In the Land of Joys and Sorrows — Our Life in Burundi

 

By Ivar Serejski. Distributors: Ebook: Amazon | Paperback: Lulu. 2013.

This autobiography covers a period of eleven years of work and exciting experiences in Burundi as well as those that characterized subsequent visits made to this country. It also describes the adventures that have marked the two trips made in East Africa during this eleven-year period at a time when travel to these distant African countries were not sanitized and provided thrilling challenges. These adventures cover the implementation of the first tea plantation of 1,250 acres in Burundi in the province of Muramvya near the Kibiru forest and the management of an experimental agronomic research plan in the plain of Imbo. They also include one of the rare witnessing of the terrible atrocities committed during the coup d'état of 1972.

 

Table of Contents

 

  • FOREWORD
  • I. PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE
    • When I Was a City-Dweller
    • Our Wedding
    • The Adventures of Johnny
  • II. DEPARTURE TO BURUNDI
    • Brussels Airport (Zaventem)
    • Athens
    • Entebbe (Uganda)
  • III. BURUNDI
    • The Land of Sacred Drums
    • History: 1899-1962
    • Geography
    • The Demographic and Political Contexts
    • Bujumbura
  • IV. TEZA
    • First Trip in the Bush
    • Our Lodge
    • Settling In
    • First Contact with my Working Universe
    • From the City to the Bush, From Theory to Practice
    • A Terrible Tragedy
    • The Inauguration of the Rural Clinic
    • An Ongoing Challenge
    • The Batwas and the Hunt
    • A Freak Accident
    • The Family Grows
    • Visits of the Mwami
    • The Bushmen Go Into Town
    • Our Move
    • The Ambush
    • The Wedding of My Burundian Friend
    • The Dreadful Carbon Monoxide
    • Religious Festivals
  • V. A LONG ESCAPADE
    • Our Trip to East Africa
    • Akagera Park
    • Initial Contact with Uganda
    • Murchison Falls National Park
    • En route to Kenya and Tanzania
    • From Masai Mara to Kilimanjaro
    • Eric the Explorer
    • From Kilimanjaro to Nairobi
    • The Long Way Home
  • VI. THE OCTOBER 1965 COUP
    • The Beginnings of the Coup
    • The Coup in Bujumbura
    • The Massacre of Tutsis in Teza
    • A Risky Gamble
    • My Daily Visits to Teza
    • The Gruesome Discovery
    • The Premonition
    • A Gradual Return to Normal
  • VII. BACK TO THE PLANTATION
    • Another Challenge
    • Political Developments
    • We are Four
    • Intuition
    • The Mimic Gift of Monkeys
    • The Flight over the Plantation in DC3
    • Our Hunting Night in the Province of Kirundo
    • New Attempt or Simulacrum of a Coup
  • VIII. BUJUMBURA
    • My New Assignment
    • First Contact with the United States
    • Tanganyika Lake
    • My Dives in the Lake
    • The Crocodile, a Constant Danger
  • IX - THE GENOCIDE OF 1972
    • The Context
    • The Massacre of Hutus
    • I Listen to My Conscience
  • X. POST GENOCIDE
    • The Duty to Remember
    • The Philanthropic Club and the Traffic Lights
    • President Micombero, a Foosball Game Passionate
    • The Driver without a Vehicle
    • My Passion for Rugby
    • My Return to Burundi
    • My Hunt in the Mosso Plain
    • Our Last Trip to the Virunga National Park
  • XI. A FEW YEARS LATER
    • A Different Immersion
    • Lake Cyohoha
    • I Hang Around with Hippos
    • And Not Only Hippos
    • My Reunion with Nicolas
    • The Confrontation of Two Perspectives
  • XII. A RETURN TO THE ROOTS
    • Why This Book
    • Bujumbura
    • The Problem of Corruption
    • My Visits in the Country Side
    • Issues of the Return of Refugees
    • Security Issues
  • XIII. EPILOGUE
  • ANNEX. LAKE TANGANYIKA
    • The Context
    • Wildlife

The Pelagic Community

Sublittoral and Littoral Communities

Aquatic and Terrestrial Species

Bibliography

Authors

Other Sources