Rocco Puopolo kept a blog called Restorative Justice in West
Africa during his trip, and Beth Tuckey and Bahati Ntama Jacques
called theirs (Restorative Justice in
the Great Lakes Region).
They are finding support for restorative justice interventions not
only among the citizens of these regions but also in the embassies of
Western countries.
Here is an excerpt from their February 8 post:
Greetings in Burundi are full of expressions of wishes for peace for
individuals and for the whole community. In the morning, you say
mwaramutse. It literally means ‘did you wake up?’ It can also
mean ‘did you survive?’ This question is about surviving the unexpected
challenges that can happen in the dark of the night.
Mwaramutse is mostly used in plural form even if you are
addressing one person. The Burundian culture values individuals, but
also strongly values the community. So, while you may ask how one
person woke up, or how they survived the night, be ready to hear
anything about anyone and everyone, be it about oneself, one’s family,
or neighbors. The answer to mwaramutse is almost always
ego turaho which means either ‘yes we are here,’ ‘yes we still
are alive,’ or ‘yes we still existing.’ Mwaramutse comes from
the verb Kurama which means ‘to live long.’
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