Evacuation: the immediate and urgent movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard (Wikipedia)

A lot has happened since the last post. Which was, I just saw, from January!

2015 started promising, with the beautiful trip to Rwanda (see previous post) and a visit from Griet's parents in February/March.  In short: It included lots of snails, tambourinaires (traditional drummers), zebra's, monkeys, beach, off roading and warm beer.

After the Easter holidays, things were different. The president decided to run for the third time in the presidential elections. This is in breach with the Arusha Accord, signed in 2005. This led to a lot of protest, demonstrations and the school closing early. Between mid-April and mid-May, the girls have been to school 1,5 weeks. We were given tasks and exercises to do at home, but it's not the same. 

 

On 12th May, the school opened up again, only to close early again on 13th May. After hearing the protests and demonstrations coming very close and in fear of not being able to get to school that day, we took the girls out early. Nothing too early though. By the time we came home, the radio announced a coup d'état. Later we heard that there were children stuck at school till late because their parents couldn't get there. 

The days that followed were surreal. There was a constant noise of guns, granates, shouting. There was heavy fighting between the putchists and the president's loyalists. The strategic points (airport, radio station, presidential palace) were going back and forth.  All private radiostations burned down, journalists weren't allowed to enter the press house. When a stray bullet landed in the garden we realised we were more vulnarable than you first think. 

So we put the kids (with lots of comics and movies) in the hallway where there are no windows and stayed indoors as much as possible. The putchists (or some of them at least) were captured in the end and the president announced the coup foiled.

On Sunday 17 May Griet and the girls were evacuated to Belgium. 2 days later the girls were back at school. They have been remarkebly flexible and adapted well to the situation.

Now, 4,5 months later, we are still in Belgium. Thorsten has been able to come over for most of the holidays, but he had to go back to Burundi early September. Griet and the girls however are still waiting for permission. Although (superficially) things are much better now (much less shooting, granates etc), it is not yet back to normal. In August several highly influencial generals were assasinated (including the country's nr 2 and president's right arm) and the human rights activist survived an attempt. 

The girls are happy at school here, they have good friends and enjoy the perks like cycling to school, going to the swimclub, library etc. On the other hand, they miss Burundi and their friends there. They are really torn now.   

The situation is getting frustrating, not knowing when we can return. We can be given an all-clear to travel this week (Yes pleas!!!) or we can still be here with Christmas (No please!!!). But apart from a few logistical issues (Should I look for a french teacher for the girls or is it not worth anymore? Do I need to invest in winter clothes and shoes or not?) we are doing fine. We are able to stay at Griet's parents (thank God they have a big house!), have a good roof above our head, have food, heating and the girls are able to attend school.