First holiday with all children in Burundi

Travelling to Burundi with children was a spontaneous move. At the beginning of March, my mother’s ticket had been bought and it did not seem convenient for me to go to Burundi with her. I thought that we had work to do in Tarnita and that I would stay and help Stefan with the preparation for the summer season. Stefan was kind enough to remind me that I couldn’t be useful without my mother. On the contrary, I will need help when it comes to handling the children. Then he asked me why I wasn’t going to Burundi. He was right, but it was not easy to turn this idea into reality. When it comes to buying plane tickets for five people, it appears that you have to think twice. You have to find an itinerary that is as practical as possible at a reasonable price. Finally, ten days before departure, the tickets were purchased.

We left Cluj at around 9 pm and arrived in Budapest at around 2 am, where we had a flight at 7 am. As we bought our tickets and mum’s separately, we had different itineraries. We travelled together from Budapest to Amsterdam and from there I went alone with the children through Kigali, while my mum took a flight to Nairobi. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about travelling alone with 4 children. I remember my friends asking me how I was going to manage. However, in any circumstance, I like to think that everything will work out and one thing is clear to me: I will be fine.

Over the years I have realised that thinking a lot about how to do or act in a given situation does not make it any easier for me. On the contrary, it feeds uncertainty and insecurity, which can lead to giving up on my plans. So, when it comes to getting something done, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable it sounds, I focus on what I need to do in order to be ready on the day of the action. And so I had 10 days to get my packing right.

Our itinerary was Budapest-Amsterdam-Kigali-Bujumbura and it took us 13 hours to arrive in Kigali where we slept one night because our flight to Burundi was the next day. It was a long journey but we managed well. Jessica and Vanessa were very helpful. The night we spent in Kigali was pleasant and we were warmly welcomed with the typical hospitality that usually characterises our region. On this occasion, we met Pacifique and Mariette, whom we had met 7 years ago in Cluj when they were students.

The following day we flew to Burundi. We stayed at the airport for at least 2 hours to sort out William and Nelson’s visas because they did not have Burundian passports yet. Furthermore, we had to pay for the COVID tests, which we had done before leaving Cluj and once we arrived in Kigali. Even the cost of the Covid tests was a few hundred euros.

It was a long wait mixed with a lot of restlessness because the children didn’t understand why we had to wait for all that long. As for me, I was quite unaware of the waiting time as I was excited to hear Kirundi everywhere and was therefore busy talking to everyone. In the end, all we had to do was collect our luggage and go straight to Uncle Willy’s house where my aunts and cousins were waiting for us!