Relieving yourself and sheltering from the sun are two things that are not easy to accomplish at Melchior Ndadaye International Airport. A real ordeal in case of rain for those waiting or accompanying theirs. We can find ourselves in a delicate situation because of this little negligence. Yet it would not be difficult to solve this ‘’petit’’ issue. Testimonials.
” Hard to say. Shelters are sorely lacking. In any case, they should be installed because there are cases where the wait becomes very long. In this case, we need shelter from the sun. Today, we are forced to gather under the trees. Because with Bujumbura’s temperatures, it’s very difficult to fit inside the car,” testifies Issa, a man met at Melchior Ndadaye international airport.
He came to welcome his cousin who is returning from China. After more than an hour of waiting, this septuagenarian felt tired, exhausted: “Yes, it’s tiring to wait all this time without having a place to sit”.
Chantale, meanwhile, came to welcome her husband who is returning from a work mission in Europe. She is with her three boys. Tired, she spread her loincloth on a block of cement to sit down. “I just spent almost an hour here. Under this blazing sun, I cannot stay in the vehicle because it is hot. There you go, this is where I’m resting, under this tree. Here at least, I feel more or less well”, she confides, while watching her boys who play hide and seek through rows of vehicles.
Suddenly, one of his boys interrupts our exchanges: “Mom, pee, pee!! I want to pee !”, he insists. The mother looks all around her, no latrine. And the boy can’t hold back any longer. Chantale has no choice but to put her little one behind a car and let him relieve himself.
This is not at all good for a place like an airport. “Such a place should be well organized. People need to have a place to relieve themselves when needed, well-arranged and covered shelters to protect them from the sun and the rain,” she insists.
She also recalls that before the Covid19 pandemic, this problem did not arise: “People could comfortably enter the waiting hall. There you could sit down, access the toilets or urinals, buy drinks, sweets for the children, etc. But here it is empty. There are only these trees for shelter”.
This mother mentions another problem: accessible toilets. “Normally, we should also install public toilets. To get access to these toilets from inside, you have to negotiate. And letting you through depends on the temperament of the policeman at the front door. Some are very radical,” she laments, recalling that it is especially very difficult for children and the elderly to resist when this need arises.
The international airport, a showcase for the country
When questioned, another regular in international travel recognizes that you cannot let people come and go inside the airport. “But, you have to think about those people who are not allowed to enter. Shelters, outside toilets are necessary as is the case for other airports. People have places to shelter, for example in the event of rain or to relieve themselves,” he says, calling on airport officials to think about it.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for personal reasons, this gentleman underlines that an international airport is the showcase of the country. “Such a place shows the image of the country. When a visitor arrives, he can get the idea of the country and its image just by seeing what is happening at the airport, how things are organized”, he analyzes.
According to him, everything should be organized. In addition, he believes that the installation of shelters and public toilets are not very expensive: “It’s those little things that discredit. Everyone who goes to the airport for the first time to wait for their loved one imagines this place as an extraordinary place. And when he can’t find a place to relieve himself, it’s disillusionment.
In case airport officials are unwilling to do so, this man finds that this work can be left to a private company. “I don’t think people will refuse to pay 100 Fbu to relieve themselves. The most important thing is that these places of comfort are installed »he pleads, noting that the space is not lacking.
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