NGOZI July 7th (ABP) – Diane Ndayishimiye, a car-taxi driver in Ngozi, urges women and girls to break away from fear and engage in jobs that are usually attributed to the male sex only. In an interview on Monday July 4, 2022 with a check by ABP, Diane Ndayishimiye castigated the behavior of certain women who cross their arms all day long without accomplishing anything, arguing that they are unemployed: “it is high time Burundian women broke with idleness and fear. The State is no longer able to grant employment to all the unemployed. They must reflect and embrace any profession that can help them lead their lives and meet the needs of their families. This is, for example, the profession of driver”.
Diane Ndayishimiye says she is now able to meet the needs of the whole family, without having recourse to her husband. “Before I took up this job, I owed everything from my husband because I had no income of my own. I spent all the time at home doing housework. Today, I return with the daily need of myself, the children and the domestic, the husband being in the service in Bujumbura. I even pay the rent, the health care for the children and even school fees. We agreed with my husband to take care of family development projects, including our housing under construction in the Kinyami quarter in the town of Ngozi”.
Diane Ndayishimiye is 30 years old with three children. Graduate A 2 in Accounting Management, she spent three years of unemployment before she decided to drive a car-taxi for Ngozi-Gitega route. She says she was afraid at first thinking that the job of driver was reserved only for men.
The other male drivers trained her gradually. Today, she does the job just like the others. Even the customers who discriminated against her gradually got used to her. She considers herself to be one of the best drivers: “I also appeal to customers to give preference to female drivers,” she said. Note that few women in Ngozi drive vehicles. Even those who do it, are afraid of doing profitable transport.