NEW LEADERSHIP FOR RWANDA: Violet Uwera is a 21 year old woman, a Batwa Pygmy, who has been chosen as a leader by her people. Her family tells a story of the courage and resourcefulness she displayed, even at age 5, during their escape on foot from the 1994 genocide. Violet’s goal is to help lead Rwanda toward reconciliation.
To prepare her for this task, she wanted to be educated in the U.S. Land is Life brought Violet to Massachusetts to complete her junior and senior years of high school. Impressed with her academic abilities and commitment to service, the well-respected Stoneleigh-Burnham School provided a two-year full scholarship for Violet, and she graduated in June of 2010.
COLLEGE: Violet has gone on to receive a full scholarship to the Greenfield Community College in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where she is is majoring in Peace, Justice & Environmental Studies.
VIOLET’S FAMILY - A TRADITION OF LEADERSHIP: Violet’s father is a tireless leader of the Batwa people. He has worked with Land is Life since its inception in 1992. He and his wife have 10 biological children and also open their home to individuals widowed or orphaned by the genocide or AIDS. “We are twenty-one under one roof,” says Charles. Violet is active in a group that provides care and services to widows and orphans. Her elders in this group have identified her as a natural leader, one who is dedicated to repairing her world. Because of the low standard of education in Rwanda, as well as the discrimination against her, Violet wants to be schooled outside of Rwanda and return as a better-skilled leader of her people in Rwanda.
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE BATWA: Violet’s father, Charles Uwiragiye, directs a small NGO in Rwanda dedicated to equal rights for the Batwa. Charles says: “The Batwa Pygmy people have historically been considered ‘less than human’ by the dominant society and are highly discriminated against. We are a persecuted 35,000 people in a country of 9.7 million and are not recognized by other tribes or represented within the government. We are looked upon as useless and harassed, even at schools and health clinics.”
LAND TAKEN AWAY: Refugees International states (12 Aug 2003): “Starting in the late 1960s…international conservation groups have joined with national governments to forcibly expel Pygmies from newly declared game parks and forest preserves. They are evicted from their homelands and offered neither compensation nor recourse. Homeless, they take up a marginalized status on the periphery of local communities…The Batwa have been forgotten by local governments, development programs, national government institutions, conservation groups, censuses, public services, and by the international community in its response to the humanitarian situation in the region.”
