Help us Protect Africa’s history.
MBUYU is building digital archives in East Africa. Every $1 saves 10 pages to the cloud, connecting us to African ancestors & their stories.
Imagine asking for a copy of your birth certificate…
but the clerk can’t find it in the system because there is no system. It was never digitized. It could be in a box somewhere, but you’ll never get a copy. Now imagine your medical records, employment records, school transcripts, citizenship records, tax records… all lost.
Then imagine it’s like that for everyone in the whole country, and it’s always been that way, as long as anyone can remember. You would stop looking… stop asking.
You would forget your own history.
There is a hidden despair In the Republic of Burundi…
because they don’t have access to their data, or even their records.
In 2011, Jean Bosco Ntungirimana, of the Association of Librarians, Archivists and Recordkeepers of Burundi (ABADBU), performed a research study on government records.
He found thousands of files in disorganized piles, many damaged by rain, dirt, and pests.
He called for the urgent use of modern technology to digitize the records and make them easy to access. In the Conclusion of his 2011 study, he said:
“What is surprising is that Burundi will celebrate on July 1, 2012, the 50th anniversary of its independence without any improvement in the preservation of the national collective memory. We hope these recommendations will reach milestones in archive management, information and communication technologies, e-government, and access to information.”
(Our emphasis added. You can read the study PDF in the original French, and see his other early work: PIAF Report)
Very little has been done in the 10 years since his study…
Then something quietly happened on October 10, 2021…
The National Archives of Burundi accepted a proposal from ABADBU to modernize their holdings. MBUYU has partnered with both teams to scan hundreds of thousands of records. In January 2022 alone, almost 15,000 documents were scanned by ABADBU.
On July 1, 2022, the 60th Anniversary of Burundi’s Independence, the Digital Archives will go live. For the first time in Burundi’s history, its national collective memory will be unlocked!
WE need your help.
There is no Internet access in the Archives building, and rolling blackouts are a daily obstacle.
When this happens, no work gets done.
Help Mbuyu.org support this project. Your HeLP GOES TO:
better scanning equipment to speed up the digitization process
battery backups and laptops to overcome the power outages
cellular internet service to facilitate moving images to the cloud
training more Burundi citizens to join the documentation effort
building an online portal to allow users to search the images
legal, accounting, and marketing services for MBUYU and ABADBU
Once the Digital Archives go live, the project is expected to become self-funded through an online subscription, so researchers everywhere can access non-biographical data & APIs. The subscription will also make all biographical and family history information available for free.