440 days later...

... we moved to Uganda.

After 6 months in limbo, not knowing if and when we'd return to Burundi we decided to bite the bullet and look for alternatives. By the time it was March 2016, we had a confirmation that Thorsten could start in a new project in Kampala working on land titles and rights, still with the GIZ.

So here we are. We arrived just over a week ago and are happy to be here. Thorsten and I both visited Uganda before so we knew what was coming. Although moving from "the village" Bujumbura is, to the city Kampala is an adjustment.
Home - work commutes are very traffic dependent, and/or related. Leaving 10 min earlier or later can make a difference between getting home at 5.30 or 7 pm.  Shopping malls and supermarkets where you can find absolutely everything (although we haven't found something that matches the bread from Café Gourmand).

The girls are doing well, especially Jara seems to love being back in Africa, enjoying every minute of it.

Mangoes are to be attacked, devoured, enjoyed in every possible way!

Initially we were going to send the kids to the french school - they know the language and the system. The English they would learn on the way (and in school). In the mean time, however, we decided to put them in an English speaking school. The bad traffic going to the French school versus the 15 min walk to the English school not being an unimportant factor. Add the excellent reputation of the English speaking school as well as the fact they also teach French at the individual's level and we were quickly convinced to change our minds.

While we are still staying at a friend's place (the joy of moving often is to have friends in many places) we hope our stuff will arrive from Burundi soon. Paperwork!

But once it's here, we can really start our life which was on hold for 440 days. The girls and I enjoyed living in Belgium and being close to family and friends. But it was hard being separated from Thorsten, both for him and us.
At least the kids had their biggest wishes fulfilled that year: seeing snow (which we were lucky to have in Germany), going to school with the bicycle and going to school in Europe (which, they realised, wasn't so different from going to school in Cameroon or Burundi - still homework and tests to be done!)