What is Help Channel Burundi Doing?

Or what am I doing with my time here, you might be asking, other than befriending wondrously cute African children and travelling to exotic locales? I plan to take the next few posts to highlight some of the ongoing work of Help Channel Burundi in response to the needs of their struggling fellow Burundians, and hope that in so doing you will also get a better glimpse into the country and into the current situation here in the heart of Africa.

It would be most logical for me to begin by describing their reforestation activities, considering that I am formally here as a Reforestation Consultant. But I won’t. Instead, I’ll start by introducing you to the Batwa. Some of you will have read my first newsletter in which I illustrated an unexpected encounter with an isolated group of 11 Batwa families high on a mountain above one of Help Channel Burundi/MCC’s tree nurseries. We have since began to establish a relationship with these families, and are working on a proposal for a comprehensive project to help them. Many organizations in Burundi have attempted to work with the Batwa but very few have met with any measure of success, for reasons I will try to explain. [One note before I begin: you may have heard of the three ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi- the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. These are general terms; in Kirundi and Kinyarwanda (the native languages of Burundi and Rwanda, respectively), when referring to one person the prefix “mu-“ is added; thus, Muhutu, Mututsi, and Mutwa. When plural, the prefix “ba-“ is used; thus, Bahutu, Batutsi and Batwa. Sidenote from a sidenote: I would be referred to as muzungu, and very often am, while a group of white folk would be bazungu.]

So then, who are the Batwa? Consensus has it that they, a hunter-gatherer pygmy population, were the first people group to occupy the region (I’ll stay away from the controversial topic of who was the next to arrive on scene.) They were master hunters who respected nature and knew the intimate secrets of the jungle, and as such were feared by the others. In addition to having practices that the others considered taboo, this fear led to their marginalization, which continues to this day. I suspect they would be more than happy to retreat to their jungle sanctuaries and avoid the discrimination altogether, but unfortunately the forests in Burundi and Rwanda have all but disappeared and their old way of life rendered infeasible.

The Batwa are very slow to accept change and stubbornly cling to traditions. As talented potters, many continue to make clay pots to sell, despite the market for such wares having mostly disappeared with the advent of cheap Chinese plastic. Nomadic in lifestyle, if a member of their group dies, superstition demands that they pick up and start again somewhere else. This has kept them from becoming agriculturalists; however, they are quick to hire themselves out to neighbours on a day-to-day basis in return for food. Because of their marginalization, some of the dirtiest work was said to be fit only for the Batwa. This daily begging seems to have been ingrained in their mindset, and they will often move to the cities to beg where it is more lucrative. As with many Africans, especially those facing difficult times, thoughts and preparations for the future are almost nonexistent. Truly, the Batwa of Burundi and Rwanda are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. Things have been horrific for them in the past, and the future is bleak unless there can be some progress.

And so, many organizations with good intentions impose projects but are confounded when they’ve constructed houses only to find that the following week the Batwa have sold all the metal roofing sheets and are sleeping in grass lean-tos beside the house, or that goats intended to be a source of sustainable revenue have all been eaten. Help Channel Burundi has seen some very encouraging progress in a large group of Batwa with whom they work in Gitega province. As a result of many years of patience and persistence in education and assistance, the group is enthusiastically and successfully adopting sound agricultural practices. They’ve given up nomadism, live in robust mud brick houses and send their children to school. They now even have six cows to provide nourishing milk as well as organic fertilizer for their crops, a first ever for a Burundian Batwa association. They are excited to help their neighbours by giving the cows’ offspring to other Batwa associations, and as such they are proving to be a model group that proves there is hope. Help Channel hopes to have funding so they can incorporate some of the same projects with the 11 families of Batwa in Kirundo Province.