We Burundians!

By Francis Muhire, singer and comedian actor, Bujumbura

We burundians are really special people. As we know that we're going through a certain kind of globalization, either in social and culture, we quickly learn how to combine our own way of doing things with the new one that is said to be modern and international. For instance, when burundians meet, they give one another a hug and shake hands (when they are both men), or just shake hands only. But westerns (french and belgium) they just kiss when they meet,"se faire la bise", they call it so. Burundians learned to combine both western way and burundian way of saying hello: we now kiss and shake hands. Sometimes we even first hug for a bit longer, kiss, then shake hands at the end. Aren't we really special? Hahahaha!!!That's such a good combination.

Let's consider another point. As we are, traditionally, of a an oral culture, meaning that for us, the speech, or talking, or conversation, those elements are primordial for us. We value a face to face conversation than a facebook chatting session; we would prefer a call than an sms chatting. I remember that all my bosses have been asking me to call people to confirm appointments, even though they had already confirm them through e-mail. Writing is not really our cup of tea. It's even worse when it comes to E-mail. A burundian would call you more than twice a day, but never answer to your e-mails. I used to think that maybe it's just because internet is still so new to us but, in fact, no. I realized that we prefer to hear by voice, than to read by our eyes. We value stories or events that we heard than those that we read. Don't you guys have some friends who send you an e-mail, then call you after to tell you all the things he just sent you in the mail? Come on guys!! I know you have kinda friends!! Or just a friend who calls you to ask you to read a e-mail that he sent. And when you open it, you find that it's just a sentence to remind you an appointment. But he spent like 5 minutes on the phone asking you to read that mail.Hahahaha!!

Ok guys thanks for those who read all this. I wrote so much, and talk that way too. As a real Burundian, I combine both. None?!