They don't have homes...or even a homeland. --But they do have hope!

Who are the Batwa Pygmies?
The Batwa were once recognised as the owners of the high mountain forest. The men used to hunt and collect honey and other forest products, which were exchanged for village goods, while the women gathered vegetables, mushrooms and fruits as well as work for local farming peoples. However, during the 20th century their forest has been cut down by local farmers, the Batwa have become destitute and despised. Most are entirely landless; they live as tenants or squatters on farmers', church or state land, and pay the landlord with their labour: collecting firewood and water and doing farm work. Those who do manage to get a little land are liable to be evicted by more powerful neighbours, and find it almost impossible to get redress

The National Parks of Mgahinga, Bwindi (the 'Impenetrable Forest' ) and Echuya were originally set up in the 1930s, but it was only when they were gazetted in 1991 that the Batwa were finally evicted. Non-Batwa farmers who had destroyed the forest to make farms received recognition of their land rights, and compensation, while the Batwa who had lived for generations before and after 1930 without destroying the forest or its wildlife, and even had historical claims to land rights, only received compensation if they had acted like farmers, and destroyed part of the forest to make fields.'

Despite legal provision for Batwa to use and even live within the national parks they remain excluded from them. Access to the parks is controlled and negotiated through 'multiple use committees' which include almost no Batwa representation. To date they have taken no actual steps to allow Batwa legal access to the forests.

...

Prejudice against the Batwa is deep-rooted. The dominant local groups refuse to intermarry with the Batwa or even eat with them. Discrimination and poverty prevent the Batwa from sending their children to school or taking them to local dispensaries for treatment. There is random violence and harassment of the Batwa. For instance, in 1999 a Batwa man was murdered in Mgahinga forest while collecting firewood. Those responsible were three local men who killed him for no apparent reason. When (in response to demands by an outside NGO) the murderers were arrested, their relatives threatened the family of the dead man, saying 'If those in prison are to die, we will kill you all.'

The end result of these circumstances has left the Batwa Pygmies without a home or any means of life support. They are systematically being deprived of food, shelter and medecine. The situation is essentially slow process of genocide by starvation. This is why your immediate support is so desperately needed.

Please make your donation now! ---- click here