Rwandan Adventure – Batwa Pygmy Tribe
There are three tribes in Rwanda, the Hutu, the Tutsi and the Twa. These are the terms most in use though the ‘correct’ names are Bahutu, Batutsi and Batwa.
In the mists of time the Twa, or pigmy race, lived in the forests. Then around 700BC came the Hutu, Bantu speaking farmers, who were spreading through central Africa seeking good land on which to settle, and according to the Bradt guide, Rwanda was a good place to be. But, as agriculturalists, who cut down the forest to grow crops, this was not good for the Twa who retreated further into the forest. Then later the taller, lankier, Tutsis arrived, who were cattle breeders. All this occurred when what is now ‘Rwanda’ did not have settled borders. The Tutsi, who were stronger because of their diet became the traditional leaders of the country, even though they were outnumbered by the Hutu.
This month they are remembering the 17th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide, when nearly 1m Tutsis and Hutu sympathisers were killed by the Hutu in 100 days.
Before colonialisation by Germany and then Belgium they had all lived together happily, speaking the same language and enjoying the same culture. The brutal fighting, according to the Lonely Planet guide has its roots in the political power struggles between two social groups, the Tutsis and the Hutus which date back to the post colonial period when Belgium ruled Rwanda indirectly through the privileged Tutsi minority, Over the years the Tutsi and the Hutu rose up against one another regularly, then in 1962 independence brought the Hutu majority to power. Certain Tutsi factions, unwilling to accept their loss of privilege, formed guerrilla groups to mount raids on Hutu communities which in turn brought on Hutu reprisals in which thousands of Tutsis were massacred and tens of thousands of Tutsis and Hutu killers fled to neighbouring Congo, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, USA and Europe.
Presently the Rwandan government is trying to persuade those still in Congo, after all this time, that it is safe to come home. We see this on the local ‘TV Rwanda’ (only one channel unless you are rich enough to have a satellite dish) and in the local newspaper ‘New Times’ both government run. The message now is of forgiveness and conciliation. The government says now that ‘we are all Rwandans’ and it is insensitive to ask whether anyone you meet is a Tutsi or a Hutu.
We asked Bright,22, the eldest boy of our host family about the Twa, and the next thing he had arranged with a member of the Twa tribe to come to the house to take us to his village. The Twa are very much in the minority now and looked down on by the other two tribes. They call them beggars and boozers who get drunk on the local banana beer that is made in local houses. Apparently this beer is foul to those of us who are not used to it and not hygienic to drink, but that distilled in a proper brewery is ok, though we have yet to buy it and stick to the local Primus beer that is delicious.
The Twa gentleman, Jean, came to the house and we walked down the rubbly streets to the main road in town and got a minibus (40p each) which we paid, as is expected of umuzungas as we have more money, getting off 4-5 miles out of town. The Twa man then realised we had alighted at the wrong place and shouted to the bus driver and we got on again, and disembarked another mile up the road. He was going to take us down a track to his village when a Rwandan woman dressed in traditional colourful top and long skirt with a plastic bowl on her head full of vegetables told him there was a short cut. How he did not know the short cut to his own village was a mystery to us and asking Bright did not elicit a comprehensive response. We walked a mile back down the road from the way we had come, and then left the road for a very muddy track into the village. The track was very rocky and difficult to negotiate. We saw houses recently built by the government for genocide survivors who had lost their homes that looked like Nissan huts, but to the Rwandans were probably palaces. But the roads were still unmade. When there is lack of money they have to prioritise. Everywhere there were children, running barefoot in grubby clothes with snotty noses.
We went further down the track into the trees and came across some smaller houses. These had been built especially for the Twa as the government does not want the sight of their traditional round huts with grass roofs to spoil the image of a progressive Rwanda. We were introduced to a very small woman who was 71 years old and she showed us round her house. It had one bare room for her sitting room straight in from the ‘road’ which housed a table and two rustic chairs. The floor and walls were dark concrete. On the bare walls were pasted pages from a 2009 calendar to brighten it up. Her bedroom was tiny, and just about held a single bed. This was constructed of wood with a very thin grass mat on top of wooden slats, on top of which was a straw filled extremely thin mattress covered with thin faded cloth. She had a plastic chair at the foot of the bed that held all her clothing, two or three items. In another room across the entrance corridor was a room where she kept her food and branches for cooking on a pot stove, no bigger than a camping gaz stove. She had pots of dried beans, some cassava leaves, and some matoke ((green bananas). There was no electricity and no lighting. There were small windows in each room with shutters that barely let in any light. The only lighting she had was a small ‘pilchard tin’ kerosene lamp that we had seen being made in the fabrication yard earlier in the week. So when it goes dark at 6pm she goes to bed.
The pitched roof of corrugated iron was held up with crudely carved wooden posts and visible from the top of each wall, there being no ceiling. Cooking is traditionally done outside in this country, either in the open air in the compound or in a specially built cooking room outback. She had a two room cooking area, one holding her pots and the other where she lit the fire to cook over.
The toilet outside in the grassy area was shared by many households. It was a very small three-walled affair, and the walls were not very high, no roof, and open to all at the front – so no privacy – and inside just two pieces of wood on which to crouch on to do whatever you need to do, over a hole in the ground. Bright said it was not cleared out and the flies around the toilet was testament to that. Health and safety officers would have a field day here.
We thanked her profusely and Bright told us to give her 500 francs, but we felt that 2,000 francs was more appropriate. Although this is only £2, that is a fortune here. We were then taken to another Twa household that was similar and the man showed us how he made earthen pots to sell in the market. This was carried out in a similar two roomed cooking area as the Twa lady, but he mixed clay and earth to form the pot and then made it over a fire. It was not very clear to us how this was done as it was explained in broken English and Kinyarwandan.
Jean, our guide, then took us back to the main road. We were enveloped in about a dozen little kids, who all wanted to hold our hands and put their faces into our palms, or stroke our skin. They are always fascinated by umuzungas. They were all friendly and wanted us to take their pictures and see them on the screen. The only way most people here have a photo taken is to go to a shop and get one done for their identity cards. A camera is a novelty here as most people could never afford one. Once you have taken their photos they all crowd round yelling to see the picture and shout and giggle in delight. Then we walked to the main road with the lovely little children fighting each other to hold our hands. I experienced this before in Rwanda in 2007 and it never fails to please me. The children are so friendly and trusting you cannot help but be happy in their company.
Bright had told us to pay the guide 500 francs but we gave him 1,000 – after all these poor downtrodden people are in this state through no fault of their own and need any penny they can get. Originally the family had suggested they bring a Twa to the house to ‘dance for us’ but we felt this was demeaning and we preferred to go and see them in their own environment and not as a freak show.
On the way back Bright took us to see a natural volcanic cave which had been caused by an eruption from the near volcanoes. This was so large it ran under the main road. During the genocide many Tutsis had hidden in this cave and had been slaughtered. We had read about this in the guide book and adhered to advice not to enter the cave as it was deemed to be a ‘tomb’, but just looking at it made us feel very sad that such an atrocity had happened here.
I WAS AWAKE FOR MY OPERATION!
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Me and Sir Jimmy Savile
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What not to wear!!!
(Wed 15/06)
Rwandan adventure Our sponsored child
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Rwandan Adventure - Lunch Was Alive!
(Mon 23/05)
