Five hundred books were given to Nyamunazi Primary School yesterday. They will constitute a little library for all the area. It is a reply for the Association of Parents and Teachers by the Poland East Africa Economic Foundation (PEAEF) and its friends in Belgium and Poland. Pupils, parents or teachers are pleased to have them.
<img4828|left>Professional books for the teachers, children and adults are gift -private donations from Belgium and Poland- were given by Poland East Africa Economic Foundation (PEAEF) to the Association of Parents and Teachers (APE). Most of them are in French and English. “We normally use books given by our teachers and we share them between four or five pupils, » says Evangeline Nshimirimana, pupil in 5th year at Nyamunazi 2. After school, she adds, we will look for the books and emphasize our lessons in order to increase our knowledge, ..
Evangeline’s delight was shared by Judith Bucumi, a parent of a Nyamunazi pupil. “I didn’t have any chance to go to school, now it’s a round for my children to learn what I missed. Since we heard of the existence of that association, we mobilise our children to be interested in reading. These books will be kept very well in order to use them a long time.” Epimaque Nahimana is a French teacher at Mubone secondary school. He says most of the pupils don’t know French very well. “It’s a big opportunity for them to improve their language. There are novels, dictionaries, geographical, physical or encyclopaedia books. They got a chance. Besides, next year, there will be an arts section here; pupils will read different books and also get an analysis or a summary.” Not only do pupils have themselves the opportunity to reread what their teachers taught them, adds Nahimana, but also teachers also get an advantage to use the books in preparing lessons.
“It’s a miracle”
According to the president of the Association of Parents and Teachers, Gerard Ntahondi, to see a library in the Mubone area is a miracle. Mubone is located between mountains at 20 km from Bujumbura Town, and in Kabezi, a commune of the Bujumbura Province.
“Since our Association was born in 2005, we have gotten a lot of things from the Poland East Africa Economic Foundation. Notably, a store, a hair dressing salon and the construction of the 12 toilets. Now it is time for a library.” Ntahondi explains that the association planned projects and sent them to PEAEF, and then got a reply.
According to Anna Chelminska, PEAEF representative in Burundi, these books could help not only the children to open the mind to see what happens in the rest of the world, but also they may help the teachers to give their lessons. “They (the teachers) really want to teach but with limited material, they can’t achieve anything. These books will help them to fulfil what they need.” Chelminska says the books are the fruit of the gathering of the Friends of PEAEF in Belgium and Poland. “We didn’t pay for or buy any books. All of them are the generenous gift, and we brought them to Burundi ourselves."
This is the first round; the second one will reach Mubone in October. Chelminska says more than 500 books were collected. But she regrets that the cost of clearing the books through customs is very high. “We pay more taxes; we can’t bring them at the same time.”
In her view, the Burundian government could revise its strategy in order to let them bring a lot of books. “Education is a base of development, and education comes from books. If we haven’t access to books, we can’t improve intellectually. So Burundi has entered into the East African Community, it would be better to give the people the opportunity to have access to books.”
