Meet Nyokuru Mukamanzi

"If CRS hadn't come to build this house, I'd be dead now."

Nyokuru Mukawanzi with her grandchildren.

So says Mrs. Nyokuru Mukamanzi of Busoni village in the Province of Kirundo in northeastern Burundi.

Burundi has been plagued by civil war and political unrest for decades. Nyokuru has witnessed more than her share of misery during her long life, which she estimates has lasted between 80 and 100 years. But she has weathered it well, and there's a twinkle in her eyes when she gets her daily morale booster from a sip or two of her homemade impeke, the sorghum beer popular throughout Burundi.

Nyokuru has been a widow since 1972, when her husband was killed during one of Burundi's bloodiest episodes of civil unrest. Things got worse for her when two of her daughters later died leaving her ten grandchildren to raise by herself. Six have since married and moved away; four still live with her.

One of the activities of CRS, which has been active in Burundi since 1961, is helping to rehabilitate people whose lives have been cruelly twisted by war. The project that involves Nyokuru was undertaken in Busoni, a small town about 15 km northeast of Kirundo, the provincial capital. Busoni lies astride a finger of wetland — known as an umwonga in Kirundi and as a marais in French — its dwellings trickling down the slopes on both sides. Nyokuru lives in one of these dwellings.

Because Burundi's continual conflicts leave virtually no one unscathed, identifying beneficiaries is difficult. So once the place (Busoni) and the number of beneficiaries (250) had been decided, CRS asked the local parish priest and a committee of village elders to identify those who should receive assistance. CRS gave the committee certain guidelines to work with — the beneficiaries should be the most vulnerable — the sick, the elderly, people left destitute by war and heads of households with large numbers of children (especially orphans). Nyokuru Mukawanzi was on top of their list.

In 2001, CRS Kirundo gave each beneficiary two goats and helped them build a house. Nyokuru's goats proved productive, and now she has six of them. The house was a joint effort. CRS paid the workers and provided the roof; she donated clay for the walls. Her original, much smaller house, which had been situated on the same land, was destroyed in one of Burundi's many wars. She is effusive in her gratitude for the lease on life given to her by CRS.

Says CRS outreach officer Remy Twagirayezu, 'Mrs. Mukawanzi is a model project participant. She has worked hard to ensure that the assistance we have extended has been fully exploited, and her gratitude for CRS is very real. But she's still very poor, and continues to need our help. When she becomes too old to work, her grandchildren will have to take over. Her main concern now is preparing them for this challenge.'