Pygmy Island

In Uganda, there is a lake called Lake Bunyoni. It is almost 1 kilometer deep. In this lake are islands and one is inhabited by the native pygmies who have been forced out of the forest by the government.




We took a boat to a steep mountain of an island, passing other islands as we went.




This is punishment island, where girls who got pregnant before marriage were left to die. But sometimes, since men have many wives, a guy would come along, think "hey! Free wive!" if he liked her and rescue her and take her to another village. To the right is an island where lepers lived, the last one dieing in 2002.

We climbed and climbed and climbed some more until we reached the primary school the community set up. It had four class rooms and children under 10.




The school

When we arrived, the kids were being led by their teacher in a lesson that incorporated singing and dancing. One of the adults was beating the drum.





They showed us some of the songs and dances they knew ranging to a song in a language I didn't understand to a song, in English, about education. When the teacher wanted to get attention, she would say "Hello children!" and the kids would shout back in unison "HELLO TEACHER!" and then be quiet.












The kids were let out at mid day to go home. I had a quick look at the inside of the school:











Ball, cup, box, pen...




One little guy was watching me




The view from the school yard

Just next door are where the displaced pygmies lived.




I thought the pygmies had lived here for a long time but they had actually been recently kicked out of the forest (to conserve game for tourists) so it was more like a refugee camp than anything. Either way, they welcomed us with dancing and got me to join.


The little boy in red had such a good sense of rhythm. He can't be more than 2 years old but he was stomping his feet to the beat just as good as the adults. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up to dance with him, the cutie.











- Sent from Africa using my iPad