Feeding the Batwa During Quarantine

For the past few weeks, we have delivered food, soap and other items to the Kalehe Batwa. Other items we have provided and/or will soon provide include hand towels, hoes, storage buckets, plastic jerry cans, cups, bowls, spoons, jelly (like lotion for their skin), and toothbrushes and toothpaste.

The Kalehe Batwa's sole source of income comes from tourism, and that’s temporarily gone—we aren’t sure for how long.

As a people, the indigenous Batwa have never taken that well to agriculture (culturally, they’re hunter-gatherers & traders).

Other organizations have tried to teach them and even criticize them for not picking it up, but it’s not their nature. Some individuals take to agriculture more than others.

However right now, those Ugandans with more ag will fare better and so they’re planting seeds, but they don’t grow overnight. In the meantime, we aren’t going to let them suffer more than they already are. The kids would normally get 3 meals a day at school! And they are all healthy right now, after years of not being so. So, we are providing nutritious food and other supplies they request or what we feel will help sanitation and hygiene.

That’s what happens when you have established trust. They’ve made drying racks for dishes, all homes set up "tippy taps" or handwashing stations that allow them to wash hands without running water (we have clean water in a tank down the hill for drinking but it doesn’t go to individual homes), and they are mudding their homes. We’re also happy to report that the things we’ve asked the Batwa to do for sanitation they have implemented immediately!

Please consider donating to our efforts! The food varies but includes fresh vegetables and fruits, cassava flour, millet flour for breakfast porridge, salt, groundnut powder (protein!), and corn posho. For Easter, we bought them meat!

Have a Blessed Easter Weekend!! We pray for all our donors and supporters. If there's anything specific we can pray about for you, please let us know.