The Batwa are former hunter-gatherers evicted from their forest homes. They now live as a neglected and marginalized. They have identified education as their priority but majority had no chances to go to school due to Poverty and the long distances they have to travel to access schooling. Our goal is to support batwa children and help them realize their potential in society by teaching them vocational skills which enable them to become self-reliant, think, act, support and care for themselves.
The Batwa comunities of the Great Lakes Region are mainly former hunter-gatherers evicted from their forest homes. They now live as a neglected and marginalized minority. Though Batwa community have identified education as one of their most important priorities, the vast majority have had little if any chance to go to school. Poverty and hunger, and the long distances they often have to travel to access schooling, prevent children from enjoying what is their fundamental human right.
Our goal is to support 50 batwa children and help them realize their potential in society. We are doing this by teaching them vocational skills which will enable them to become self-reliant, to think, act, support and care for themselves." Our aim is to help these batwa children transform themselves, to live on their own. But because we are in a very poor region - and the young people we are helping have no money - any income we generate is not enough for us to cover the costs of the program.
For Batwa, access to education means change at the most basic level, such as being able to read public signs and notices. It allows self-sufficiency and promotes self-esteem; it offers the potential to undertake training in technical skills or to access employment, all of which would help Batwa people combat the poverty they live in.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
