NGOZI March 9th (ABP) – In Kimagara village in Rukeco zone of Busiga commune, a traveler is directly surprised by piles of planks and beams along the road. It was out of curiosity that the ABP correspondent approached men apparently tired of waiting for something to happen.
Among those men, there was a well-dressed man, Bosco Nyandwi, a member of the Batwa community, owner of that wood. He confided to being a progressive who has completely reconverted. “I belong to the Batwa community of this locality. Unlike my brothers and sisters, my mentality has completely changed. I, my wife and my children have said – no – to pottery in order to practice the wood trade. Boards and beams that you see in front of you are mine. I am waiting for a truck to load it”.
Asked about the reason that led him to break with the ancestral craft of pottery, Mr. Nyandwi noted: “It is no longer possible to live from pottery for three reasons. First, ceramics do not bring enough income to develop a household. Second, there is no more clay since the clay that exists is in the marshes of individuals or the commune. Therefore, you have to rent a plot of marsh while the Batwa do not have enough means to achieve it. Finally, it is an unprofitable profession. Mr. Nyandwi calls on all Batwa to align themselves like other Burundians with the new dynamics of development: “We must practice productive activities such as agriculture, livestock, trade or even the industry sector”.
He did not fail to provide advice to the Batwa so that they change their mentality. They must send their children to school, build themselves decent houses to give up straw houses forever, he noted. Moreover, he claims to already have a capital of more than five million and to have given employment to people, whether Batwa or not, for sawing and transporting the various materials from his wood.
In addition, Mr. Nyandwi asks the Batwa brothers to clean the body and the environment and to give up begging, because those who are already aware of it are in good health.