Summer camp in Bujumbura: Younger pupils busy themselves with different activities

In Bujumbura city, different activities are organized to help young students spend summer holidays usefully. They are supervised in sports, reading and physical activities for humanitarian purpose.

Young people making bricks in Buterere area

At Kiyange I in Buterere commune, students on holidays help victims of floods. They can be seen busy with making bricks near the tents.

Some of them believe that doing such activities would be of help in the future.
Kévine Itangishaka says she appreciates the activities because it helps her to learn new things. “With this program, I learn about new things that will surely improve my way of living,” she says adding that she is proud to serve the community by assisting people in need.

Don Dixe Rushatsi, 15, says that besides helping others, doing such activities can also help him in the future. “It helps me get accustomed to physical work. Even though I am a student, I don’t know what I will become in the future,” he says.

Perpetua Baransigana, aged 52 and one of the flood victims, acknowledges the work of these children. “Instead of spending their time doing useless things, they have chosen to help us find a shelter. Most of us are vulnerable and have been unable to build our own houses after floods that hit our locality a few months ago,” she says.

These pupils from different neighborhoods in the northern part of Bujumbura are supervised by “Centre Jeune Kamenge” in its summer programs that started 18 years ago.

On the other side of the city, different activities are organized as well. There are learning and reading sessions at the “Institut Francais du Burundi-IFB” and sports activities are organized at the place commonly known as “Entente sportive”. Parents appreciate those programs.

Salvator Ndikumagenge, a parent, says he appreciates the facts that children are well supervised on holidays. “Children change activities and do sports or other useful activities. They are safe here because when you leave a kid at home, you are not sure s/he will stay there,” he says adding that these holidays activities can help children become champions in their areas of interests.