisted BFI in important partnership development opportunities, fundraising with donors, and communication with the team in Burundi. She is looking forward to another BFI internship in Burundi this summer. Currently, through Luther College, she is completing a senior internship in the U.S. with the Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association. IMAA is a nonprofit organization that fosters the well-
being and independence of refugees and immigrants who have resettled in and near Rochester, Minnesota. Peilla processes intakes for immigrants who are victims of domestic violence or other crimes. Of course, being in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic has added the extra complication of working remotely!
On May 16 – just around the corner! – Peilla will graduate from Luther College with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. Aware that her student visa would expire later this year, Peilla and Julie lost no time in searching for new opportunities. Breaking news: Peilla is thrilled to announce that she has just been awarded a MasterCard scholarship and admission to the Master of Social Work (Non-Thesis) Program at McGill University! Our global traveler will expand her skills and knowledge in Social Work while minoring in
Women’s Studies on the McGill campus in beautiful Montreal, Canada.
With Peilla’s intelligence, perseverance, insight, and humor, it’s hard to see what could possibly hold her back. But she points out two obstacles that she shares with so many women around the world. The first is Imposter Syndrome – a feeling of unworthiness. “I’m literally a girl from Gitega in places where they don’t see girls like me.” The second is lack of representation and social pressure: “I am challenging the gender norms; it’s hard to be different.” She finds the strength to overcome these challenges through the encouragement and support of friends and family.
Peilla describes herself modestly as “nobody becoming something.” In our eyes, she is already somebody and has a boundless future ahead. Peilla says that her hopes for the future are best expressed by a saying of her family: “Nzoshika Kure Cane – I’ll reach far.” She adds, “And I’ll bring Burundians along – especially Burundian women.”
Learn more
Peilla’s Story: “Nzoshika Kure Cane – I’ll Reach Far”
Getting to Know Odette Habonimana: How BFI’s Country Director became a nominee for the USIP Women Building Peace Award
U.S. Institute of Peace's Women Building Peace Award Nominee: Odette Habonimana
COVID-19 Pandemic in Burundi
Q&A with Dugan Lamoise, on BFI’s Women Empowered Project
Odette Nibizi Savings Group Success Story
Let's Bring to Burundi!
Happy International Coffee Day!
International Day of Peace: What Climate Action for Peace Means for Burundi Summer 2019 Trip With Executive Directer Julie Marner

We could not end this Women’s history month without highlighting Julie Marner, the Executive Director of Burundi Friends International. Julie was raised by a mom who never put boundaries on her dreams and a dad that didn’t believe that girls had limitations! Her parents still empower her today, “Keep going, Julie!”
Julie visited Burundi for the first time in 2010 and fell in love with the country and its people. Over the years, Julie has implemented programs that have impacted thousands of Burundians. In her own words, “I was asked during one of my first trips to Burundi to become an advocate for Burundians. I still take that request very seriously. Although the country remains widely unrecognized by the global community, it is simply a temporary issue that will change in my lifetime if all of us keep showing up and contributing what we can. Go BFI!” What would BFI be without Julie? Julie Marner Marvin Marner Helen Marner

Women’s history month celebrations continue! Meet Florentine Nzisabira and Belyse Nahimana, BFI’s active team members in empowering youth and women. They both travelled to the US in the Summer of 2017 as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, a flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative ( YALI). Florentine’s background is in law, she is currently serving in the BFI’s in country leadership team. In the US, she was placed at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana where she was trained in business and leadership. Belyse is an active member of the BFI’s women department. In the US she was placed at Drexel University in Philadelphia where she received training in civic leadership. BFI empowered these ladies, they are in turn empowering others.

The year is 2007. A group of women meet at a women’s church retreat. One of the women is Jeanine Niyonzima Aroian, a native of Burundi who moved to the United States around 1990. Jeanine has big dreams for her home country, one of the world’s poorest countries, and one ravaged by years of civil war. Jeanine dreams of alleviating poverty in Burundi by uniting those torn apart by ethnic differences, giving individuals power over their economic futures, and creating self-sustaining communities, especially among women and young people. She shares her dreams with her new friends.

Fast forward to 2021. Jeanine’s non-profit organization, Burundi Friends International (BFI), which she, along with the women she met at that retreat founded in 2008, now empowers tens of thousands of Burundians each year. BFI provides English literacy classes; financial literacy, savings, and entrepreneurial groups; training in information technology; scholarships for higher education, leadership training, and more.

Jeanine’s remarkable achievements don’t end there. In 2012 she founded JNP Coffee, an award-winning company that exports premium Burundian coffee throughout the world. JNP Coffee works with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance’s (IWCA) Burundi Chapter to support and empower women coffee growers. Today, more than 2,000 women and their families benefit from the access to world markets that JNP Coffee provides. These women coffee farmers can now pay for their children’s education and other basic needs, reinvest profits into improving their coffee plantations, and even save money.

Jeanine will be the first to admit that there is still plenty of work to do in Burundi, but since that retreat in 2007, she has made great strides toward making her dream of a united, empowered, self-sustaining Burundi come true. May her strides forward be swift and wide as she continues to pursue her dreams far into the future.

HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY!

What does the 2021 International Women’s Day have in store for us? Stories, WE stories: Women Empowered! You Make Hope Happen Project Concern International
BFI is very proud to announce the launch of a major expansion of our Women Empowered (WE) savings groups! From February 2021 through March 2022, we will create 128 new savings groups in Gitega province. We will serve an additional 3,040 rural women with financial training and support, along with 160 men to build positive masculinity. We are able to take this big step thanks to your investments and a wonderful $60,000 matching grant from Project Concern International (PCI), a Global Communities Partner.
Why is this program so important? In Burundi, unequal access to economic opportunities is a major cause of discrimination towards women. Consequences are severe for women in rural areas, where they are trapped in a cycle of hard work to meet basic needs and have no means of building a better future. The WE project provides a way for rural Burundian women to overcome these roadblocks, reach economic resilience, and integrate into the business sector.
Meet Aline Kwizera ( in the picture). In 2019, Aline was 32 years old. She wanted to improve life for her husband and three children in Gitega province, but she didn’t know how to save money or ask for a loan. A friend invited Aline to join a WE savings group—and what a difference it made!
With a microloan of 50,000bif (US$17.86) from her group, Aline launched a small business making doughnuts. Subsequent loans from her group enabled her to open a small doughnut shop and begin raising pigs. In 13 months, Aline saved 168,000bif (US$60)—and, with interest, received a total of 239,000bif ($US85)! She reinvested money back into her WE group, purchased a goat, and is happily working on a 5-year plan to move her business from retail to wholesale.
BFI’s WE savings groups started with a 12-group pilot project in 2018, then added 48 groups in 2019. The new expansion will grow the program to a total of 188 groups! It will also integrate business skills and positive masculinity training into group meetings, building members’ earning potential and engaging men in support of women’s empowerment in their communities.
The bottom line? WE savings program participants find self-worth, serve as role models to their children, and follow their dreams to a better future. Burundian women want to acquire financial literacy, are inspired by the goal of saving money, and are proud to share financial responsibility for the home with their husbands. They also find an added benefit: community service. In weekly meetings, the groups discuss community needs and select a project to act on together. It may be caregiving for a neighbor who is ill, cleaning roads in poor conditions, or farming for a community member in need. Whatever the goal or project, the WE program offers opportunities to build friendship and stronger communities.
You are the wind beneath the wings of these remarkable women. Thank you again for your contributions and ongoing support! Project Concern International

Indeed!

BFI Proud moments! Thank you Humans of Fuzia for the article.

This Woman Is Promoting Peace in Her Country by Empowering Women and Youth - Humans of Fuzia Meet Odette Habonimana, country director at BFI, a non-profit organization that fights poverty in Burundi by creating education, healthcare, and self-sustaining enterprise opportunities.

Women’s History month, what does it mean to you?
For BFI, it is a month of reflection on women’s issues, a time to pause and think about how far the Burundian woman has come, and how far she can go.

Marking the opening of the glorious month of March, we celebrate Odette Habonimana, BFI-In country Director. Despite the challenges of growing up in a war-stricken country, Odette rose above her circumstances to become an exemplary woman in her society. In 2020, she was selected from 150 applicants worldwide as one of 10 finalists for the U.S. Institute of Peace’s inaugural Women Building Peace Award. This prestigious award recognizes a woman whose substantial and practical contribution to peace is an inspiration and guiding light – and Odette was honored as a finalist at the age of 35!

January 20, 2021 historic moments!

Rose Quartet: A Story of World Harmony
The BFI Suzuki Program
By Storyteller Malaika Butoyi

In a world where the launch of Playstation 5 gets more media attention than ten humanitarian crises combined (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jan/12/playstation-5-launch-gets-more-coverage-than-10-humanitarian-crises-combined), the art of storytelling becomes paramount. Let me tell you a story about globalism, humanism, and music.

Iliokuya - Once upon a time, children from San Diego, California and Burundi, East Africa learn and play Rose Quartet, a beautiful piece of music composed by Catherine McMichael. Under the Musical Direction of Susanna Han, students of Suzuki Heritage Center in San Diego play alongside (split-screen) those of Burundi Friends International Strings. Moving to hear and watch, the project highlights our shared humanity. We glimpse world harmony in the faces of talented youth. We revel in developing their gifts.

On this day, we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had a dream that one day all children would have the same opportunities - regardless of their skin color. On this day, sharing this story seems absolutely apropos. Thank you, Visionaries and Builders of the New World. Continue the growth with us here: https://bufri.org/