| No matter what part of the world we come | | | | communities. |
| from, we all have some image in our minds of | | | | The important point to understand is that, for |
| Batwa or Forest People or Pygmies in Africa. The | | | | these people, their height is not what defines |
| fascination that most of us have is pursued | | | | them. You are not Mutwa because you are |
| through films, books and myths. The Pygmies | | | | shorter than your neighbours but because you |
| themselves have their own names and lives which | | | | come from the forest and call it your home. |
| do not match the images the rest of the world | | | | Recent genetic studies suggest that Forest |
| creates for them. | | | | Peoples are one of the oldest groups of people |
| Importantly, across Central Africa, these peoples | | | | inhabiting the earth. Their societies date nearly |
| we call Pygmies often call themselves by local | | | | 60,000 years, compared to 14,000 years for |
| names, which can be translated as ‘Forest | | | | most of the peoples of the world. The first |
| People.’ The most famous literature about | | | | contact the Batwa forest people had with other |
| them is ‘The Forest People,’ by Colin | | | | peoples in Uganda came around 2,000 years ago, |
| Turnbull, who lived amongst the Mbuti people of | | | | when Tutsi pastoralists and Hutu agriculturalists |
| Ituri Forest in DRC. | | | | migrated north from what is now Rwanda.Initially, |
| However, forest people are found from the coast | | | | trade relations between these people existed: the |
| of the Atlantic, in Gabon and Cameroon, all the | | | | Batwa provided valuable materials from the |
| way to the eastern edges of Uganda. Turnbull | | | | forest, like honey and meat, in exchange for |
| describes how, when asked ‘who are | | | | farming goods. When the Tutsi kings first came |
| you?’ they would simply reply, ‘people of | | | | into the Kigezi region, they acknowledged that the |
| the forest’. Turnbull’s account seeks to | | | | Batwa were the owners of the land and paid |
| demonstrate how this link to the forest is found | | | | tributes to them, even requiring their approval |
| throughout their entire spiritual, cultural and social | | | | before kings were crowned. Famed for their |
| world: he writes that the forest is, for them, the | | | | music and dancing, the Batwa also found place in |
| womb from which they were born and the only | | | | the royal courts as entertainers and were |
| place where they truly belong. | | | | regarded with great esteem. |
| The Batwa Forest People currently live in Uganda, | | | | As human pressure on the forests and |
| Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC. They all share a | | | | deforestation increased, the Batwa were forced |
| history of hunting and gathering. Today, Batwa | | | | to look outside of the forests in order to survive. |
| are involved in agriculture, pottery and fishing, as | | | | Lacking specialist skills, they mainly worked as |
| well as traditional hunting and gathering in a few | | | | labourers for land owners. In 1991, the Batwa |
| remaining locations.The Batwa forest people I will | | | | forest people were formally evicted from the |
| focus on number approximately 3000 and live in | | | | remaining forested areas of Bwindi and Mgahinga |
| the Kigezi region of southwest Uganda. Like other | | | | and lost their last rights to access their land. Since |
| groups of Batwa, they have, in the last century, | | | | their evictions 15 years ago, the Batwa have |
| suffered massive social and cultural changes - | | | | been unable to compete on equal terms with |
| mostly as a result of incoming farmers and | | | | other ethnic groups outside the forest and today |
| pastoralists and later through conservation | | | | they remain one of the most marginalized |
| initiatives. Despite the many problems they face, | | | | sections of society, both in Kigezi and Uganda. |
| the Batwa have much to show us about the | | | | Batwa forest people struggle to get education, |
| world we live in. | | | | health care and the crucial land they need to grow |
| The word Pygmy is believed to have come from | | | | food for their families and provide security for the |
| the Greek word which described the distance | | | | future. Never having legal titles to the forests |
| between the wrist and the elbow. It was used to | | | | they inhabited, the Batwa received little or no |
| describe the height of Forest People when they | | | | compensation and it wasn’t until some ten |
| were first encountered. Many people wonder how | | | | years after their evictions that NGOs (non |
| tall a Pygmy really is. The height varies and there | | | | governmental organizations) began the process of |
| is no strict definition of how tall a Forest Person | | | | buying plots of land for them.The birth |
| should be; there can be differentiation in size | | | | ceremonies varied from clan to clan and others |
| within a community and also between | | | | from village to village. |