The purpose of this piece was to interview a person who knows you better than anyone else and, if you interviewed a bilingual person, you had also to interview a student who speaks English to translate the recording.

I included this piece to remember who I am and what I have been through since I was a little kid.

I am proud of this piece because I learned lots of things about me while interviewing my mother.

In Kirundi:

In English:

Today is May 2nd 2011.
I am LN and I am with MR.
We are going to talk about how do stories from families inform who am I.

Q1. How was your life like when you were a child?

My life when I was a child was better because there was peace everywhere you go. Many people were so polite to each other. When I was about 18 years old, the war started between Tutsi and Hutu, which made Burundi worse.

Q2.How was growing up when you were a teenager?

It was so difficult for us because we didn’t have a car. There weren’t good houses, we had huts. We didn’t have many options for transportation too because we were a poor family. So instead of traveling by car or boat, we had to walk to visit other family members.

Q3.How was education like when you were a child?

When I was a little girl education in Burundi was hard. I couldn’t go to school because it was too expensive for me to pay, and we were a family who didn’t have much money. So I didn’t go to school at all and I had to stay home, helping my parents.

Q4.How did you learn how to read?

Reading was my habit because no one taught me how to read. So I learned it by myself.

Q.5.What problems did your parents face when you were a child?

The only problem my parents faced when I was a little girl, was that they kept moving and moving. Wherever they moved, they couldn’t stay longer because it wasn’t safe. It was hard for them to get food because the money they had was only for transportation. They waited the war to began before moving to Congo.

Q6. What does Burundi mean to you?

When ever you say Burundi, the image that pops in my mind is a small country with lots of violence. When I was little girl the country was so peaceful to live in, but not anymore because now there is a lot of racism. The war caused lots of damage and you can’t remember if it is Burundi or not.

Thanks MR for having such a wonderful interview with me and thank you for your time.