February 17, 2003

Dear Family and Friends,
Pygmies world wide are a nomadic people, rarely residing in one place for long. The Batwa pygmies are no exception. Having lived off of the forest's bounty since time immemorial they have had a difficult time surviving since being evicted from the forest. The Batwa pygmies now live on land where they are either squatters existing at the pleasure of the landowner, or living on land held in trust for them. The primary organizations that have accrued land for the pygmies are the Church of Uganda through donations from churches in Dallas or the Bwindi Trust through grants from USAID and the Netherlands. In our discussions with the pygmies and at the several Forest Peoples Program (a group that assists indigenous forest dwelling people) workshops we have attended, land issues are always of paramount importance to the pygmies. To our knowledge the pygmies have never owned land themselves. This was to change. We had been exploring the possibility of the pygmies owning land over the last several months. We had been cautioned by the dominant tribal leaders (the Bakiga) that the pygmies were too immature to own land, they would fight and squabble and eventually sell the land. The pygmies offered a different model. Their suggestion was to design the purchase after their life in the forest where they shared everything and disputes were settled by an elected committee. Accordingly they proposed that the land be purchased by the whole settlement governed by a committee and property apportioned according to need. We felt led to trust the pygmies. We gave them a ceiling of $1,000 which we would contribute. Several pieces of land were available around the settlement at that price. Carol took on the role of facilitator and surveyor extraordinaire. Over the course of several weeks she hiked over a variety of terrain hacking with machetes around the perimeter of available sites. A 15 acre plot was mentioned as a possibility. The pygmies, Carol and a visiting graduate student Kristen made the arduous hike to the area and spent several hours inspecting the acreage which contained a pond and good soil. The pygmies then launched into the lengthy bargaining process eventually arriving at an
extraordinary low price. A map was then drawn of the site and all adjacent landowners identified. The signing ceremony was quite a gala event. Below the sketch of land, the owner, adjacent landowners, local officials and the pygmies signed. The majority of the pygmies signed with a thumbprint and X. One pygmy though waved off the ink on thumb procedure and with a flourish signed his own name to the cheers of the other pygmies. This was a joyous moment for us but not without some trepidation. This was the pygmy's first experiment in land ownership and one of the early steps toward self sufficiency. Would they stumble and fall into bickering, or would they accelerate to full stride never looking back? The answer probably lies somewhere in between. The pygmies will still require nurturing and support but we pray that this will prove an opportunity for the pygmies to define their own destiny. Your prayers would be appreciated.
God bless,
Scott and Carol