Migrating to Tanzania in search of a job is the dream of many unemployed youths from Cendajuru commune in Cankuzo province. The authorities want to create jobs to keep them.
Samuel Nzeyimana: “The administration should support us so that we can create our own jobs. “
Samuel Nzeyimana, 24, from Kiruhura area in Cendajuru commune, says he went to Tanzania looking for a job. He reveals that most young people in this area prefer to go to Tanzania to find a job.
They afterwards return to build houses and engage in income-generating activities.
This young man, who has been to Tanzania for more than five times, says that most of them face a number of challenges once back: “On the way back, Tanzanian immigration officers rob us of everything we have and we are obliged to return home empty-handed.”
He says the administration should create vocational centers for those who have not been able to continue their studies and support them so that they can create their own jobs.
Other adolescents and young men from the same commune, located in the east of Cankuzo province, go there of their own free will, or are sent there by “Abenyeji”; Burundians who have lived in Tanzania and regularly make movements between the two countries.
According to various sources, these ‘Abenyeji» convince young boys aged between 13 and 16 that they will find work for them in Tanzania. Once there, it becomes business. These “Abenyeji” receive at least 50,000 shillings per individual.
According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, some keep Tanzanian cows in large forests and others plough their lands.
A teacher at Muyaga High School, located at 4 km from the Cankuzo province center, said that some of his students told him that they often go to Tanzania to look for a job during holidays.
Students looking for a brighter future
Aloys Kitaburaza: “At least traffickers have been identified in 8 localities in Cankuzo commune”
Aloys Kitaburaza, focal point for the National Federation of Associations defending children’s rights (FENADEB ) in Cendajuru commune, reveals that pupils drop out of school to go to Tanzania.
He says more than 40 cases of minors taken to Tanzania were recorded in five localities of this commune, in 2018. He explains that “their friends deceive them by saying that they will have a better life once in Tanzania.”
In Busyana area alone, 15 cases of children brought to Tanzania, after being removed from school by traffickers, were registered in 2018.
This child rights activist in this commune, located at about 15 km from the center of Cankuzo province, reports that at least 35 traffickers have been identified in 8 areas among 17 localities in Cendajuru commune.
“Twenty-six minors have returned from Tanzania and more than seven suspected traffickers have been arrested and imprisoned thanks to the collaboration of the administration and the police. ”
The administration should be more involved, he says, to completely eradicate this phenomenon which has become recurrent in this country.
Léonidas Numa, 39, a father of four, lives in Kiruhura locality. He says that his son dropped out of school two weeks ago to go to Tanzania, with the support of a native of this commune. The latter was arrested and then imprisoned by the police and the administration of Cendajuru commune. He was afterwards released after committing himself to bring back the child as soon as possible, before the administration and the police.
The provincial administration reassures…
Pierre Claver Nakumuryango : “Awareness meetings are held regularly between the administration and the population to discourage this phenomenon”
Pierre Claver Nakumuryango, Senior adviser to the governor of Cankuzo province, confirms the reality of this exodus of young people to Tanzania in search of a job. He says most of them find themselves in farming activities.
“Awareness meetings are held regularly between the administration and the population to encourage these young people to work in their localities,” he says.
The Governor’s adviser says the result is positive as the number of students who drop out of school to go to Tanzania declined significantly in 2018.
He also says at least one vocational center has been established in every commune of Cankuzo province so that these young people can learn to create their own jobs to improve their personal lives and develop their province.
Mr. Nakumuryango calls on the population to join associations to fight against poverty, one of the major causes of this phenomenon.
He warns those who will be caught trying to convince other youths to drop out of school to go to Tanzania: “They will be punished in accordance with the law.”
This exodus is observed mainly in Cendajuru, Mishiha and Gisagara communes.
IWACU Open Data
