Burundi???

When we tell people that we're moving toward dental missions in Burundi we're often met with questions of "Where's Burundi?" or "I've never heard of Burundi!"  So, allow me to introduce you to the country and what I know of it.  All the detail you might ever need is here, but this is my little synopsis.  Also, this is a good source of info, especially regarding history, economy, travel, and tourism.

Burundi, known as the Heart of Africa, is a small (10,745 square miles--about the size of Massachusetts) landlocked country in East-central Africa.  It borders Rwanda to the North, Tanzania to the East and South, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the West. Most of the western border is along Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest and second largest lake in the world, which also happens to be the longest freshwater lake in the world.

Here's Burundi on the map:

Burundi is both densely populated and rural.  Most people survive by subsistence farming.  The country is often ranked in the poorest 5 in the world, and by some counts has the distinction of lowest per capita GDP in the world.  Burundi suffered a similar civil war and genocide in the 1990s and early 2000s as did Rwanda, though it was more slow-smoldering and received little international attention.  Peace and stability came in 2005 and the country has been through a process of reconciliation and rebuilding.

Much of the country is beautiful rolling hills with a mild tropical climate year round.  Burundi sits just south of the equator, but much of the country is at a significant enough elevation to moderate the heat and humidity one might expect in that part of the world.  The capital, Bujumbura, sits lower and the average daily temperatures there range from the low 70s to upper 80s.

Burundi is a land rich in culture and heritage, and the people are widely known to be friendly and welcoming. Drumming seems to be a bit of a national pastime and source of pride:

Though this is but a brief and cursory introduction to Burundi, I'll stop here for now.  I'll reserve another blog post for the more recent stabilization and growth efforts in Burundi, specifically the work of Hope Africa University and how we hope to be involved.

Read about dentistry in Burundi here.