Seattle-based photojournalist
Seattle Photographer +206.396.0530
ErikaJSchultz@gmail.com
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About

Portfolios

  • Set One
  • Set Two
  • Nature
  • Weddings

Stories

  • Jack’s Journey
  • Costa Rican Coffee Harvest
  • Cuba at 50 years
  • Burundi Refugee Farmers

Multimedia

  • Jack’s Journey

© 2011 Erika J. Schultz/ The Seattle Times

What do you do as a refugee in America with few modern-day skills? The Seattle-area Burundians, including Adirine Ntirabampa, turned to the land. She and others pick bean leaves, which some African cultures consider a delicacy. The Burundian refugees received a startup grant and support from local farm experts to harvest potatoes, corn and beans. Their goal is to maintain a self-sufficient business, run by members of their community, instead of remaining in a cycle of entry-level jobs. (In red) Serges Hakizimana, 29, leader of the Seattle-area Burundians, listens to farm manager Celestine Sibomana (in center) during a community meeting, held every three months. The refugees work together to solve group problems. If someone can’t make rent, others will chip in. During the heat wave, it looked for awhile like the crops might not make it. Earlier this summer, Domisio Baragenya waters by hand. Workers often spend their days in stooped labor at the Hope Burundian Community Cooperative farm in Kent. At night, some go to dishwashing jobs or take classes in English as a second language. Others, unable to speak English, haven’t found paying jobs. The Seattle-area Burundians view themselves as a family, making plans and trying to solve problems together. Speciose Barera braids the hair of Phoebe Niyongabire, 4, during a community meeting this summer. All day trucks rumble past the Burundians’ farm, a plot of agricultural land in a sea of warehouses in the Kent Valley. Celestine Sibomana, farm manager, works in the field. Ranito Simbagoye weeds his community’s corn crop in Kent, Wash. The local Burundian refugees received a startup grant to launch a small urban farm, with the hopes of maintaining a self-sufficient business, instead of remaining in a cycle of entry-level jobs. The Seattle-area Burundians are Pentecostal Christians who worship at the Angle Lake Neighborhood Church in SeaTac. Clockwise from right, Violet Mfisumukiza, Diana Ndayahundina and Serges Hakizimana pray for Roger Kabura, bottom right. Finally, it’s harvest time. Hakizimana digs up one of the farm’s first potatoes, in mid-September. But with a potential for thousands of pounds of produce, they still have no way to haul it to the farmers markets. With experience as an agriculture supervisor, Celestine Sibomana was chosen to oversee the farm. Under the shade tree they jokingly call “the office,” Roger Kabura cleans off his feet after a days work. Their aim is to be self-sufficient next year.