Burundi 101

It's ok if you had no idea that Burundi was a country.

We didn't either.

See that tiny red splotch below Rwanda, smooshed between Tanzania and the Congo? That's Burundi.

Here's a close-up. It's about the size of the state of Massachusetts and home to over 10 million people.

That area is called the Great Lakes region of Africa and Burundi is bordered on the west by Lake Tanganyika, an essential source of income and tourism.

The main source of income is subsistence farming, more than 90% of which is devoted to coffee beans.

Although Burundi has had a democratically elected government since 2005, it stills suffers the ravages of decades of cyclical civil wars. It is the 4th poorest country in the world and the Global Hunger Index of 2013 listed it as the hungriest in the world.

The good news is that Burundi is a member of the Hague Convention, an international treaty that standardizes the adoption process. This means transparency, oversite, and stability within their adoption system. Can I get an AMEN!?

The not-so-good news is that we have to start back at square one and all our paperwork needs to be redone. So we're back to financial forms and background checks and employment verifications and doctor's appointments and psych evaluations. Basically we're busy accounting for every decision from our conception to present.

As soon as we...
1.) Gather all the appropriate documents,
2.) Have them sealed with fairy dust,
3.) And delivered via unicorn,
We are back in action!

And by "action", I mean Wait List.

For more waiting.

We are now Olympic-class waiters.