Increased hunger and poverty among the Batwa amidst COVID-19 in Uganda

Accessing medical services is complicated due to limited transport at present as well as the fact that many Batwa live in hard to reach areas where they have to walk long distances to get treatment. Some even fail to walk and remain home without getting medical help, leaving the cure in God’s hands.

Indigenous peoples also lack information about the situation the world is in. Many times they receive this information via third parties when it is no longer useful or it is already out of date.

In this period of COVID-19 where everything is locked down including all businesses, cheap labour is not always required. Before, the Batwa would sell used bottles on the roadsides, work as potters, clean and pick up rubbish around homes and hotels; however, due to COVID-19 they are prevented from leaving their homes to look for food.

Furthermore, in this period of total/partial, agriculture has gained a lot of value. Everyone is looking at farming as the only means to survive on since it’s among the few activities allowed to continue operating in this lockdown. This however favours those with gardens or land to cultivate and produce food to sell and to eat. For the Batwa who either have little or no land at all, survival in these hard times is very complicated. The Batwa that had been surviving by offering cheap labour like washing, cleaning, carrying garbage etc. have been forced to stay at home, and hence are unable to get jobs.

The majority of the Batwa survive on daily jobs that provide them with food for the day, but with this shut down - plus the increase in prices - the Batwa have resorted to asking the government to give them food during this tough period. The government we well as NGOs and other individuals have responded and given the Batwa food relief in form of maize flour, beans and soap. The question, however, remains: will this relief be sustainable until the lockdown is over? Or will these well-wishers and the government keep supplying these relief items? We believe the answer is no, and yet feeding is mandatory to everyone. How long will this relief be and how long will COVID-19 stay? Stabilising society again may take a long time and will result in the continued suffering and long lasting hunger and poverty among the Batwa.

As we look forward to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of harm will have been caused towards the Batwa society. It would therefore be grateful if well-wishers combined efforts to financially assist UOBDU so as to be able to continue supporting the Batwa with different relief items like food.