For over a month now, the students living in the Community for Burundi household have gathered together twice a week around the long tables in their first floor common room for English lessons. Though English is not an official language in this country, having the ability to speak it well is becoming an increasingly valuable skill when searching for employment that can bring about permanent change for people, especially as the newly created East African Union (comprising Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya) conducts all of its business in English. While most of the Batwa students have studied English to some extent in the schools they have attended, they have only a very basic and theoretical knowledge of the language and are still shy about conversing. The beginning lessons dealt with very basic vocabulary, including greetings, numbers, days, and months. As the classes have progressed, the emphasis has shifted to correct pronunciation, correct sentence phrasing, and building comprehension of spoken English. More and more students have become bold enough to answer oral questions in front of their peers, and many of them come and test out their skills by conversing completely in English before and after the classes. A few have even begun answering the questions from their profile surveys in English without the aid of a translator.

Occasionally, humorous situations arise because of cultural differences. For example, one week when asked to name things that people can eat, one student confidently answered, “Cat.” Everyone chuckled a bit as he was told that cats are not food, but when the instructor, Christy, recalled hearing how people do indeed sometimes eat cats in rural areas of Burundi, she had to correct herself and admit that the student was correct after all! Even during classes when such obvious cultural differences do not come to light, the mood is light-hearted, and the students easily laugh at their mistakes, correct themselves and continue ahead. They offer assistance to one another and strengthen their skills by practicing new words, which then gives them confidence to speak with people outside of their Community for Burundi family.

Christy Jones is a volunteer for Community for Burundi and an educator with 10 years teaching experience in the States. She is taking a sabbatical to be in Burundi and with the Batwa students. She has welcomed these students into her heart, and they have embraced her faithfulness as their English teacher and friend. English classes are fun among friends!