Pygmies

Plight of the Batwa Pygmies in Uganda

The Batwa Pygmies lived in the forest as a hunter gatherer society for thousands of years. In the early 1980s and '90s they were evicted from the forest by the Ugandan government to create a refuge for the gorillas. They were left with no land, no modern skills like farming, no education, and no hope. They are treated as second class citizens by most Ugandans. Now they are struggling to join modern Ugandan society with the help of various NGOs.

The people I met in 2006 were being helped by directly by the Africa International Christian Ministry http://www.aicm.org.uk/ under the umbrella of a larger network called the Human Rights Network in Uganda http://www.hurinet.or.ug/. I'm not sure HURINET is still in business. There are other groups helping them as well including the Kellerman Foundation, http://www.pygmies.net/ and the Forest people's Project. http://www.forestpeoples.org/templates/project/africa_b...

There is more historical and other information available on the web here http://www.acode-u.org/documents/batwa.pdf and here, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/AllDocsByUNID/a84e5...

Though I have been working in TV for over a decade, this is the first piece I ever produced, shot, wrote, and edited by my self. The Batwa Pygmies lived in the forest as a hunter gatherer society for thousands of years. In the early 1980s and '90s they were ... more

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