MENTORSHIP PROJECT - 50 Local Guides Support

I arrived shortly after midnight into Rwanda, then immediately left for a 3 hour taxi ride to the remote town Ruhengeri.  After 2 hours with my taxi driver falling asleep through the country roads, I forced him to drop me off midway at a sketchy hotel, which was safer than a head on collision. Early the next morning, I resumed by expedition to revisit my Indigenous Batwa friends who I had met a few years earlier during a family trip into the mountains of Rwanda. Upon arrival and check in to my hotel, I had several meetings with some local hotel owners who I felt would be real estate savvy. I was seeking help facilitating the Batwa’s request to purchase their own land based upon conversations I had with them two years early.  During that visit, they unanimously told me of their desire to be in control of their own property which could feed their community sustainably.  I told them that I would return some day to deliver on that promise. Well I returned and here is how it went.

I decided to engage these local real estate moguls with the hope of getting a seasoned person, assuming they had little interest in directly stealing from such a small community as the Batwa Peoples. Well this encounter, quickly led to one hand off after another, from one of the owners to the other, then onto the Park Ranger who everyone knew.   Finally after 3-4 hours of formalities, me and the Park Ranger hit the road. Within 10  minutes we visited a community visitor center and met a wonderful volunteer there who dedicates his time touring the guests around this mountain area showing off the government’s sponsored NGO.

Next, we revisited two Batwa Communities which I had GPS coordinates on from my last visit. Upon my arrival I was so excited to see many of the same faces, and some new ones. Clearly, the population of the communities grew from last time at 236 people to now close to 300 in just 2 years. We were able to film the entire interaction with our questions of “What do You Need?” and “How can We Help?” These were the same questions I had asked them two years prior; however, we did not have the funds last visit. With barely any hesitation, and with the most calm cooperation along with the women’s inclusiveness, they repeated what I knew they would say, LAND. They ALL wanted their own communal land to grow their own food, and raise their own animals on.

The Batwa Peoples had been displaced by the Government in favor of the Silverback Gorilla Habitat Preservation, which yields big tourism dollars ($800/person for a 1 hour visit). After hearing the resounding calls for our $25,000 to be used for a land purchase, we told them we would return the very next day to answer any questions and discuss further with all 300 people present.

Well that’s when the inevitable happened…The “authorities” inserted themselves into the financial equation. That evening, evidently the park ranger didn’t like it that someone (the IRF) was going to unconditionally help the Batwa People and allow them a happy day, so he notified the mayor of the city who personally came to my hotel for a late night meeting. Well the meeting did not go well because “I’ve seen this dance before”. He insisted that “he and his government officials knew what is best for the Batwa People” “they need toilets” and that“the government agency should make those decisions for them”. Our Philosophy of Self-Determination should be an inalienable right to anyone in our opinion. The fact that the government was hell-bent on taking that away from them, continues the mental and emotional crippling of these people that they say they are trying to help.

In all fairness, the government programs were making improvements and I did see about 4-5 new housing structures on their “Batwa Reservation”  designated by the government signs for the tourists. This can only be described as a pity party and fund-raiser for the governmental agencies, who control this circus act. While visiting with locals and volunteers of agencies, it was revealed to us that roughly 6% of the $1,000/night eco lodging room rates actually make it into the local social causes, which the foreign clients naively pay so dearly for. If this figure is close, it’s consistent with our findings and estimate of global sharing at about 10% of all foreign aid making directly into the hands of the recipients. The money simply is stolen or evaporates along the way. After the disappointing meeting with the Mayor, he told me to come the next morning to their offices for a meeting with all their officials. Upon arrival, I was greeted by a group of six or so disinterested “stiff suits”, who cared less about why I was there to help their people, than they were about enforcing that I contribute into one of their designated non-profit organizations, which I believed they had their hands in. After an unsuccessful painful plea to deal directly with the community, they “drew the line in the sand” and informed me that “it is illegal for there to be a gathering of 2 or more people with a foreigner in Rwanda without a government official present and if I go back to the village unescorted, then I would have to suffer the consequences and that I should take my money home and they would rather not have it”. Is this the leaders speaking on behalf of the community?  This doesn’t make sense for those who’s income is $1/day and for those who were wearing the same clothes as from my visit two years ago? Leaders should do what’s in the best interest of their people and not send someone away with hard currency which would be infused into their economy.

I was then escorted into a mans office who arrived late, who supposedly helps coordinate donors, projects and their organization, such as USAID and an Austria Agency which have signs around the village. I had a really bad feeling about this “corralling of us into their system” so I requested yet another meeting with their supposed NGO. After visiting with many locals, the transparency of this and other agencies appeared to be consistent with others around the globe. Like in the famous movie of the 1960’s called “The Great Wizard of Oz” with its scene “Don’t Look Behind the Curtain”, these agencies don’t want you to directly help others, because they want everything to be funneled through them so they may decide where the money goes or if it goes.

In the evening, we had another meeting, this time with their local NGO with about 7-8 stiff suits again. This time I threw up my hands with frustration and realized that their system in Rwanda was a well organized, secretive operating machine which “if left unchecked” appears fine at the surface; however, the Inti Raymi Fund does check on these matters. We drill deeper than just the surface level when helping others. When people are oppressed, they would never bite the hand that feeds them, or make a complaint for fear of retribution that matters might get a lot worse for them. We must always remember, after we leave, these people are still stuck there with any collateral damage done during our visit. This system is why the Continent of Africa as a whole cannot pull itself from poverty, largely due to corruption and abuse of power, not a lack of funds, intelligence or natural resources. Those few at the top at .1%, through fear and intimidation, corruption, violence, cronyism and nepotism hoard all the riches and forget about the bottom 99.9%.

Our Philosophy section of our website says it well, that all people if given the choice, would rather determine their own destiny on issues in their lives. It’s those crooks and/or narcissistic leaders always at the top, who feel they need to control every move everyone does, through the villainization of the victims in every situation. For example, these Indigenous Batwa Peoples are very uneducated and primitive in reality and have tremendous struggles adapting in their new society. They were forced to move into the cities from living alongside the Silverbacks in the mountain jungles. Remember, this was not their choice to live in the town nearby, it was the government agencies, tour companies and the like who made this decision for these voiceless mountain people, enforcing that they come down from living among the Silverback Gorillas. There is a land scarcity issue and a health issue for the Silverbacks getting viruses from the Batwa Peoples living within reach; however, this issue caused this extensive collateral damage, so we must remember these Batwa are not the Villains, they are the disempowered poor who cannot facilitate what they want or need.  They have spoken in a calm confident voice over and over again, they want to start over with their own land, but their government is not respecting their voice. Land ownership is controlled in this region and the circus act of the Batwa being displaced and utilized in marketing to the tourists who ask “oh, what can we do as tourists?” playing perfectly into the hands of those running the government and NGO’s locally which wealthy Gorilla tourists pay for. The government even have signs in front of the Indigenous Batwas’ Camp remarking their freak show in my opinion.

With the implicit threats of deportation, arrest or potentially worse, I had no choice but to betray my second promise to my Batwa friends and not return to their village to help them fulfill their land purchase dream. What a huge disappointment.

The Inti Raymi Fund believes that there are no mistakes when sharing with good people. We quickly went to a “Plan B” mode. We decided to share over $30,000 with roughly 50 Silverback Gorilla guides, tour operators and local guides, who were role model citizens of high moral and ethical character who deserved a financial “second chance in life”. This golden opportunity presents a myriad of options for these young hard working men, with families, business ideas and education dreams which all cost money. Education in Rwanda must be paid for out of pocket in an 80% agrarian economy. Doesn’t this make you question, who makes the laws determining that education is private? The rich stay rich, the educated stay educated, so the educated get richer and the rich get more educated, always at the expense of the uneducated and poor. Then the poor stay poor and the uneducated stay uneducated, then these guys stay poor & uneducated. The poverty cycle continues just like the rich cycle continues unless these cycles are broken, if given the opportunity. This is why the Inti Raymi Fund comes to these remote places, to provide this second chance and hope for marginalized and oppressed people.