Is It Bad To Wax When You Are Aroused

Letter to my cousin

Bujumbura, August 2, 2007

Hi cousin, I just
news. You write so little ... Not to mention the rest of the family. The only one who writes regularly, is my father ... But do not worry, I do not write me lamenting.
Despite some solitude, "some" because there is hardly alone here in Burundi, I'm doing really well. Ah, "solitude" ... this term masks a certain ambiguous reality. Whether you walk to the market, in the street or at the lake, you are rarely alone, at least physically alone. Especially when you're a muzungu (white), and more when you're a muzungu who likes to go out and meet people. Here, people stare at you, they'll questioning, chime into you ... It's part of culture: Like all bees communicate with each other so it is clear to all where to find flowers to forage to produce honey, and contribute to the welfare of the swarm, the Burundians would save no words to address this flower pollen that is carrying the muzungu.
In reality, your cultural codes and values that you received are not the same, and it makes you a fish immersed in a sea that is not yours. However, when you append to know the waters in which you evolve, you adapt and finally you feel less alone. When the foraging bee comes to you, when the horse has to drink to your source, you understand and you smile .... You can and should prevent the sparrows to come peck crumbs and sugar crystals at your table ... My crystal sugar to me is humor ... When you come to me for money, I offer some mirror of the situation. I imitated them. It makes them laugh, and laugh when I laugh too ... and we all laugh together ... The mirror is theater and that is something that works ...
As I laugh and I like as loneliness, well I'm feeling quite well here in Burundi
... I still swim every day at noon and play football 1-2 times a week. So know that when I return you will have to invite me to play a game with your team.
As I've already said, I do not intend to renew my contract. This will end in December, when I plan to return. I decided to return by land across part of Africa to Egypt. It is a journey to a faith in his life ...
Cousin, I know you have lots of work and your kids TEQ t'autorisent just freedom but still give your news. As the saying goes, "what you write is what you like best, then write cousin ... how else to know what you look like?
Um Abraco,

Bump From Cardiac Catharization

"Get the stick that was given by Ntare Rushatsi your father and your grandfather"

This Saturday, July 24, we go, my colleague from Radio BINUB Abbas and me to Carama, a few kilometers from Bujumbura to produce a report on the inauguration of several bashingantahe. Arrived at the scene of the ceremony, the drummers rattle the cowhides with their sticks. All around the tents for the occasion, the children play and dance to the beat of drums. Representatives of the National Council of Bashingantahe just arrived and settled under the big tent. The ceremony begins. Bashingantahe greet the new contenders and escorted to their seats.
a mushingantahe speaks at the megaphone. I do not understand Kirundi and I translated the beginning of the speech by a fellow journalist. The contenders for the nomination change places to settle in the center of the rectangle formed by the tents. Behind them, their sponsors (umuhetsi) are to testify to the commitment of new entrants in the institution. Each candidate's solemn commitment to settle disputes voluntarily, without discrimination and regardless of ethnic origin or regional origin. The sponsors put their hands on the shoulders suitors who, by striking the stick ritual (Intahe) on the floor, take an oath (indahiro): "If I betray this pressure, I'm cursed."
According to oral tradition, the institution dates back to Ntare Rushatsi Bashingantahe King founder of the monarchy in the late seventeenth century. The mythical founder of the institution was Sacega, which would have made trade-offs in the time of the first famous king at the time of initiation into this function, we always referred to this origin with the formula: "Get the stick that given by Ntare Rushatsi your father and your grandfather father ". Thus, the foundation of the institution, its primary raison d'être, is the settlement of disputes. One, two, three strokes and, like judges in a court, the dispute was settled irreversibly. In
of this primary function, the functions performed bashingantahe also consisted in reconciling persons and families; authenticate contracts (marriage, inheritance, sales, donations ...) look for truth and justice around; ensure the safety of persons and property, wherever one is, advise and balance political power at all levels; speak for the common good of human rights and socio-political responsibility, whenever necessary; authenticate on behalf of the people, the new king, the new leader and the new Deputy Chief ; ensure the ecology of manners; represent the people in all circumstances to judge the appropriateness of war (kugera urugamba) enforce the code warrior in case of armed violence and proceed to the cessation of hostilities; organize negotiations and reconciliation after a war. These tasks were cast in cultural codes and in a highly ritualised inauguration. This nomination was value of alliance between the family of nuclear mushingantahe / Sage and population.
But how this traditional institution does cohabiting with new institutions post-crisis? "One would think that with the elections, bashingantahe have sided with political parties, more favorable to the maintenance of our traditional institutions, as Uprona, but it is not. It has cons saw their role as apolitical, "we noted Manirikiza Zeno, coordinator of the National Council of Bashingantahe. However, some incidents occurred between bashingantahe and local elected officials, with the recent elections hill. Local elected officials who received a mandate from the people can not tolerate being subordinated to bashingantahe while they were invested for their notability, wisdom and above all integrity. "The elections were held hill after the landslide victory of the CNDD-FDD and many local elected representatives from that party. These are mostly young men and women. Few among those elected are "bashingantahe" traditionally invested, which are also not recognized by the CNDD-FDD, "confides a mushingantahe.
This institution is she trying to reform itself, to adapt to changing contemporary mores of Burundi? In any case, the Charter of Bashingantahe has always favored the family as a body for the investiture of new Bashingantahe, instead of basing the Institution on individuals. Through the new mushingantahe, the entire nuclear family is invested. Single women, widowed or single, are now incorporated into a new structure, established by the National Council of Bashingantahe and called Abashigikirantahe (the support points of wisdom). The investiture of women as individuals, regardless of her husband, was not envisaged by the National Council of Bashingantahe. Single women, grouped in the new structure "Bashigikirantahe" is a beneficial pressure group within the Institution of Bashingantahe. The
bashingantahe wished that their institution is mentioned in the post-transition constitution, but this does not happen. Their cultural codes have been battered by colonial rule and the post-colonial regimes that succeeded to power, but they remain a benchmark for much of the population living in rural areas.