The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, pictured above, is dense with vegetation and history. Officially designated as a national park in 1991, this forest turned from a home to land excluded only for wildlife, and tourists wealthy enough to visit them. The Batwa people considered this land their home for generations immemorial. Starting in the 1990s, and before that unofficially, the Ugandan government evicted the Batwa from their forested home in the international name of conservation, without plans to resettle them. As seen throughout history, acts of such callous nature rarely resolve without great suffering. After eviction, Batwa dispersed into the surrounding valleys and plains occupied by the Bakiga (ba-chi-ga), another widespread tribal group of the area.
As Batwa settled into new surroundings, first supplied by sympathetic Bakiga, then later by international donors, new realities of life started to settle in. In addition to tensions fueled by the tighter proximity to Bakiga, the Batwa now found themselves in an environment completely new to them. Traditional knowledge of the forest passed down for generations no longer applied to their new environment. Traditional practices that carried cultural significance were out of reach and relegated to memory. Displacement of this magnitude breaks any semblance of home and destroys traditional safety nets that have been accumulated in resource and knowledge.
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Traditional Medicinal Plants
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Now, a few generations after their displacement, the Batwa lead new lives. Photos shown above of Batwa in traditional clothing are from an act put on for tourists in which they are allowed to re-enter their native land to put their lost life on display. Jobs like this and others constitute the new Batwa experience. In addition, they are beginning to farm as Bakiga do, adapting to their new life by adopting traditions of others. On top of this, the Batwa deal with a changing climate that brings unpredictable droughts and rains, all perilous to those tied to the land.
The Batwa live a different life than their ancestors. They are not allowed to hunt as they once did in the forest; they are barred from collecting forest-bee honey. The daily activities of survival define people and their culture. Batwa are redefining theirs. Here, the Batwa's modern adaptations are explored in different themes, highlighting the resiliency of a people facing such social and climatic pressures. Click the Farming link below to read on.