KAYANZA August 5th (ABP) – On Tuesday August 3, 2021, the Association of the Merciful for Assistance to the Vulnerable of HIV-AIDS and Other Vulnerable People (AMAVS-Abagirampuhwe) organized a meeting of 15 Batwa couples from the Munkazi site of the Magamba village in Kayanza commune and province (northern Burundi). During that meeting, it was found that Batwa children do not attend school properly, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
The legal representative of AMAVS-Abagirampuhwe, Pasteur Jean Ndabadogombe, indicated that this meeting was organized for Batwa couples in order to sensitize them on the importance of the education of their children.
On her part, Mrs. Libérate Nicayenzi, one of the members of the committee of elders within the association “Unite for the Batwa promotion” (UNIPROBA), who had come as a facilitator in that meeting, stressed that that Kayanza is among the five provinces with a lot of Batwa, it only has one Twa studying at the university. However, she said that the pupils from that community now number around a hundred and that Burundi has reached a satisfactory level in terms of schooling for Batwa children compared to other countries in the Great Lakes Region.
Mrs. Nicayenzi called on Batwa parents to put the education of their children at the forefront with a view to changing mentalities and self-development. She further urged them to register births in civil status registers, limit births and fight against self-discrimination.