In the 1990s, Batwa were forcibly evicted for conservation, leading to severe mental health impacts., forced migration, expulsion, ejection, and removal: These words inadequately describe the experience of being thrown out of one’s home and off one’s land at gunpoint. It happened to the Batwa people of Kanungu district in southwestern Uganda.
I am a team member as a scientist, learning and contributing on how our colleagues and friends around the world have been forced to deal with environmental changes and the subsequent mental and emotional health consequences. We hope to support these communities in documenting their stories ofhave undermined local knowledge, ruined local resources, and undercut the livelihoods and emotional well-being of locals. Generations of connections with their lands and nature have been severed.
Then, a few decades ago, others moved into the forest, felled trees, and built houses for farming. With the land being ruined, the government moved in, using weapons to push Batwa out, to places where Batwa community members did not know how to fend for themselves. Led by Sylvia Kokunda, the founder and CEO of the Action for Batwa Empowerment Group , the Batwa community explains how they had conserved rather than exploited their forest home. They avoided harming the gorillas, seeing them as cousins and avoiding setting traps along gorilla tracks. Batwa used the treasure trove of local plants for their medicinal properties, treating conditions from malaria to period pain.
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