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A Dying Way of Life for Congo's Pygmies
IN PICTURES: The Bambuti, one of several Pygmy groups in Congo, are under threat.

On Idjwi, the largest island in Democratic Republic of Congo, a way of life is dying.

The Bambuti, one of several Pygmy groups in Congo, are among central Africa's oldest Indigenous peoples. For millennia, they have lived as hunter-gatherers, surviving off the forest's bounty of plants, birds and monkeys.

But for its indigenous inhabitants, the advance of another culture has proved nearly as devastating.

The Bambutis, like Pygmy groups across central Africa, have been pushed out of a native land to which they could assert no legal title — in this case, to make way for an exploding ethnic Bantu population who now make up more than 95 percent of Idjwi's 280,000 inhabitants.

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Bahavu children wash on the shore of Lake Kivu, on Idjwi island. Idjwi, in the middle of Lake Kivu, has been spared the ravages of wars in eastern Congo that have killed millions of people since 1996, mostly from hunger and disease.
Bahavu children wash on the shore of Lake Kivu, on Idjwi island. Idjwi, in the middle of Lake Kivu, has been spared the ravages of wars in eastern Congo that have killed millions of people since 1996, mostly from hunger and disease. Photo:Reuters
Kavuha, 73, repairs a container at Kagorwa Pygmy camp on Idjwi island. Around 1980, the Bambuti say, local authorities and customary chiefs from the Bahavu, a Bantu people, expelled them from the forests and turned the land over to Bahavu to farm and build houses.
Kavuha, 73, repairs a container at Kagorwa Pygmy camp on Idjwi island. Around 1980, the Bambuti say, local authorities and customary chiefs from the Bahavu, a Bantu people, expelled them from the forests and turned the land over to Bahavu to farm and build houses. Photo:Reuters
Habimana, 45, poses for a portrait at Kagorwa Pygmy camp. She weeds the fields of a Bahavu businessman building a hotel on the coast, but earns only one-third as much as other workers, and has to sell pottery at market to make extra money.
Habimana, 45, poses for a portrait at Kagorwa Pygmy camp. She weeds the fields of a Bahavu businessman building a hotel on the coast, but earns only one-third as much as other workers, and has to sell pottery at market to make extra money. "I'm used to it," she said. "We are treated as sub-humans. Photo:Reuters
A 10-year-old Pygmy girl laughs as she weeds the land of a Bahavu farmer. At a national level, Congo's parliament first discussed a law to protect Pygmy rights in 2007, but it has yet to vote on a bill. Thus the Bambuti scrape a living clearing fields or carrying heavy loads for Bahavu landowners, who often treat them with contempt.
A 10-year-old Pygmy girl laughs as she weeds the land of a Bahavu farmer. At a national level, Congo's parliament first discussed a law to protect Pygmy rights in 2007, but it has yet to vote on a bill. Thus the Bambuti scrape a living clearing fields or carrying heavy loads for Bahavu landowners, who often treat them with contempt. Photo:Reuters
A Bahavu woman stands (L) as Pygmy women sell pottery in the Bahavu village of Bugarula on Idjwi island. The Bambuti lost their livelihood and, with few if any assets, no education, and no experience of how to support themselves in an alien environment, their society has withered.
A Bahavu woman stands (L) as Pygmy women sell pottery in the Bahavu village of Bugarula on Idjwi island. The Bambuti lost their livelihood and, with few if any assets, no education, and no experience of how to support themselves in an alien environment, their society has withered. Photo:Reuters
Manguiste, 24, stands in a canoe on Lake Kivu. He says he has given up on the old Bambuti existence:
Manguiste, 24, stands in a canoe on Lake Kivu. He says he has given up on the old Bambuti existence: "Our life from before is finished — but we don't deserve this misery. I want to leave the island, go to town, live in a brick house and educate my children." Photo:Reuters
Habimana, 45, and her children walk to market to sell pottery.
Habimana, 45, and her children walk to market to sell pottery. "Before, in the forest, we had everything we needed for an easy and happy life: food, shelter, medicine, clothes," she said. Photo:Reuters
A Bahavu landlord (L) and Pygmy workers have an argument about wages. Most Pygmy workers cannot read or write, and lack the money to send their children to school.
A Bahavu landlord (L) and Pygmy workers have an argument about wages. Most Pygmy workers cannot read or write, and lack the money to send their children to school. Photo:Reuters
Published 12 January 2017
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