Ramba

The Batwa (Twa) forest people (also known as Pygmies) of Central Africa are the Indigenous inhabitants of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and live traditionally as hunter-gatherers. There is much discrimination that is amongst this tribe in the past and present. But they were evicted over the course of many decades to make way for agriculture, commercial forestry plantations, and wildlife conservation areas. They now live as a neglected and marginalized minority in the region, often in remote conflict and post-conflict areas. Called pygmies they continue to face discrimination and forced displacement, and are frequently excluded from taking part fully in the economic, political and social life of their countries. (“Batwa A People under Threat,” 2010). I am about to journey into their lives and the way they live to see how the prejudice that has fallen on this tribe has affected them. The Batwa were very self sufficient until they were ran off their land. In order for the land to be developed the forest people had to leave. This left the tribe poor and in extreme poverty with no land. One form of discrimination that was directed at the Batwa by the Hutu and Tutsi tribes was negative stereotyping. This type of discrimination was very common and widespread. The Hutu and Tutsi tribe considered the Batwa to be people who were lacking a proper culture and language, but the Batwa are people that are very proud of their heritage and culture. Many are musicians and dancers. Some have taken on the task of pottery making and verse telling which keeps their culture alive today. Another form of negative stereotyping is the way in which the Batwa are called names like ignorant and stupid. This act is done most of the time in front of fellow tribe members or in public. This form of stereotyping the Batwa get discouraged and after time end up leaving their land and moving on to another part of the country. The Batwa's were forcefully expelled from their lands in the forest for military training areas and national parks to be established. This was due to a legislation act in 1970’s that outlawed hunting, which threatened the Batwa’s way of life (Bureau of African Affairs, 2007). One of the reasons for this act was to protect the population of endangered mountain gorillas. Most of the Batwa people received no compensation thus becoming beggars and landless laborers. Since they were an isolated group in the Rwandan society, they were traditionally looked down upon as dirty and backward from the other groups residing in Rwanda (Campion Interactive Publishing, 1994). Other groups who reside in Rwanda exclude them from education, health care, and representation in the government. Due to lack of knowledge the Batwa people were swindled out of the lands, where they had resided without legal recourse to a fair trial. The second ethnicity group would be the Hutu that make up 85% of the population. The Hutu were regarded as the agricultural people. The last group would be the Tutsi’s that make up a 14% of the population, and they were the cattle-owning people. Even though these two separate ethnic groups speak the same language, they share many cultural characteristics (Bureau of African Affairs, 2007).