With support from Fund for Global Human Rights, the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda in collaboration with Batwa elders and Uganda Wildlife Authority officials in Bundibugyo has produced and disseminated learning resource materials written in local language of the Batwa, known as Kuswa.
The learning resource materials are meant to provide access to the remnants of the Batwa language and culture by learners from the Batwa community in Bundibugyo especially those who are studying at Bugombwa Catholic Parish Nursery and Primary school. The materials produced as a result of the concern that young people from the Batwa community rarely access aspects of their language in the formal learning spaces due to the government policy and the thematic curriculum for lower primary in which learners are taught in the local
language of a dominant community in a given area. In the case of Bundibugyo, learners are taught either in Lukonzo or Kwamba and this marginalises the Batwa language due to their small population in the district.
It is expected that the Batwa children will use these resources to learn about their cultural heritage, language and other ways of life, especially during the time allocated for co-curricular activities.
Who are the Batwa in Bundibugyo? The Batwa in Bundibugyo are one of Uganda’s Indigenous Ethnic Minority Groups. History has it that in the 1950s they migrated from Ituri forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo and settled in the Semuliki Forest. In 1993, they were evicted from the Semuliki Forest when it was gazetted a National Park. Since then, they have been displaced from one place to another and this has taken effect on the different aspects of their cultural heritage, including their language, Kuswa. Their cultural identity is still strongly associated with the Semuliki forest and its attendant natural resources, such as caves, hot springs, rivers, hills, plants and animals. The forest provides a source of emotional and spiritual well-being for the Batwa community, socially organised in clans, with strong cultural and traditional beliefs. Currently, the Batwa live in Ntandi, Karambi and Kapepepe in Bundibugyo district.