Horizon Espoir: A community organization that preserves Burundian culture in Greater Montreal 🇧🇮

The program Communauté en action, broadcast on Afrobl TV, recently highlighted a community initiative led by members of the Burundian diaspora in Canada: kirondisation, an educational project aimed at teaching Kirundi to children and young people of Burundian origin who were born or raised in the country.

At the heart of this initiative is Horizon Espoir, a relatively young community organization, registered for nearly two years, yet already active and well structured. The organization’s mission is to promote the social, economic, cultural, and civic integration of the Burundian community, while ensuring the preservation of its cultural identity.

The name Horizon Espoir reflects a clear ambition: to look far ahead, beyond immediate challenges, and to believe in the collective capacity of a community to flourish within its host society. According to its leaders, hope is not synonymous with distress, but rather a driving force of motivation and faith in success through collective action.

The organization’s vision is based on a fundamental principle: successful integration does not require abandoning one’s roots. On the contrary, it is nourished by dialogue between cultures and respect for identities. Within the Canadian and Quebec context marked by interculturality, the Burundian community thus positions itself as a full-fledged stakeholder.

Among Horizon Espoir’s achievements, the “Turer Burundi” project occupies a central place. It involves teaching Kirundi to children and young people of the diaspora, whether they were born in Canada or arrived at a very young age, and who are sometimes distant from their mother tongue.

Contrary to certain perceptions, this initiative does not oppose learning French or school integration. Kirundi is taught as a second language, in a context where French remains the main language of schooling and daily life. The objective is to enrich learners’ identities by helping them build themselves as Canadian and Quebec citizens who are fully aware of their origins.

Beyond linguistic learning, kirondisation is seen as a tool for cultural transmission. Through the language, fundamental values are passed on: respect for elders, politeness, listening, a sense of community, and the principle of Ubuntu, this African conception of humanity based on solidarity and interdependence.

For the project’s leaders, language is not merely a means of communication, but a channel for education and personality development. It helps prevent total acculturation and instead promotes inculturation, that is, a balanced exchange between cultures.

The project is based on a pedagogical guide developed by a team of volunteer teachers, under the pedagogical coordination of Pascal De Guilimana, a trained teacher. This document forms the backbone of the program.

This guide ensures pedagogical continuity, even in the event of teacher replacement, and offers parents clear visibility on the content being taught.

Faced with the geographical dispersion of the Burundian community across Quebec and Canada, Horizon Espoir opted for online teaching. Classes are delivered remotely on weekends, thanks to a team of about six volunteer teachers supported by technical assistance.

This virtual approach has facilitated family participation and removed several logistical obstacles. After three months of implementation, the project already brings together between 30 and 35 learners, aged 4 to 25, and has generated real enthusiasm.

Among the main successes are the motivation of the children, the growing involvement of parents, and a shift in mindset within families, where Kirundi is beginning to be spoken again at home. However, challenges remain, particularly the sustained mobilization of volunteer teachers and the minimal funding required for the program’s operation.

A call is being made to members of the diaspora with pedagogical skills, as well as to parents and potential partners, to support this initiative. For its promoters, volunteering, though not financially rewarding, represents an invaluable human and social wealth.

Ultimately, kirondisation, as carried by Horizon Espoir, is part of a logic of openness and complementarity. Learning Kirundi does not hinder the learning of French; rather, it contributes to identity rootedness and the enrichment of universal values shared by Quebec and Canadian society.

Through this initiative, language becomes a bridge between generations, cultures, and continents, in the service of harmonious and sustainable integration.