Of Africa and Tribes

I was privileged to have first hand information from a conversation with one Tom a Hutu from Burundi. I was fascinated as this was my first time to ever come into contact with someone from that region with its recent history. I was full of questions but was worried how Tom would react to them but my work was made light when he gladly offered to narrate most of what happened in Rwanda and Burundi, the tension that remains and what is being done to keep the tension under control. This is therefore a narration from Tom. He told me firstly that he grew up in Burundi and was displaced by the genocide that happened in the region moving into East Africa where live for sometime being a fisherman. He told me that in Burundi the Hutu main the majority and the Tutsi are in the minority by roughly a ratio of 5:1. The Hutu he narrated are dark skinned, bigger noses, Kinky hair Bantus and I qualified to be a Hutu with my appearance. They are also poorer, lack education and generally not happy with the status quo. The Tutsi on the other hand appear lighter in complexion, taller and slimmer, smaller noses, curly hair and comparable to Somalis. Material wise, they are better educated. He said they are also wealthier and inherited wealth form Belgians who also helped them to good jobs. This inequitable distribution of resources exists to this day and is a major source of tension emanating from the pre genocide era, the abductions and wanton slaughtering that took place during the genocide and the language differences between the tribes. Most of the problems he said emanate from the language differences and the country is resorting to adopting and teaching Swahili language to sort out these problems because the tribes so believe in their own languages and very reluctant to adopted each other’s language. At the moment the United Nations is acting as a peace keeper between the tribes. He went on to say so much tension still exists between the tribes however if the a Hutu and a Tutsi meet outside Burundi like Europe for example, they may have a conversation without being antagonistic. All the while during the conversation there was a lady sitting nearby who was listening and happens to come from East Africa. She reiterated that there is a very strong sense of tribes in East Africa going north that sometimes if you marry into another tribe not approved by your tribe your family can actually disown you. The discussion became lively when she also talked about the gap between the Kikuyu and the Luo tribe (apparently where Obama originates. She talked about the same kind of scenario where the Kikuyu who speak Kikuyu are more educated, better off, inherited land from white colonisers when they left which were more developed, and make it difficult for others to develop. While the Luo with their Luo Language are regarded as backward, labourers and said to practice witchcraft. It was a three way conversation in the ended that I became so enlightened by the hands on experience of these fine individuals.