Rye Barcott’s (2011) autobiography, It Happened on the Way to War (New York: Bloomsbury), describes his “path to peace” as he journeys from an undergraduate using the ethnic violence in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya as a senior thesis topic to his enlistment in the Marine Corps and the subsequent tours of duty in Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Along that route he identifies some crucial lessons learned.

Brian Menelet teaches law at the University of Ngozi (UNG) Our office spaces made us neighbors although he shared his 20 foot by 20 foot space with another law professor and I shared my space with the Spanish teacher. He was born in France, completed a Ph.D. in political science, taught a year in Tahiti, and found this three-year assignment in Burundi for minimum salary and free University housing. “I live simply and it is enough.”
 

We gather with Lambert to talk about the year’s efforts. Nine students are having a meeting to finalize the statutes so that they can be officially approved as a University of Ngozi (UNG) association. I ask about what they have done over the past twelve months. Elias, the Club’s President, insists that “this work is important. It’s what we learned in class with you last summer. Another says that “we have a hard period in the nation with wars and injustice. It’s been difficult for the young. We want peace and love for all. We want to prevent any violence like what we had in the past.”

Graziella Hariyongabo is a very articulate, fourth year interpretation student whose command of English allows her to discuss the most complex issues in a fluid, even rapid fire manner. She hopes to become a journalist for the BBC or a writer. In her mind, “the violence in Burundi stemmed from misunderstandings between the ethnic groups. After independence in 1962, heroes on both sides were assassinated. Then there was genocide in 1972 and the revenge that followed in a series of civil wars.”