African International Christian Ministry (AICM), a non-governmental organization that empowers vulnerable and marginalized communities in Africa, on Wednesday donated relief food and laundry soaps to the Batwa Community in Butanda Sub County Kabale District.
The relief food included 402 kilograms of Maize flour, 175 kilograms of beans and laundry soap.
Handing over the items to the Batwa, the AICM Executive Director, Faith Tushabe said that they lobbied funds from friends of AICM in United Kingdom and Pilot light foundation in America, to support Batwa affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.
Fear of extreme Hunger
Mbarushimana Unice a mother of eight aged 53 said she would feed her children after selling crafts, but her hopes are diminished because she no longer sees visitors.
“I have no land to grow crops; therefore my only source of income is selling crafts. In this current situation, I only depend on digging for other people for money. But they also have no money. We shall accept and die of hunger’” Mbarushimana said.
The Batwa are paid between Shs 4,000 to Shs 6,000 a day for digging for a day.
Kacanca Wellen, the Chairperson of the Batwa in Makanga village in Nyamiryango parish said the Batwa are have not been considered in the recent distributed food by the district officials, yet they are the most marginalized.
“They recently distributed food, but we were left out yet we have no land. And this s how they have been doing for years” Kacanca said.
Batwa communities in Kabale District live in Murambo and Makanga Batwa villages in Nyamiryango parish, Butanda subcounty.
The Batwa, who are described by many as the internally displaced persons in Uganda are among the most marginalized Indigenous Minority Groups in Uganda.
Originally, the ‘Forest People’ who used to live in what later became the Semuliki, Mgahinga and Bwindi national parks and Ecuya Forest Reserve were forcefully evicted by Government in the early 1990s.
Since then, they have continued to suffer cultural, social, economic and political injustices that have threatened their existence as people.
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