The Bambuti finally formally recognised
They are described as the most backward people in the world. Like animals, they live in forests with minimal basics like food and clothing.
By Asuman Bisiika
They are described as the most backward people in the world. Like animals, they live in forests with minimal basics like food and clothing. The rest of humanity has not thought of them as having an ethnic identity like a name: they are just pygmies.
Of course they have an identity. They are the Bambuti. They live in the Ituri region in DR Congo and Bundibugyo district in Uganda.
But now with education there is some light at the end of tunnel.
The Comboni Missionaries in DR Congo are giving the Bambuti hope through education. Education will give them the hope of joining the family of humanity as peers with rights and dignity.
The project is under Catholic Diocesan Organisation for Pygmies Development at Wamba Diocese.
The missionaries are educating the Bambuti through the Development Project for Bambuti.
“Education is the first step for all development; it is through education that Bambuti will understand that they too have Human Rights and Dignity as citizens of DR Congo,†Rev. Fr. Franko Laudani, the project coordinator, said.
He said education could also end the war and pillage in DR Congo.
The missionaries have published six tonnes of books to facilitate the education progamme. “Six tonnes of books, not arms,†said an excited Laudani.
The books were printed by The New Vision.
The Bambuti are getting basic education through the concept of ORA which is a French abbreviation for Observe (To observe), Reflechir (To reflect) and Agir (To do).
Laudani said, the concept of education, which involves reading, writing and arithmetic, is aimed at making the Bambuti self-sufficient.
The programme is funded by MISEREOR and CORDAID, both NGOs from Germany and the Netherlands respectively.
Under the project, 300 classrooms have been built and 5,000 Bambuti pupils are being equipped with basic knowledge.
The project also runs two boarding primary schools at Mungbere and Nduye where ORA graduates classes get free primary education.
Fr. Laudani told The New Vision there are 93 pupils at Mungbere and 56 pupils at Nduye Primary Schools, making them the first 149 Bambuti pupils to get formal education and the most highly educated in their community.
Fr. Laudani says the programme encourages the Bambuti to leave their homes in the forest and make encampments. The Bambuti are then mobilised to participate in building the classrooms and sending their children to school. The project will soon build a Teacher Training College.
Ends
They are described as the most backward people in the world. Like animals, they live in forests with minimal basics like food and clothing. The rest of humanity has not thought of them as having an ethnic identity like a name: they are just pygmies.
Of course they have an identity. They are the Bambuti. They live in the Ituri region in DR Congo and Bundibugyo district in Uganda.
But now with education there is some light at the end of tunnel.
The Comboni Missionaries in DR Congo are giving the Bambuti hope through education. Education will give them the hope of joining the family of humanity as peers with rights and dignity.
The project is under Catholic Diocesan Organisation for Pygmies Development at Wamba Diocese.
The missionaries are educating the Bambuti through the Development Project for Bambuti.
“Education is the first step for all development; it is through education that Bambuti will understand that they too have Human Rights and Dignity as citizens of DR Congo,†Rev. Fr. Franko Laudani, the project coordinator, said.
He said education could also end the war and pillage in DR Congo.
The missionaries have published six tonnes of books to facilitate the education progamme. “Six tonnes of books, not arms,†said an excited Laudani.
The books were printed by The New Vision.
The Bambuti are getting basic education through the concept of ORA which is a French abbreviation for Observe (To observe), Reflechir (To reflect) and Agir (To do).
Laudani said, the concept of education, which involves reading, writing and arithmetic, is aimed at making the Bambuti self-sufficient.
The programme is funded by MISEREOR and CORDAID, both NGOs from Germany and the Netherlands respectively.
Under the project, 300 classrooms have been built and 5,000 Bambuti pupils are being equipped with basic knowledge.
The project also runs two boarding primary schools at Mungbere and Nduye where ORA graduates classes get free primary education.
Fr. Laudani told The New Vision there are 93 pupils at Mungbere and 56 pupils at Nduye Primary Schools, making them the first 149 Bambuti pupils to get formal education and the most highly educated in their community.
Fr. Laudani says the programme encourages the Bambuti to leave their homes in the forest and make encampments. The Bambuti are then mobilised to participate in building the classrooms and sending their children to school. The project will soon build a Teacher Training College.
Ends