Helping some of the poorest people in the world
We have no roofs on our houses
What we learned
At an important first meeting with the Mikingo Batwa tribe, they told us that their corrugated iron roofs had largely rotted away. So during the rainy season, when the rain is extremely heavy, there was nowhere dry for the villagers to sleep.
As a result, many were contracting colds, influenza and pneumonia which can kill them. So, having consulted the local church’s builder, on our return to UK we sent funds for new roofs. Within just over a month of our visit, they had lovely shiny roofs overhead to keep them dry.
The Batwa tribe (sometimes referred to as Pygmies) are an ancient, First Nation tribe of hunter-gatherers, not unlike the aborigines in Australia.
They were displaced from their ancient forests in the 1990s, and about 160 now live in a settlement called Mikingo Village. This settlement is close to the town of Kisoro in south-west Uganda and it was given to them by the church.
We visited them in August 2022, to see how they were doing. We were accompanied by Winnie, an employee of the local church who visits the Batwa most days, and a children’s doctor called Dr. Nicci. As we walked into the village, it started to rain, so we were invited into the small community building where we could all sit. Nearly the whole village crammed into the building, and we were introduced. We knew that an Australian charity had recently started paying medical fees for the villagers, and also had started funding for some of the children to go to school.
So we asked the villagers
“What are your needs today?”
This is what they said:
“We have no roofs on our houses”
Some of the villagers still prefer to live in huts made of sticks, covered with plastic sheets, but a number had moved into brick-built housing. Sadly the corrugated roofs on these houses had rotted away, and during the rainy seasons, when the rain comes down very heavily, they have nowhere to sleep and remain dry. It was clear, we could see huge gaping holes in the roofs. As a result, a number regularly become ill with colds, flu, pneumonia and other illnesses.
“We have no food”
Literally no food. They have to scavenge in rubbish heaps for food. The land that adjoins the village is not good enough to grow food-crops, and their poor nutrition means that they are slow to recover from illnesses.
“We have no bedding”
They sleep on mud floors in their houses, where it gets wet when it rains. They have no blankets, they just sleep with a few rags over them.
“We have no clothes”
We asked them if they had received the sackfuls of clothes we had sent about 2 or 3 years earlier. They said yes, but they were now reduced to rags. It was evident that the clothes they were wearing were probably their best clothes and that any others were no longer wearable.
What we did
Food seemed the most urgent need, so having agreed beforehand with trustees back in the UK, we went straight to the bank and drew out what we could. It was given for Winnie, who bought maize and beans, staple foods of the Batwa tribe. She divided it out carefully among the different families, depending on their size.
This food was enough to last them two weeks. Since then, we have sent more money out for food, particularly around Christmas.
On coming home, HealthTree decided to send funds for the diocesan builder to mend all the roofs of the houses.
We are continuing to look at other ways to help these lovely people in the future.
