August 7,2003

Dear Family and friends,
Tuesday Pastor Stephen and I (Carol) are at the pygmy settlement of Kitairiro having a meeting in a classroom with pygmy parents and students ironing out a variety of issues when a moaning sound can be heard from outside. I investigate and here on the ground lays an elderly pygmy woman named Margaret. She seems very ill so Pastor Stephen and I carry her to the nearby clinic for medical attention by Scott. Afterwards I give her a small sum of money to purchase food while she recovers. On the way back to the school I pass our vehicle and remember that in the vehicle is a large sack of empty water bottles that we had collected for the pygmies. I thought that since there were so many of these bottles it wouldn‚t be a problem if I just laid the sack out on the ground for the pygmies to orderly divvy up among themselves - wrong.
Within seconds of bring out the bottles the whole bag had levitated off the ground with bottles dancing in the air. Bethany Norman, our friend visiting from Nevada City, was attracted to the sound of whirring and vibrating of spinning bottles and came to investigate. Our impression was of a feeding frenzy of piranhas as blurred bodies and bottles leapt out of the bag as if they had a life of their own. As the animated sound and movement settled down and the bag drifted earthward, I noticed the previously infirm Margery emerge from the melee with a decided look of triumph as she clutched two bottles. She had gotten the better of many other seemingly stronger and younger pygmies and she had certainly gotten the better of Pastor Stephen and me. Pastor Stephen and I made eye contact and roared with laughter.
Wednesday It is the end of the day at an open-air clinic at Mukono settlement next to the Bwindi forest. News comes that a pygmy child is seriously ill at a small settlement at a distance. Two visitors Kristina and Tom (from the US and UK respectively) hike up and carry the child down. After evaluation it is obvious that the child will need ongoing care, as he is severely dehydrated and malnourished. We load he and his family into the bedlam of the children‚s ward at Kihihi hospital leaving the child in hands of an overworked but capable pediatrician. We leave IV supplies, canulas and tape with the doctor as the hospital is currently poorly supplied and leave money with the family for food and transport home.
Several days later I return to the hospital bringing two other patients. I visit the child we had brought previously. He is four years old but looks like a baby. His cheeks are fuller, not gaunt like before and he can now sit but he does not respond to his environment or to verbal stimulation. The image of this child remains with me and on a trip to Mukono the next day meet his mother and one of our nurses by the roadside. I ask the nurse what is going on at their settlement? The nurse answers matter of factly "by the way, the small group of pygmies there are starving.". Why had no one told us? I am stunned to learn that this small family exists on land they do not own, they are squatters and are dying. God forgive me for not being aware of their dreadful plight.
Saturday. There is a concert at the cathedral involving children from three schools. My back is painful and I am at home relaxing but I do not want to miss this event, as 25 pygmies from the Bishops primary school will be participating. The cathedral is packed with students from the local primary and secondary schools. The absolute hit of the day is pygmy choir who fill the cathedral with their melodic and rhythmic sounds. The audience becomes riveted watching the pygmies perform. The audience suddenly surges forward to get a better look as the pygmies demonstrate unique and intricate handmovements from an ancient forest dance that the crowd had never seen before.
Monday We are returning home from the Bwindi after a clinic, our vehicle is packed with visitors working with us along with four pygmies returning to the Bishops primary school. Along the road we see a crowd standing around an obviously ill individual lying on the ground. A young man had been injured in a motorcycle accident and requires suturing. Kristina, Tom and Bethany take turns repairing the lacerations under Scott‚s direction. I notice a crowd forming near the vehicle jeering and telling the pygmies to come out. Re-entering the front seat Bethany notices that the two young pygmy girls have locked the door. I wonder what these pygmies, considered the lowest of the low, have to face daily especially when jealousy is involved. Newspaper accounts from the Ituri forest in nearby Congo reveal the pygmies there are facing cannibalism - their hearts are considered to have healing qualities. I think of other rumors that I have heard of the belief that having sex with a pygmy cures AIDS. I am afraid for them. Later we stop at another village down the road to drop off the injured cyclist and another crowd forms around our vehicle. I can‚t understand what the crowd is saying but from the occasional "Batwa" or "pygmy" mentioned and the tone it is obvious that the conversation is deprecatory to the pygmies. The two small pygmy girls in the front seat with Bethany sink into her lap and hold on to her for protection and solace. As we pull away one member of the crowd places his hand on Bethany‚s arm, which she throws off as if to rid us all of the threats and negativity that are so tangible. As the town recedes from view the pygmy children begin singing praise songs to God.
For the next half hour until we reach their school the vehicle is fill with a heavenly chorus. Bethany, a concert choir member, comments that amazingly the pygmy children have perfect pitch, never a wrong note. I feel the beauty of their heart pour forth in their music. Something about how these small children tolerate threats and injustice and respond with joyful singing is healing to me and I am grateful! "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."
Ps 40:3 God bless, Carol