asked in 2005,
answered by Guillaume Harushimana

1. A new constitution and power sharing agreements – what does this mean to your work? Are you sceptical or optimistic about these recent political developments in Burundi?

The new constitution and the power sharing are two different aspects for the peace process in Burundi. Indeed, the power sharing very often arises from arrangements between the political parties and the leaders resulting from these arrangements work only for personal interests because they know very well that their power is transitory.  
The most significant for us is especially the Constitution. This is because peace, justice, development, truth, tolerance, forgiveness, reconciliation have a great significance for future generations. For the CJK, we are convinced that the designation of leaders by the people themselves is ideal. And for that we are also engaged in sensitizing our young people with civic education.
Concerning the recent political developments, we are optimistic. But the most important thing must also be the international community’s support - on all levels - during and after the peace process.


2. What do you tell your younger members about the civil war? Do they listen to you – or to their parents, who might tell them something different?

The young people know very well the misdeeds of the war. With all the luggage that we provided to our young members on the humans rights level, we hope they will have a humane future. However, we continue our work on mutual respect, non-violence and justice. According to our young members, the experiment of the war gave lessons to everyone.


3. What do you do if a member of CJK takes drugs or gets involved in crimes or ethnic conflict?

Drug, crimes or ethnic conflicts were factors that affected Burundi and particularly young people. With recent political developments, we hardly have the problems connected to ethnic conflicts anymore. Rather, we have started to engage in fighting against drugs while setting up a new project “projet Drogue”. It is about sensitization on bad consequences of drugs on all levels.


4. Why do you welcome the young people of other religions (protestants, muslims) whereas you are under the authority of the Catholic Diocese of Bujumbura?

There are people who did not yet understand the goal of the CJK. Each one should know that the CJK is a social project under the authority of the Catholic Church (Diocese of Bujumbura) but its goal is to get people to live together despite the differences. To get people living in mutual respect. And for us at CJK, differences are a true source of richness.


5. What effect has the Right Livelihood Award had your work?

The fact of being one of the RLA recipients was important for the recognition of our work on the international level. And for the moment, the RLA Foundation is one of our great references for those who do not know us.