Fields of Life have been requested to build schools in Burundi. At the end of last year I travelled along with two friends to this little place in east-central Africa on a fact finding mission. The big question was could we build a school in a country where we had little or no contacts? The answer was that we could build there and found big support in encouraging us to repeat what we have done in Uganda. Let me tell you a little about the country.

Burundi is landlocked, wedged between Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda in east-central Africa. The country occupies a high plateau divided by several deep valleys. Burundi is a resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with more than 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings.

Burundi's first democratically elected president was assassinated in October 1993 after only 100 days in office, triggering widespread ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi factions. Over 200,000 Burundians perished during the conflict that spanned almost a dozen years. Hundreds of thousands of Burundians were internally displaced or became refugees in neighbouring countries. An ethnicbased war that lasted for over a decade resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced more than 48,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally.

An internationally brokered power-sharing agreement between the Tutsidominated government and the Hutu rebels in 2003 paved the way for a transition process that led to an integrated defence force, established a new constitution in 2005, and elected a majority Hutu government in 2005. The new  government, led by President Pierre NKURUNZIZA, signed a South African brokered ceasefire with the country's last rebel group in September of 2006 but still faces many challenges.

Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 15 adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply. Political stability and the end of the civil war have improved aid flows and economic activity has increased, but underlying weaknesses - a high poverty rate, poor education rates, a weak legal system, and low administrative capacity - risk undermining planned economic reforms. Burundi will continue to remain heavily dependent on aid from bilateral and multilateral donors.

At the request of President Pierre NKURUNZIZA Fields of Life plan to build a primary school and a secondary school in Burundi this year. The school at Nkozi has had the foundations laid and the site is being prepared for the primary school in Bujumbura. Education is vital for this country to develop and personally I am delighted to be able to assist in this area.

Yours sincerely,

Trevor Stevenson