Our Stories from Burundi

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Astounding Stories from a Stunning Campaign!

This summer marked the 20th anniversary of our huge evangelistic campaign with Harvest Initiatives, and it was the biggest yet! Over the years, we’ve typically sent out around 800 evangelists for two weeks

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The Peace That Surpassed Grief

At twenty years of age, Divine was a mother to a healthy one-year baby. Loved by her husband, she was living the life of her dreams. However, her world collapsed when her baby died of an unknown cause, and her husband almost chased her out for becoming a Christian. ... Read the article...

Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together

When thinking of the Olympics, it’s easy to focus on winning medals, but Olympic values go much further than excellence. As highlighted during the opening ceremony in Tokyo, the Olympic motto has been updated to include the word ‘Together’. This reflects a key value of GLO partner Charles Nkazamyampi... Read the article...

Let’s Edify Each Other!

Nduza Nkuduze, which means ‘let’s edify each other’, is a microloans group in the Batwa (Pygmy) community of Busiga, Muyinga Province. For the past four years, they have been able to save enough money to start small businesses. This has enabled them to harvest crops from their farms. ... Read the article...

The Young Entrepreneur

After completing Year 9 at High School, Innocent found himself looking for a job. Further education simply wasn’t an option because of lack of funds. Thankfully, our partner RAJEDES was able to support Innocent as he explored ways of becoming financially independent. RAJEDES focuses on creating opportunities for young... Read the article...

A Telescope That Changed a Girl’s Perspective

Viola is a typical seventeen-year-old. She likes to take pictures, dance, and hang around with her friends. But, Viola is also a brilliant girl. She tells us, “My favourite subject is science, and I’m always excited whenever I'm solving a math problem.” This has not always been the case.... Read the article...

Charlotte and Christophe’s New Start

When Charlotte became a widow she experienced unimaginable difficulties. With her husband’s death, she also lost her home and her family. Her husband’s family wanted to inherit her land so she was thrown out, and forced to leave her son behind. Homeless, penniless and starving, she only had the... Read the article...

From Wreckage to Resilience

Francine had to fend for herself from the time she was orphaned at twelve years of age. With no one to take care of her, she had to leave her village in Bubanza, which was sadly only the beginning of many trails. She ended up in the Middle East... Read the article...

A Plentiful Harvest

RAJEDES is focused on creating opportunities! One key area of focus is microloans, which allow people to start a business and become self-sufficient, bringing hope to communities trapped in poverty for generations. We look at three individuals who have worked hard with their microloans in the agricultural sector.... Read the article...

The Restoration of Innocent

It's almost mid-day and the sun is already shining. Karubabi Harvest School, standing upon the hills of Muramvya, looks so vibrant. It's break time and children are out playing and enjoying themselves. In the corner of my eye, I catch sight of a young boy staring at me intently... Read the article...

A Garment of Praise

Together for Development provides hope amongst the most vulnerable. An important aspect of their work involves teaching women the skills needed to sew so they can generate a business allowing them to care for themselves and their children. Goreth, a single Mum, has worked tirelessly to care for her... Read the article...

Tomorrow’s Peacemakers

“Before I got engaged in the Peace Club, I did not know who a leader was. I thought leadership was solely meant for presidents of countries or top influencing authorities while ignoring that even I as a student have the right to become a leader..." Restoration Burundi's ‘Peace Clubs’... Read the article...

Counting the Cost for Christ

Husna, a motherless girl of nineteen years old, attended religious debates organised by APRID. Her family were Muslim but after listening to the debate Husna decided that she wanted to become a Christian and gave her life to Christ. Her family became very angry and her stepmother threw her... Read the article...

From a Mud Hut to a University Campus

Antoine is from the Batwa (Pygmy) ethnic group in Muramvya Province, Burundi. Despised by other ethnic groups and without their own land, the Batwa often live hidden away in mud hut settlements deep in the forest, at risk from the elements and disease. Their life expectancy is just 28... Read the article...

The Peacemakers of Kirundo

‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’. We are familiar with that verse from the bible. Our partners, World Outreach Initiatives, have explored making it a reality in the training sessions they arranged for the pastors of Kirundo. As a country, Burundi has undergone times of violence and conflict throughout its recent... Read the article...

Cédrick – Discovering a Dream

It all started in 2008 when Cédrick decided to live on the streets due to his tough and unhappy family conditions. In June 2019, he came in contact with GLO Partner, New Generation. He participated in the activities organised, appreciating sessions which taught positive values, how to help one... Read the article...

Homes of Hope

For the past fifteen years, Youth For Christ’s Homes of Hope have been raising a generation of leaders for the transformation of society. Shelley is one who has had the opportunity to find a home at Homes of Hope... Read the article...

A Cycle of Hope

Gervais was one of only three students from the Batwa community in his school in Muyinga. He was the first person in his family to receive an education. But he almost dropped out due to lack of school fees and uniform, until GLO partner Harvest Initiatives came to his... Read the article...

The Satisfying Death of CIP… or the RIP of CIP!

Christian Initiatives for Peace is shut down - probably GLO’s greatest satisfaction to date in our involvement in Burundi! Let me explain; in 2015 a national crisis erupted leading to widespread violence - burning barricades, demonstrations, and fear became a daily reality in the capital. We knew we had... Read the article...

Repatriated and Renewed

Odetta returned to Burundi after years of enforced exile, full of joy. “I had missed home, especially my extended family. I had to come back”. With the excitement of returning to her country, Odetta didn’t fully anticipate the many difficulties she would face. She found it very hard to... Read the article...

Deliverance…

Speciose grew up believing that whenever she felt sick, she had been bewitched or poisoned. She believed that there was no natural sickness and rejected medical doctors. But when a serious health issue would require all her family’s possessions to pay a witchdoctor’s fee, Specoise attended a UCE outreach... Read the article...

From Victim to Victor!

Twenty-three-year-old Alain volunteers for CAPAMI because he has personally benefitted from their work. He tells his story. At an end of year party, he spent the night with friends. When he left the party he was attacked and Alain was beaten to the point of unconsciousness. The reason was... Read the article...

Discovering Discipleship at Antioch

Viator is the pastor of a church that partners with Antioch in Bukeye. He has been attending the classes and as a consequence has run a discipleship class back in his home church. The last weekend in February, twenty five members of the congregation made the decision to be... Read the article...

A Son and an Heir

Christophe is assured of the love of his heavenly father. When he was only a few months old, he was orphaned. As a result, Christophe has spent his whole life not knowing a single member of his biological family. Thankfully, he was adopted when God touched the heart of... Read the article...

From Beggars to Entrepreneurs

This is a guest blog by our friend Arne who leads Hauge microfinance. It’s something GLO is looking to support. It’s strategic, empowering, and beautiful. Why do we think that the solutions for those who are poor in Africa are different from the solutions in the UK, USA and... Read the article...

You Did It and They’ve Got It Now!

This is just to feed back on your beautiful response to our appeal to provide health cards to several thousand needy folks. £2.50/$3 was what it cost to provide them and their immediate families three years of access to medical care. So we say A MASSIVE THANK YOU... Read the article...

Building Now to the Glory of God!

I’m seriously excited - this week has been almost 12 years in the making. But there were times when I doubted we’d ever get to this point. Having helped Scripture Union launch the King’s Conference Centre in 2009, we were proud of a sustainable success story! But then to... Read the article...

Thank you for Life-Changing Health Cards!

This is simply to say... A MASSIVE THANK YOU...for your generosity over Christmas to help thousands of families get the £2.50/$3 health cards which will save many lives in the coming years. We heard beautiful stories of kids emptying out piggy banks to donate their pocket money... Read the article...

Dramatic Stories from Harvest Outreach

Cyriak was not only living as a vagrant, he’d lost his mind. When he saw our team coming towards him, he became incensed and promptly smashed the leader’s face in! The rest of the team didn’t retreat in fear but prayed for him until he was completely delivered and... Read the article...

Quintuple-Whammy Good News in Burundi…

Enough of the endless stream of bad news in our Covid-19-affected world, let’s read some heart-warming encouragements! Here is a selection of transformational stories from Igniting Communities for Jesus in the community of Ciya, northern Burundi - an area decimated over the years of war but discovering new hope... Read the article...

A Life Transformed

Boudesianne has a tragic story. After the death of her husband, with four children to provide for, she was living on the brink of survival. Thankfully, she was able to connect with ICJ who worked with her community to build a house and provide for the education of her... Read the article...

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