About Us

Burundi is a remarkable country. It is only the size of the US state of Maryland, with a population of around ten million people. Burundi has been plagued by civil war for many decades, the most recent lasting from 1993-2005. These wars have stunted growth in the country leaving it consistently ranked as one of the world's 5 poorest countries. Many problems exist, including:

-many orphans, widows and widowers.
-extreme and horrible sexual immorality in people, which has increased HIV/AIDS.
-savage, barbaric and brutal behavior in people.
-mental illnesses which demand a large number of psychiatrists for treatment.
-incredible poverty which left many families starving, and increased the number of street beggars. 

Despite all of this, a new hope is rising among the Burundian youth. Hundreds and hundreds of young people are seeking a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. These young people need to be nurtured and trained to become people of intergrity, who can lead their peers by example, and who can change the nation. 

The idea of Burundi Youth For Christ was pioneered under the leadership of Freddy Tuyizere in 1998. Freddy was inspired to start the program after he heard of Rwanda's YFC Africa vision of "Generation 21". This vision is a call on leadership - seeing that the hope for Africa is in training the youth to be leaders of integrity. Although some of its programs were already in action, it was not until 2003 when Burundi YFC was officially chartered at the YFC International Conference in Brazil.

The 'Generation 21' mandate is a call to leadership across Africa to be God's catalyst in faithfully developing a pan-African generation of young people who will be characterised by:

- Prowess in spiritual warfare                                    
- Boldness in evangelism
- Passion in social involvement
- Godliness in leadership

We currently have many projects on the go to meet the needs of Burundi, and inspire a generation of good leaders. You can find out more about these in the What We Do section of the website.

Burundi YFC falls under the leadership of Youth for Christ International, which started in the 1940's as a response to the needs of young people. Starting in the US, it has now become a worldwide organization transforming the lives of young people. It's first full-time worker was Billy Graham. Currently, YFC works in almost 80 countries.