To be suddenly taken from your home and left on barren land
with no skills or tools to survive.
To be despised and ridiculed and thought of as nothing,
with no right for your children to attend school or get medical care,
with no ability to vote to change your circumstances.
With no way to identify yourself. This is the story of our friends, the Batwa of Burundi.
$30.00 changes this story.
Burundi
Beautiful but desperately impoverished Burundi is neighbor to Rwanda. She too has suffered genocide and is one of the poorest countries on the globe. African Road is stepping into deeper relationship in Burundi. We are honored to have inspiring friends in Burundi to partner with. One of these friends is young Batwa leader Evariste Ndikumana.
Batwa
The Batwa are a pygmy people indigenous to Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo. Treated with disdain and superstition by others, they have been evicted from their ancestral forestland and placed on small, barren parcels of land – an internally displaced people in their own country.
As one of only a few Batwa who have been able to attend and complete university Evariste Ndikumana advocates tirelessly for his people.
$30.00 = From Invisible to Identity
Few Twa have a National Identity card.
Without an identity card a person is invisible.
Without an identity card a couple cannot be granted a marriage license.
Without an identity card a parent cannot provide their child with a birth certificate.
Without an identity card access to medical care and education is limited.
Without an identity card there is no right to vote.
Thank you!