Helping the HIV/AIDS-Orphaned Children of Bikanka, Burundi
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Helping the HIV/AIDS-Orphaned Children of Bikanka, Burundi
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Thank you for visiting our Web site! We hope you will find merit in our work and consider making a donation to help these children and their community.
BackgroundBurundi, landlocked and least developed like its neighbor Rwanda to the North, seems only to get negative press. Since its independence in 1962 violent and recurrent conflicts between Bahutu and Batutsi, the two main ethnic groups making up 99% of its population, seem to be the only story heard all over. Yet, both ‘Hutu’ and ‘Tutsi’ shared the same social, economic, political and administrative life centuries before the German colonial era, followed after World War II by a UN trusteeship run by Belgium. But here let us focus our attention on the main characteristics of Bikanka Zone (township), which lies in Mukike Commune (county) of Burundi’s Bujumbura Rural Province. People in Bikanka are very poor and live primarily from subsistence crops, pretty much at the mercy of each year’s unpredictable wet and dry seasons. Small herds of cows, goats and sheep can be seen grazing in rare spots of green pasture at the foot of dispersed hills, providing some families with dairy products or income to buy additional food and clothing. Mukike Commune is itself one of the poorest areas in Bujumbura Rural Province. Its inhabitants have insufficient land for the competing needs of food crops and livestock. A compounding factor in recent years has been the influx of people displaced from neighboring communes or even distant provinces where the civil war has been raging. Many of the displaced are former residents, or their descendants, who had emigrated from Mukike decades ago. Others are simply internally displaced persons fearing for their lives. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has not spared Bikanka Zone. The latest HIV/AIDS data confirm an already alarming situation: 9.8% of the population of Bikanka is HIV positive, a percentage almost equal to the 10% observed in semi-urban areas! In Bikanka Zone only, a striking figure of 345 children orphaned by AIDS has already been identified. Last but not least, drinking water supply per household in Bikanka Zone is currently insignificant; basic hygiene needs are simply not met.
Company Profile & Project OutlineMuranderera Association is a non-profit corporation formed under the laws of Burundi, with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the United States of America. Our Project Outline and Articles of Association (PDF 250K) contains more information about our legal organization, project objectives, and implementation strategies.
Contact InformationSpecific enquiries may be addressed to Benoît Seburyamo, Co-Founder and Legal Representative for the United States and Canada.
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