This coming Sunday marks the beginning of a new season for our Batwa friends – as a dream long held will come to fruition. This past week the Batwa Committee secured a home where 40 Batwa students will reside for the school year. The home is in a new neighborhood and walking distance from the secondary schools where the students are enrolled. As a matter of fact, one school is even in view from the house!

The house is spacious enough for the students to live, eat, study and relax… well, spacious as any college dormitory, that is! The women will live in the main house, which boasts of 5 bedrooms. The men will live in the guest quarters, which has 4 large rooms. There is ample room for outdoor cooking as well as indoor kitchen facilities, as needed. There are a few patios where students can gather to study, room for dining and visiting and even office space for the Batwa Committee members.

Living with the students will be 2 of the Batwa Committee members, Evariste Ndikumana and Diane Nduwimana. They will be on site to be a present help, resource and encouragement to the students as they face the rigors and joy of student life. Two other Committee members live in a nearby neighborhood and will be available for the students as well. These 40 Batwa students will be in a great environment for learning, with all the necessities as well as the luxuries of much support from Community For Burundi.

This Sunday, move-in day for the students, has been a dream of the Batwa Committee for years. When we met them at the house earlier this week they were bursting with excitement, hardly able to believe this was really becoming a reality for them and the students they’ve been advocating for all these years. They looked at the home as if it were the Promised Land – a place of milk and honey for their students and the future dreams of the Batwa communities in Burundi. We knew we were standing with them on the threshold of something amazing and long hoped for…