Local man to volunteer in Burundi
Many people use summer as a time of travel and new experience.
Few do it like John McKendy.
McKendy, associate professor of sociology at St. Thomas University, is leaving Fredericton next week to take part in a workcamp in Burundi. This is organized through a partnership between a North American Quaker organization called A next week to take part in a workcamp in Burundi frican Great Lakes Initiative, and Friends Women's Association, a group of Burundian Quaker women.
"Our main project is to help construct a building that will be used by the Kamenge Clinic, providing primary medical care to women, especially those with HIV/AIDS," McKendy said.
Kamenge is a desperately poor and troubled section of the capital city of Bujumbura. It has the site of a great deal of violence over the past 15 years.
That can really be said for all of Burundi - a tiny country in East Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and Lake Tanganyika and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west.
Burundi's population approaching eight million - 10 times that of New Brunswick, with less than half the land mass.
It is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 167 out of 177 of the UN's Human Development Index. The people of this country have a life expectancy of 48.5 years, with 45 per cent of children under five malnourished.
The problem is exacerbated by civil strife. Over 300,000 citizens have been killed in civil unrest since the mid-1990s. Hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people are part of a turmoil that continues, though the area is not the news hot button item that it was a decade ago.
McKendy is returning to Bujumbura after doing similar work there last year.
"When all is said and done, the desire to go back comes from the personal relationships I made with fellow Quakers in Burundi. It was an honour to work alongside them. They taught me much about the resilience of the human spirit," he said.
The goal of the work is to providing primary health care, primarily to women, and especially women with AIDS
"Last summer we completed a building to house a clinic. This summer we will be helping to construct a smaller second building that will provide space for a waiting room, minor surgery and maternity care. This will allow the clinic to be officially certified by the government," McKendy explained.
This work resonates with McKendy professionally as a sociology scholar and professor with a particular interest and expertise in social inequality and social justice, gender and social class.
It also ties into his own spiritual journey.
"I have been attending Quaker meetings of silent worship for over 30 years as a member of the Fredericton Worship Group, which is part of the New Brunswick Monthly Meeting, which includes worship groups in St. Andrews, Houlton-Woodstock, Fredericton, Sackville and P.E.I."
McKendy has also worked for 15 years with The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) organizing and leading workshops inside Dorchester Penitentiary and occasionally in the community.
The work in Burundi is a logical action for a man of his interests and inclinations.
Everyday life in this tiny and densely populated East African country is marked by political instability, extreme poverty and violence. With meager material resources but an abundance of hope and faith, these women and their supporters are planting the seeds of peace, reconciliation and justice.
McKendy leaves to do his part in this journey on Friday. People will converge in Washington, D.C., and then move out to Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda.
McKendy's team, going to Burundi, will consist of young people from the U.S. and from Burundi.
He hopes to take a subsequent journey of faith in action next year.
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