Peace in hearts, homes and whole communities in Burundi

The training offered also included Transforming Masculinities sessions, like the ones Jean attended.

His wife, Elisabeth, tells us, ‘I really appreciate this group. My life was really bad. I wasn’t allowed to spend the night in my house. I was being beaten by my husband and I was banned from seeing my parents and family for 23 years.

‘I didn’t have any clothes. My husband has a motorbike but he would never give me a lift if I had to go somewhere.

‘The issues between me and my husband had even discouraged the community members.’

The church leader agrees. He explains, ‘I was feeling very unhappy about the things I witnessed, like with Jean, who lived nearby. I was very sad about how bad things were. I was constantly worrying about the families around me.

‘I would be awakened at night by my neighbours and by worries about the situation. At some points women would come to me with bruises, looking for help.

‘I was constantly thinking about what to do and how this could be changed. I was praying that God would change the people so that they would stop doing this.’

Transforming Masculinities: Transforming Communities

Jean acknowledges, ‘I had tortured my wife in the beginning. Generally speaking, I was an evil doer. I was notorious in this village. And nobody could give me advice.

‘I had money, but I did things like burn my wife’s clothes. Even when she was pregnant and after she gave birth, she still had to sleep in the kitchen.

‘I’d buy clothes and show them to her, but she couldn’t wear them,’ he admits.

But now, things have changed completely!

‘Because of the teachings, I have seen great transformation!’ says Elisabeth. ‘My husband now gives me lifts on his motorbike. And in my house, I can eat, sleep peacefully and get up in the morning ready to go about my day.

‘Thanks to Tearfund and Tearfund’s partner, I was able to know my rights.

‘Before, I was spending the night out of my home, but I got back into my home after the group helped me.

‘I really appreciate what has been done.’

‘When the group came to speak to me,’ says Jean, ‘they found it hard. It wasn't easy to tell me things. They said I should go to the training with my wife.

‘Then, when I attended the training, they read from the Bible. There was a part about Transforming Masculinities and they read from the Bible. God created Adam, and they taught that Eve was created from the rib from the man. I thought, how did she come out of my rib?

‘I followed the teaching they shared, and now, I am being transformed.

‘In my home you can see many things are different. Even little things like if I get a drink, I also give my wife a drink.

‘Whenever she asks for a lift, I take her.

‘She’s also joined a self-help group, which has enabled us to sell vegetables and bananas. We have pigs and goats and she has bought a bike!

‘I appreciate this programme from Tearfund and Tearfund’s partner.’

And the neighbours have witnessed the change in Jean too.

‘After the training, he made some banana wine and he took his wife to her mother after 23 years,’ says one neighbour. ‘Elisabeth hadn’t been allowed to visit her parents in all this time. If she bumped into her mother, she couldn’t greet her. The husband had forbidden his wife to, so she was afraid.

‘After the training, he was healed of that evil. He prepared a peace offering of beer and wine and sent someone to tell her parents that she would be coming to visit them. Her mother could not believe it. They invited us to go too. About ten of us went with the family.

‘When her mother saw her daughter coming towards the home, she broke down in tears.’

Peace building more peace

This story is just one of restored peace, of freedom from conflict, that has been achieved through the training in Jean and Elisabeth’s community and in the surrounding communities in Burundi.

‘We’ve been working with Tearfund for more than ten years and we have seen tremendous transformation because of this programme,’ says one of our local partner staff members. ‘Some people have been helping victims of sexual violence, others have been helping communities to engage in conversations to end conflict, some have been working with the people who had been causing violence so that they can stop.

‘When we talk to churches and find people who can help, it makes a big difference. When survivors of SGBV are able to be healed, they go on to help other members of the community.

‘We start with meeting people where they’re at in their homes. And, at the right time, we can grow it to conduct whole community dialogues in the village.

‘Once people are healed, they are joined into self-help groups and then even cooperatives of groups.’

Peace within: preventing suicide (and the power of the local church)

‘This programme has been very successful in resolving conflicts,’ says the church leader. ‘In this village, people were committing suicide but, since the training, there have been no more suicides.

‘Some violence was based on financial situations, and that contributed to SGBV. But today, the conflict has decreased.

‘If God had not done a miracle to transform Jean, maybe his wife would have committed suicide too.

‘Truly, things have improved.

‘As for other husbands, most of them changed too. People who know Jean were inspired, and we kept doing more training through the church so other households had the opportunity to attend and learn too.

‘When you work with the church, you reach more homes.Through all the churches working together, you reach more churches and all the people who attend those churches.’

*Names have been changed for protection.