BACKGROUND
The Batwa (known, pejoratively as “pygmies” in the west because of their height) are one of the oldest surviving tribes in Africa, but their culture, identity and language are under increasing threat.
The traditional hunting ground of this nomadic community comprises forested areas in what is now Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, in 1991, due to conservation projects to protect mountain gorillas, the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda was created in the south of the country (15 kilometres from the town of Kisoro) and Uganda’s 6,700-strong Batwa community were evicted from the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest where they had lived for centuries.
According to Ugandan law, as a nomadic people who had never settled in one location, the Batwa had no claim to the land, therefore, the Ugandan government had no legal obligation to compensate them with new land. As a result, the Batwa were displaced.
Forced from their traditional homeland and lacking resources, the Batwa are now dependent on NGOs and donors for survival.
Without access to clean water, healthcare or sanitation they are forced to live in shacks made from old pieces of cardboard and plastic bags, and to burn old tyres to cook food.
Our organisation is using education as an important tool of civilisation and empowerment of the Batwa tribe, orphans, street and other vulnerable children.
However, it should be noted that the enrolment of Batwa Children in schools is very low despite the fact that the government of Uganda introduced Universal Primary and Secondary Education in 1997 and 2007 respectively.
According to UNESCO report that was released in 2010, it reported that 72 million children of primary school age were still out of school in Uganda.
According to Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Trust (BMCT) Batwa Census Report for 2016, 57.1% of school going Batwa children were in school. According to this 2016 BMCT Batwa census report it was found that Kisoro District was the most affected where 49.2% of the Batwa school going children were not attending any school. To date, with the coming of Covid 19, where most of the organisations which were sponsoring some children had their donors pulling out citing hard economic times, the situation has more than worsened.
This sufficiently confirms that literacy levels amongst the Batwa still remains slow. According to UBOS 2011 and 2014 Reports, Adult Literacy rate among the Batwa aged 15-49, was 19% in 2011 against 75% of other Ugandans. This was further justified by the fact that 49.8% of the Batwa do not attend any formal education (BMCT Batwa Census Report 2020).
According to FABE 2012, indicated that the quality of access to education especially for rural based schools still remains very poor. Most schools near areas where the Batwa live lack trained teachers and teaching materials that would help impart more knowledge and skills to the Batwa learners.
According to Fay Warrilow (2008), states that dropout rates among the Batwa are high. The vast majority of the batwa adults have had little chance to go to school, send their children to school to get the opportunity they missed, batwa children drop out of school at an early stage.
According to Godber and Musiime (2006), of the 25 batwa children who had enrolled in Nchundura Primary School in 2003, only 4 pupils remained in school within a period of two months. These high dropout rates were linked to the difficult conditions which the batwa children pass through to study.
When it comes to the enrolment of the girl children among the batwa, the figures are too demeaning. According to Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) 2014 report, 13% of girls between ages of 6 and 12 did not go to any primary school in 2011 and of the girls that went to school, only 12% actually completed the required 7-year primary school level.
Of girls aged 13-18, more than 60% of the girls between these ages were not enrolled in secondary in 2011.
When it comes to the Batwa girls, the situation is even worse as they hardly reach primary seven.
According to Vulnerable and Marginalised Groups Framework (VMGF), Regional Communication Infrastructure Program (RCIP) project report 2015, it indicated that Batwa are struggling to access education and have very low levels of education. These are a clear indication that access to education among the batwa is still lacking.
WHY YOU NEED TO BE INVOLVED IN THE BATWA EDUCATION SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM?
According to World Bank in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development Report 2017, indicated that only 0.5% of the total Batwa population have access to education. Households that could afford fees and associated costs; discrimination is a key barrier to being admitted in school
This means that discrimination is a key factor affecting Batwa children’s access to education.
According to Forest Peoples Program (FPP) report 2008, batwa children who faced historical marginalisation, face extreme exclusion in accessing and staying in school. This is due to discrimination against them. Batwa children experience direct and indirect discrimination and many suffer verbal abuse.
In addition, Batwa girls are sexually harassed and ambushed on their way from school, this results into unwanted pregnancies, poor performance at school and consequential dropping out because of relationship formed (Minority Rights Group (MRG) Report 2008).
Also, according to Fay Warrilow 2008, the vast majority of the batwa adults have had little chance to go to school send their children to school to get the opportunity they missed but the children leave school very early because of hunger, lack of scholastic materials and discrimination. These are drivers of Batwa’s limited access to education.
Additionally, due to poverty, poor batwa learners may need their school fees to be paid, and if not, they could be forced to support themselves and their families.
Even when the Ugandan Government claims to be providing free primary and secondary education, and progress is being reported on the success of the UPE and USE programs, and enrolments, this does not truthfully speak to the numbers of batwa who are accessing education in Uganda.
For the indigenous minority batwa, government schools are too difficult to access physically or economically, according to BMCT Batwa Education Assessment Report 2017, distance to the school is an important factor that enhances school attendance in day schools hence better academic performance, long distance may lead to laziness, absenteeism, late coming, and lack of concentration in class.
It should be noted that most of the batwa settlements are located in hard-to-reach areas since they like staying in environs near these protected areas.
Conclusively, lack of scholastic materials is a key obstacle to all the batwa who have attempted to go to school, these children come from poor and marginalised households since their parents do not engage in any economic activity of importance since, they do not own land yet land is an important factor of production where all other factors of production originate.
Batwa parents also not understanding the value of education end up being unsupportive and children end up dropping out because they fail to see a role model in their communities who they want to grow looking up to.
KCOMPO’s ROLE
Basing on the above information, our organisation is requesting you to sponsor a child with $30 per months to help improve batwa access to quality education where batwa will have to enroll in school and complete their primary and secondary education and later advance to tertiary institutional/University where they will compete with others for jobs and advocate for their rights and entitlements
Bearing in mind the challenges that batwa children are faced with especially lack of support from parents,
Our organisation has an idea of coming up with boarding school, we have already started what is called Virunga Massif Community Schools, where we plan to have primary, secondary and a technical school where children graduating from both our primary and secondary level sections can be enrolled to develop their skills that will lead them to be self-employed.
We hope to have full time boarding program for these children because of the nature of the environment they stay in where their parents send them to go and do some activities, or fail to come to school because of unwashed clothes and citing other issues.
To make sure that we break positive discrimination in our education program, our organisation incorporates in other children from humble backgrounds, the street children, orphans, the albinos and other needy children to make sure that we break the discrimination and improve on the relationship between the batwa and non-batwa.
WHAT WILL YOUR MONTHLY SPONSORSHIP HELP US ACHIEVE?
Your $30 monthly donation to your child of choice will help us meet the following: –
- Medical checkups and treatment
- Nutritious food while at school
- Health and hygiene training workshops
- Educational assistance such as buying scholastic materials and school uniforms
- Access to special services like surgeries and disaster relief
- Mentoring to help children discover their incredible value as human beings which will help them defeat all odds of discrimination
- Most important of all, your sponsored child will be trained in their traditional cultures, norms and beliefs to consolidate their culture and prevent it from erosion and extinction
When you sponsor a child in Batwa communities, you’ll receive your child’s photo, personal story and a child sponsorship packet by mail in approximately 10 days.
When children in Uganda find out they’ve been sponsored, the joy they feel is indescribable. Just knowing that someone across the globe cares means more than you can imagine. Sponsoring a child in need will profoundly change the future for your child, and will change your own life as well.
For more information you can contact us on
Tel +256770917808/+256775255652
The pupils in one of the Batwa Culture sessions where they are always joined by one of the elders to teach them their cultural traditions, values and beliefs. Most of the cultures are at the verge of extinction and we are trying to consolidate their culture to make sure that it is not lost like that.
