not a 'historically marginalised people'
Twa porters ferry pots to the market. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Posted Saturday, October 25 2014 at 17:35
IN SUMMARY
Who are they?
- Rwanda's Batwa, or simply the Twa, can be described as a throwback. According to anthropologists, the Twa were the first inhabitants of Rwanda thousands of years ago and lived in forests as hunter-gatherers.
- Then, some hundreds of years ago, the Hutu arrived, followed by the Tutsi. The former earned a living by cultivating the land while the latter kept livestock — notably the Zebu cattle, a breed characterised by long, swordlike horns.
- When the Tutsi-dominated monarchy developed in the 17th Century, the Twa served as advisors to the King because, as the first inhabitants of Rwanda, they were seen as the voice of the people.
- Unfortunately, things took a painful turn in the 1970s and '80s when the Twa lost their land to the post-independence governments' conservation and commercial projects.
- With little or no compensation at all, the Twa were plunged into impoverishment — and this is where the majority of them remain.
Jonathan Gatera is an angry man. Seething. Disillusioned. "Why should the government label us 'historically marginalised people'?" he asks furiously. "As far as I know, I am not historically marginalised. That's an insult. It's discrimination. People should stop calling us whatever they want. We are simply Batwa."
Mr Gatera is the president of the Community of Potters in Rwanda (Coporwa), a non-profit organisation that works to promote Twa rights and support them with development projects and training.
Since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the government has toned down ethnicity, and ethnic references have been scrapped off all official documents such as the indangamuntu (national identity card). Which is understandable.
During the genocide, ethnicity was used as the impulsion for mass killings as Hutu extremists were encouraged to slaughter their fellow countrymen simply because their identity cards said they were Tutsi.
But much as it is not entirely a bad thing, the banning of ethnic references has left the Twa without a proper name. Victims of prejudice, they are usually referred to as the "indigenous population," "historically marginalised people," "potters" or "pygmies" (because of their relatively modest stature) and are often stereotyped as primitive and uneducated.
But Mr Gatera is tall (about 6ft), and is among Batwa who do not conform to this stereotype of the primitive, uneducated Twa. He throws the challenge: "Look at me... What is primitive about me? What is 'historically marginalised' about me? My children have gone to school and there is nothing primitive about them."
In reality, however, the Twa are marginalised and society looks down upon them (even literally) because the majority of them are poverty-stricken — and short in stature. Numbering an estimated 35,000 people (about 0.4 per cent of Rwanda's population), many of the Twa live in destitution in different parts of the country.
Most vulnerable and poor
According to a report published by Coporwa, the Twa are "the most vulnerable and poor group in the country." The report said that 77 per cent of the Twa were illiterate, 51 per cent had never attended school while 30 per cent were unemployed – and more than 95 per cent of those employed were potters and the average potter was earning about Rwf7,000 per month.
But at the Modern Pottery Co-operative in Kacyiru, which is run by members of the Twa community, most of the Batwa that I met were more concerned with recognition than material wellbeing.
Speaking on behalf of his people, Mr Gatera said: "The problems of all Rwandans are the same.
"The problems we encounter are the same problems other people face. All we need is to be recognised as Batwa because that is what we are. That's our right.
Not recognised
"The fact that when it comes to the genocide the government wants us to refer to it as the 'Genocide against the Tutsi' means that the Tutsi are being recognised as an ethnic group. So, why not the Batwa?"
Posted by: Nzinink <nzinink@yahoo.com>
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The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
When the white man came we had the land and they had the bibles; now they have the land and we have the bibles.
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