Rwandese Flowers
Chapter III
The Twas
Since the late nineteenth century, the deforestation in the Central African and forest degradation 'have been preventing the Twas from performing their way of life as primitive hunters and extractors of natural resources. Furthermore, the establishment of military training fields and extensive, national parks in response to the world outcry for the environment preservation, forced them to migrate in large numbers to the peripheries of the cities where they live in indigence. Therefore, a great number of them began to subsist on alms, all the more so since they did not have sufficient technical ability to compete against Tutsis and Hutus for jobs. Several Pygmies are still performing services of little value to members of other ethnic groups, and others live in the rented or illegal occupation of land. Only 1.6% of the Twas have adequate arable land for their livelihood and 91% of their individuals are illiterate. A great number of them have no record in the state bureaucracy, what hinders their access to healthcare systems, schools and funding of social programs. Moreover, they have a high infant mortality rate and a short life expectancy, and as a result, few grow to adulthood, and in some communities, about 60% of the Pygmy children cannot reach the fifth year of life. On the other hand, the Hutus and the Tutsis said that the Pygmies were on the margins of society, living in misery for not wanting to interact with the other two hegemonic, ethnic groups, and in addition, they saw the Twas' nomadic lifestyle as a cultural lag. The Twas share the resources they get and they did not accumulate a surplus of hunting.
In the early days of my stay in Kigali, Tharcisse Mugabe invited me to visit the Taws' community, a kind of small village in the rural area of the district. Dr. Mike did not want to go with us, as he had to see, at Chez Lando, President Juvenal Habyarimana, some citizens from the Town Council, and a few radical Hutu politicians of the ruling government party. Therefore, for him to accept my ride, I had to invite Rose, her boyfriend Elizaphan, and Father Jumpe, a missionary who had experience in religious practices with the Pygmies. He was a 42-year-old Angolan, who used to say that was sent to the ghetto by God to comfort the poor and evangelize the nonbeliever through a pastoral ministry to the needy. Therefore, he believed to be a mediator of affairs and a bridge between Earth and Heaven. Elizaphan was a 29-years-old Hutu peasant of the Good Hope Farm. Even though he and Rose belong to different ethnic groups, they got along well.
I asked Dr. Mike to lend me the Land Rover.
"No, Dr. Isabelle."
"This pickup is not yours, Dr. Mike. It belongs to the Red Cross."
"Will you do any work for the organization?"
"No."
"So, you ought to give up because I will not hand you this car."
I lied, hoping to convince him.
"I will report to the Doctors without Borders on the diseases and the needs of the Twa children."
"Hahaha. Are you going for field research on your own?"
"You are not the only person around here with prestige on the international stage."
Dr. Mike did not lend me the vehicle, and when I was about to quit, Elizaphan proposed a solution.
"Dr. Isabelle, I will ask the truck driver for a ride."
He was not in Kigali only to accompany his fiancée Rose. He was also conducting the supply of the GH Farm's production to the local market. He was tolerant with some stallholders, delivering the products in the morning in advance to get the payment at the end of the afternoon, after their commercialization. That way, he earned a few bucks without knowledge of his employer. I agreed that it was a good way to resolve the problem, since I did not want to accept Dr. Mike's suggestion to postpone the event.
