Idjwi: With the technical and financial support of WWF through its “Leading Change-LtC2” project, APAB has just organized an exhibition fair of the achievements and successes of members of solidarity mutuals/MUSO in RUBENGA Chieftaincy, territory of Idjwi to promote social cohesion, community rapprochement and the socio-economic recovery of MUSO members grouped in different sectors of activity.
This fair, which was held in the hall of the KAMASHA tourist site in Idjwi, brought together more than 130 people including indigenous Pygmy people, Pygmy women, young people, fishermen and other members of the Havu community grouped in mutual solidarity societies. in Rubenga chiefdom in Idjwi North.
The Members of the Mutual Solidarity/MUSO testify that thanks to the technical and financial support they had received from APAB through WWF in the Leading Change project, they continued the activities of the MUSO and today some members have already benefited from micro-credits in their groups; some have undertaken pottery activities by making traditional pots, improved stoves (local Mbebula) using clay for the rational use of embers and avoiding destroying the environment by cutting down many trees; others have developed the breeding of goats, guinea pigs and turkeys in the form of rotating credits (if a member’s goat has given birth, he gives the baby to another member and so on); others developed agricultural activities; women have developed small businesses selling fry, clothes and bananas; others bought nets and started fishing on Lake Kivu, while young indigenous Pygmy people also developed the activities of men’s and women’s hairdressing in their camps to meet their needs.
For Mr. BASHIBA BOROTO Philémon, pygmies and supervisor of the MUSOs in the Bugarula village, he affirms that the MUSOs have a considerable impact in their village because currently the pygmies coexist peacefully with the Havu community who previously discriminated against them, they carry out fishing activities with local fishermen, women sell their small businesses at the market with other women; thanks to MUSO they can now access microcredits in their groups without much difficulty. Currently the Pygmies and the Bantus now come together in the same group and everyone expresses themselves freely without discrimination. As a result of the activities undertaken by members, they take care of the daily needs of their households and others pay school fees and health care for their families. The Bugarula village chief added that today a positive change is being observed in the camp of our brothers Pygmy indigenous peoples because they no longer steal and are now implementing certain activities beneficial to their families and the community in general, thanks to their Mutual Solidarity groups. In his words, he said, well done to WWF DRC and APAB while requesting the continuity of these activities which aim at the socio-economic recovery of communities without any discrimination in Idjwi territory.
Mrs. NYOTA BATAFURAHI, Pygmy woman and Secretary of MUSO WAMAMA TUPENDANE, testifies: “MUSO WAMAMA TUPENDANE helped me a lot, because her husband and her first son had died in the province of North Kivu; thanks to the microcredit and the assistance of members that she had received from the mutual, she had to attend her husband’s funeral in Goma; and she recovered her child’s field which was invaded by her neighbors. For her, MUSO is concretely a solidarity group and she can never abandon it. All are equal regardless of ethnic or clan origin.
Present at this activity, Mr. INOUSSA, Virunga – Itombwe Landscape Manager within WWF DRC, accompanied by Mr. Gentil Kavusa, Leading Change-LtC Project Manager in South Kivu; all expressed feelings of satisfaction at the sight of all these achievements and successes of MUSO members which were exhibited in this fair. For INOUSSA, says that he has seen many successes which impress him, and asks all members of the MUSO of Idjwi to remain calm and faithful in their activities and continue to increase efforts to stimulate development in their entity; because development is a great ideal which takes place in terms of competition; he continues by saying that with the efforts of all, the community, the Congolese State, WWF DRC and other partners will achieve the desired development and thus contribute to the conservation of nature and the socio-economic development of indigenous peoples and the local community of the Idjwi territory.
As a reminder, the indigenous Pygmy people of the Idjwi territory are among the most vulnerable people who lead a difficult life in the camp where they were relocated to a hill in Bugarula in the Mwami field of the Rubenga chiefdom. The latter live in straw or pulp hut houses and they say that during the rainy season they are sheltered from bad weather. But they hope that their lives are changing thanks to the Mutual Solidarity groups that have been installed in their entities by APAB.
These indigenous Pygmy people ask APAB to support them in construction of local depots and markets for the exhibition and sale of their objects made with clay (pots, improved stoves and other works of art); they also want to see APAB and WWF support them in improving their habitats; and also support them in setting up tree germinations for medicines which are used in pharmacopoeias because they say that they have their fields around the Nyamusisi reserve but these fields are not reforested.
The indigenous peoples of Idjwi are asking APAB in collaboration with WWF to support them with livestock and agricultural inputs so that they can set up pilot fields and farms.
Note that the Idjwi territory currently has 45 mutual solidarity groups (MUSO), including 20 in the Rubenga/Idwji North chiefdom and 25 in the Ntambuka/Idjwi South chiefdom. This group of mutual solidarity societies are real spaces for exchange and learning about social, economic and environmental life and also a space for exchange on democratic life, for sharing joys and sorrows. These MUSOs were installed in Idjwi by the Association of Batwa Indigenous Peoples “APAB” with the financial support of WWF DRC as part of the Leading the Change Project financed by the Swedish government through the International Agency of Swedish Development (SIDA) in the provinces of North and South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.