BURUNDI

COLONISED BY GERMANY & BELGIUM (1890–1962) The Hutu and Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least 500 years. In 1890, Germany colonised the region. After the First World War and Germany’s defeat, it ceded the territory to Belgium. The European intervention exacerbated social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu, and contributed to political unrest in the region. A system of identity cards was set in place and the top jobs for administrators and officials were reserved for Tutsi people. The whole colonial period was a process of creating inequality and strict ethnic and economic separation between Hutu and Tutsi people. This strict division fuelled the deadly ethnic conflict between them in the 1970s and then another civil war for 12 years from 1993, which killed some 300,000 people and displaced 800,000 people. Over 500,000 children were left with only one parent. Refugees are now returning, but they often lack basic services, are denied claims to their former land, and will spend years in tent cities. During the 1940s and 1950s, the Belgium government carried out a program of kidnapping biracial children from Burundi. Belgium officially apologised for this in 2009.

HOW DID CHRISTIANITY GET THERE? The earliest Christian missions arrived in 1879, but the missionaries were killed and the king of Burundi who ruled at that time had no interest in foreign theology or imported goods. Larger Christian missions arrived in Burundi in the early 20th century, during German and Belgian colonial rule eras.

CHURCH TODAY: Although Burundi is considered more than 80% Christian, Islam has grown quickly in the past few years.

PRAYER POINTS

• Pray for deep healing, repentance, restitution and restoration regarding the wounds caused by slavery and colonialism.
• Pray that ethnic groups in Burundi are reconciled and united and honour God together.
• Ask God for many to come to faith in Christ.
• Pray for purification and repentance in the Church of Burundi, and also for all the bloodshed of the past.
• Praise God for relative stability in Burundi after the terrors of the 1990s and the unrest of 2015. An elected government now includes both major ethnic groups (Hutu and Tutsi).
• Ask God to bless Burundi economically (Burundi is one of the world’s ten poorest countries).
• Pray that the church of Burundi will fulfil Jesus’ prayer from John 17: to be one with one another and with Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit.
• Ask God to bless Burundi and pray as the Holy Spirit leads you.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

WEEKLY WORLDWIDE MORAVIAN WATCHWORD

Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance. Psalm 89:15

PRAYER

Teacher, Your laws are easy to understand but hard for us to live up to—to treat others better than we treat ourselves and to love You most of all. We are trying. Help us to do better. Amen.