Rwandese Flowers
Chapter VI
The Clay
The Twas would sing this sad song:
Ayee ... ayee ... ayee
Clay is hard ... ayee
Clay has no more value
Clay used to give me meat that I could often eat with other things
Clay gave me sorghum, and I could drink sorghum beer
Clay gave me beans, and I could eat very well with lots of other things ... ayee
Leave me alone, I am tired of the black value of clay
The plastic cups, dishes and pans have come
Ayeeeeee...
Once, Mr. Habimana visited the Twas' community in Kigali, and in order to impose his will, Hutu security guards accompanied him. He approached the elderly, and presented a paper, asking the Pygmies to sign it or put an identification mark on it instead.
"I need to use the swamps of Bugesera in conjunction with you."
Domitilla probed the Tutsi farmer.
"What are you going to do with it?"
"I am testing a new cultivation."
"What does it mean?"
"I am going to grow a new plant there, but you won't take any losses."
"May we keep collecting our clay?"
"Yes, please, feel free."
"How much would you pay us for some land, Mr. Habimana?"
"Well, I know what the poor need most, and so, I do not intend to put only money in this business. I brought a truck brimming with food as a down payment, and in a matter of days, I will pay the remaining balance in cash."
The farmer was a skilled negotiator and knew that a group of people who were exposed to the hardship of hunger like better the material resource. Then, he ordered the driver to bring the vehicle to the center of the village and unloaded bananas, oranges, potatoes, and beans. Seeing an abundance of food never witnessed in the community, hungry, skinny children ran toward the fruits and crunched them all, forcing the food into their mouths. Their mothers quarreled among themselves by sacks of beans, and in a while, they spread the products by the huts. Domitilla, in turn, was concerned about the farmer's attitude and pleaded with Mukono to take back the foodstuff.
"Please, stop them, Mukono!"
"How, Domitilla?"
"I have no idea. Please, find a way to straighten some of this mess."
"I will not take the food out of the mouths of children."
The Twas look at Mr. Habimana, imagining how he would react. They were in a delicate situation for not having how to pay back a truckload of goods. They were thus in silence and afraid of what was going on. The farmer presented a contract to purchase the muddy land that the Twas had to accept, and Emmanuel Habimana was happy for getting a good deal with the greatest of ease. Although the Twas knew that the fruits and vegetable would last no more than three days of consumption, they agreed with the buyer the way he wanted. The Hutus who were escorting the rich Tutsi threatened to arrest the Pygmies. Detention was one of the worst fears of the Twas in Rwanda. They suffered discrimination even as free men and their condition got worse during incarceration, since the guards and the detainees mistreated them only because they were Twas, and usually killed them. In late 1987, an NGO of the United States of America raised funds to buy a generous piece of wetland in the marshes of Lake Mugesera beyond the Southeast boundaries of the Rural Kigali where the Twas withdrew their clay to manufacture mud pots. Even though the NGO endowed the Pygmies with it, the possession of arable land by the Pygmies only for extracting clay was an intolerable luxury in the Rwanda of those extreme days, a country in need of hills for planting.
