Contending with Patrimonial Justice

Rebecca and Oren enjoying a Chef Salad and Fruit Salad at Club du Lak Tanganyika on Sunday.


There are some weeks where a lot happens but little of it can be written about in a public forum such as a blog.  This is one of those weeks and I will say that this can be because a matter is personally sensitive but it is more often a problem of political sensitivity.  As open as I try to be about our life here, we are keenly aware that there are certain topics of discussion that are off-limits.

But in the abstract, I think there is some opportunity for reflection.  The matter that is on my mind has to do with 'justice'.  I am aware now how much I have made cultural assumption about what that word means in the ideal.  And whether or not our institutions live up to this ideal, the basic premise is that there are, created by civil society, laws (rights and prohibitions) that apply to all regardless of race, creed, or social status.

There are, of course egregious examples in our own history where we do not live up to our ideals, but generally this is met with disapproval and tongue clicking when looking back at such events.  (O.J. Simpson comes to mind.)

In a patrimonial culture as we find in Burundi, there seems to be a different idea of justice, not based on an external civil code to which all are accountable, but rather on hierarchical social relations, where right is decided by one's connections in the hierarchical net work to patrons or big men of varying social stature.  One's access to a just outcome is based primarily on how one is connected and not focused primarily on the facts in evidence or some universally accepted civil code.

What is even more complicated here, is that since Independence most countries here have a colonially inherited western criminal justice system which functions to some degree, but does not supercede the power of the patrimonial justice system which remains very much intact.  In fact these two systems will run in tandem with the former appearing to be engaged seriously in a process of inquiry while the other moves along 'behind the scenes.'

What happens as a result of these parallel justice systems can be very frustrating to a westerner who finds himself in the need of justice.  This can happen because of ignorance of a civil code, false accusation, or even more frequently through the corrupt machinations of government functionaries.

In this aforementioned event the simultaneous process begins, one in the institutions of justice like the courts, and at the same time in the patrimonial system of big-men.  I have sadly found in all the cases that have affected people I know to date, that the court system invariably reaches an impasse and finds itself unable to render any judgment at all because the real authority to decide a matter lies in the hidden network of big-men who have the real power and authority to make decisions and render judgment.

What this means also, as a westerner, is that if one mistakenly believes that justice will be done through the courts, he will find himself wasting a lot of time,'proving his innocence' and will ultimately fail.  In order to prevail, one has to work through one's contacts and social relations to find a big-man who is an advocate. Ultimately what justice amounts to is lining up the big-men against each other and the one with the biggest big-man will prevail.

I don't know how I feel about this.  There are times, like this week, where we see this system exploited to undermine and threaten people we know here to be doing very good work, and find little recourse in trying to fight false accusations in a court of law.  On the other hand, as an American and one who has been here for a while, I find that we are fairly well connected to some powerful people in government and could probably benefit from these connections for various advantages we may want or need.

That, in short sums up some areas of frustration we have faced this week without saying anything too specific.

I will say that one recourse we do have is prayer and it has felt to be the only place of recourse several times this week.  Fortunately Rebecca and I both belong to prayer groups that we attend separately during the week and on Sunday we have our small group which is already beginning to feel like a real place of empowerment.


To get into the less abstract events of the week, I would begin by noting that it seems that one or both of us were out every evening, or else hosting someone(s) at our home.  On Monday Rebecca was out with her friends for their monthly 'Ladies Night Out'.  This usually includes Naja, Tanja, Jeanette and one or two others (I was not invited so I don't know.)

On Tuesday we hosted a visitor from the Mennonite Mission Network, Steve Wiebe-Johnson who was here more or less on a fact finding mission about the emergent Mennonite Churches here in Burundi.  I have written about these churches before and the challenge they are for us as an International Mennonite Organization.  These churches were created by pastors who registered with the government as the legal representative of a Mennonite Church here.  The fact that they have no connection to the larger global Mennonite family did not seem to be a major issue for them (there are 2).  In effect, they bought the Mennonite franchise in Burundi.  It is hard to know to what extent the leaders are sincere in their faith or just opportunists, (I am not making in judgment here.)  But discerning this was essentially Steve's task in coming here.  We did have dinner with him on Tuesday and had a nice conversation.  He also thoughtfully brought several kids books for Oren and David and some homemade fudge for us.  Needless to say, he made a very good impression.

Thursday was date night.  This is thanks to our arrangement with Scott and Danica to do a babysitting exchange at least once per month.  Rebecca and I went out to our favorite restaurant in town called Botanika.  I will say the experience was hampered a bit by a bad toothache for me, but also because it seems that the management might have changed.  I felt this because while the menu remained the same, we found that everything kind of came out a bit like a Burundian version of what was described.  The roqueford salad, for instance came out with no cheese on it whatsoever but covered with raw onions.   e The pork tikka I ordered was just pork in a white sauce, no spice whatsoever. The veggies were also very typical, carrots and green beans.  I am hoping the managers were just away this week, but I fear that the restaurant might not continue to be a favorite place to go out as a couple.

Friday evening Rebecca was out again, this time at an elders meeting for the church.  She continued church work on Saturday afternoon with a Sunday School teacher's training seminar.  I entertained the kids through all of this, and on Saturday evening we had a nice dinner with our friends Thomas and Naja.  This does remind me that one of the highlights of the week was having a guest cook, actually Yolanda's cook Alphonsine was down from Gitega to learn some things from Marcelline and to teach her as well.  Alphonsine has extensive experience in preparing western dishes and even spent several years with a Greek family.  We enjoyed an babaganoush as well as moustafa and various soups when Naja and Thomas were here.  The kids had fun with Elias and Aviajah.

Unfortunately both David and I started to get a virus on Saturday and both went to bed with a fever.  We did wake up feeling better on Sunday morning though and after church went to the beach.  It was nice to go and swim with the kids and relax together.  I took the opportunity to try out the new camera with some portraits that I have put into this week's post.

This coming week we will be having a team gathering here in Bujumbura so another week with a full house of guests.