Marie-Louise Sibazuri

Marie-Louise Sibazuri (born 1960) is a Burundian activist and playwright.[1][2] In the 1970s and 1980s she was a teacher, and in 1976 her first play was performed.[3] By the late 1980s she had joined the central committee of the Union des Femmes Burundiases, a feminist group that was close with the government of Burundi.[2] In 1988 and 1989 Burundian politician Pierre Buyoya named her a member of the Burundian national commission on national unity.[2] In 1993 she stopped teaching in order to write full-time.[3] In 1994 her house was burned to the ground, and in 1995 her husband was shot; although she was elected to the Burundian parliament, she thought it was too risky to take her seat, and so declined to do so.[3] One of the organizers of a U.S. non-governmental organization called Search for Common Ground suggested that she create a weekly soap opera about the tension and war between the Hutu and Tutsi, which she did; it was called Our Neighbors Are Our Family, promoted tolerance, and was very popular.[3] In 1998 she left Burundi; she subsequently went to Belgium.[3] In 2003 two documentaries about her programs were made - Pour mieux s'entendre by Jean-Charles L'Ami, and Les mots sages by Dominique Ragheb and Lionel Peti.[3]

She also founded a theatrical troupe called Geza, and a theatrical company called Ibirezi, the latter named for a type of necklace formerly worn by well-dressed women in Burundi.[3]

She has written over 75 plays.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Un mot à ajouter ?. "Marie-Louise Sibazuri, 38 ans, écrit, pour la radio du Burundi, des feuilletons où se confondent Hutus et Tutsis. Radio cache-cache. - Libération". Liberation.fr. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  2. 1 2 3 Henry Louis Gates; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 370–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Henry Louis Gates; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 371–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
  4. ↑ Camille de Marcilly. "Marie-Louise Sibazuri: "L'écrivain est la voix du peuple"". La Libre.be. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
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