So, Alex where are you from?
I never had problems answering this question because I knew that 99% of the people have never heard of my home country?
Burundi.
Usually I will go with: it’s a small and beautiful country hidden in the heart of Africa.
There were times people answered with a nod when I asked if they knew where it was: sure, it’s close to Burkina (Faso). In French, the pronunciation of Burundi and Burkina tends to confuse lots of people and they assume they are neighbouring countries due to the pronunciation. Smart!
One classmate assumed it was a small village in France (because I didn’t sound like a foreigner, you know like those black people with heavy accent) and others assumed I was from the US (because I am fluent in English and don’t have a foreign accent).
At the beginning when I landed in France, I was not living in Paris (thank you Jesus) but in Lille, the 4th largest city which did not have that many foreigners (except for the international students). With the experience that my parents shared when travelling abroad — my mother had travelled to USSR at one point and my father had studied in Belgium and the US, it is safe to say that I didn’t have lots of expectations about my classmates and my schools. Nonetheless, I was growing in an era that my parents had never known: internet. It is funny to see how people were downloading information on their phones but when asking about my hometown, they could not bother doing the same. Ask Google first, then, come back to me with relevant questions.
How about 2020?
Internet is a lot cheaper, people are streaming and when bored — keep on streaming. It still amazes me to see that a documentary can show the development of an African country, the wealth being created, the transformation of a city and still some will asking me if we do have electricity and water.
This last February, I was travelling to Ethiopia for a wedding and I knew I had to share this online. Showing the beauty and the Africa as I know it: boarding on an Ethiopian Airlines plane, the crew is Ethiopian (and stunning as always) , the 4 star hotel showing the room at the Golden Tulip but also, the ugly, the slow internet — for a minute, there was a power cut and as crazy as it may sound, it made me feel at home. Ok, it was for a minute not the whole afternoon.
Coming back to France, I was amazed to see that after having lived for so long in Europe and having immersed in my studies and work, I had totally forgotten what it was like to dance on an afro beat and hearing Amharic for example made me feel at home. The food, the spices, the milk are some the things I was missing, my body was missing them and didn’t realise until then. Even, the sun; I mean, the real one, not the fake one, that burns one skin but the smooth and gentle sun that comes with a fresh breeze.
When asked about the short trip, I believed I was glowing when sharing some of the encounters : Ethiopians and Burundians (some ethnic groups) look alike so I had to explain that speaking to me in Amharic was useless; it would be in English — and seeing the faces of disappointment I had to reassure them that I was not Ethiopian.
What did I learn there?
I was able to see what some Africans may have been tired of hearing for decades: growth. I myself would have the first sceptic of that ideology that was fed to so many of us. The first time I had landed in Addis Ababa was in 1999 and it was for a 24h layover staying at the Hilton on my way to Germany. To say that the country was poor was an understatement in regard to what I had seen just on my way to the hotel. That was 20 years ago.
Now, what I saw was a city being build, the statement that I had read about the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed became true in front of me. Obviously some of the growth I had seen were made before his election but the city was definitely not the one I had seen as a young girl. Plus, I had booked my room in the Bole district on purpose, waiting to wander in the neighbourhood. I was not disappointed.
On my way back to Europe, I had a stop in Frankfurt, I realised that every progress that was made in Germany or any nation after the World War II or prior had been a willingness to grow — not only a statement but by building a space to do so.
When borders will reopen, I am planning to travel not only in Ethiopia but in Africa — a great step forward for my business endeavour is to collaborate with tourism agency and hotels but also, understand the financial structure of the countries. In East Africa, one country that is now known for having made a huge leap is Rwanda and learning about what they are doing that Burundi or other African countries seems necessary. Political instability is a struggle on the continent and is one of the determining factors of one’s economic conditions.
I started this article by sharing how it used to be a struggle to know about the continent and my Burundi. Nowadays, it is less the case — laziness would be the main reason. I believe there is a change that has occurred in all of us as we had to ponder about our lives, our purpose, etc for almost two months straight for some. I believe we are coming to a place where we will see things differently, we will dare more, we will come out of our comfort zone in order to grow.
One of the thing I realised was that I am fluent in French and English (some would even say that I am fluent in frenglish), I am planning to learn Swahili : a regional language in East Africa estimated to be spoken by 90 to 120 millions as a first or second language.
Coming from a small land locked country gives us Burundians, Rwandese an advantage as we do have one language for the country and we learn our neighbours. Our ability to be able to interact with a Ghanaian or a Kenyan is helpful.
I have projects that I want to develop in the next five years hospitality, finance, real estates, sports, etc — I want to see people looking at the continent and having more reasons to visit other than the safaris (I am not going to say no to one) but to put countries on the map : the continent is rich with people, resources, diversity and is home to an insane amount of entrepreneurs that are willing to do well for themselves.
People (Europeans included) may not know where exactly Luxembourg and Liechtenstein or even Switzerland are but they sure know they are part of Europe and play an important in the European economy.
