This archive report was first published on 25 October 2019.
On October 25, 2019, Burundi's First Lady Denise Nkurunziza made her singing debut with a powerful song addressing the sensitive topics of infertility and gender violence.
The song, titled Umukenyezi Arengeye Kuvyara Gusa (A Woman is More than Just Giving Birth), features the First Lady as a counselor to a man who is shown physically and verbally abusing his wife for failing to bear him a child.
Denise Nkurunziza, who has been married to President Pierre Nkurunziza since 1994, calls on husbands to fully support their wives and emphasizes that women are capable of much more than just being mothers.
“Women are not created just to be called mothers. They are capable of much more,” the First Lady sings in the chorus.
She also highlights that infertility affects both men and women and that only through a medical examination can the truth about one’s fertility or lack thereof be established.
Denise and her husband Pierre have five children together and have adopted several others, and frequently preach together as Denise is an ordained pastor and has been featured on several religious tracks.
The Burundian First Lady has received praise from many on social media for the message in her music video, although some have pointed out that men too face abuse from their spouses.
