Hostess Gift

I’m going to visit a Burundian boy and his family in the hills of Burundi this weekend.  Patrick is 8 years old and will be the second Burundian child featured in the One Globe Kids series – hurrah! 

For this initial visit, I wanted to take some hostess-type gifts for his family and asked Roger, Francoise and Trésor for advice.  What did they suggest?  Not the chocolates or cakes or small trinkets that may first come to mind as appropriate for the first time you visit someone at home. 

I’m taking what I was told they will really appreciate and use:

•          2 kilos of local sugar
•          1 kilo of local salt
•          24 small bars of locally-made detergent for hand washing clothes
•          2 loaves of plain sliced bread (I asked, “With butter?  Jelly?”  Nope. Apparently bread is such a big treat that the kids will want to eat it plain – or maybe they don’t realize there are things to put on top of bread?)

For One Globe Kids I have photographed children in Haiti, Indonesia, The Netherlands, Israel, Palestine, New York City, and in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi.  Every place is unique, and each child’s story is special.  But Patrick’s story may be in a class of it’s own.  I’ve been told that he’s responsible for lighting the cooking fire in the middle of their mud, stick and grass hut.  Hats off to any 8-year old able to do that without lighting the home on fire!

Since I’m still nursing Jos, he’ll be accompanying me on this trip, along with Francoise who will help with translation (from Kirundi into French). Trésor will provide the introductions since he knows Patrick’s family – they come from the same “colline natale,” which literally means that they were born on the same hill.  

Patrick has 4 siblings, including a 5-month old sister, roughly the same age as our baby, Jos.  I just love working on the One Globe Kids series - not only because sharing real kids’ stories and lives with children around the world is a passion of mine, but because it’s infinitely fascinating and there’s always so much to learn. 

Spending several days with a family raising a baby the same age as mine but in the hills of Burundi?  What an opportunity!  Maybe Mama Patrick will have some good tips on potty-training and sleeping through the night....  And who knows what else I'll learn?  I'm pretty sure Patrick knows how to do a billion of things I never even knew existed to be done...