When visiting the Batwa, a request was made from a man who is the leader of one savings and loans group. He showed us that he had started prepping wooden poles, shaved down from trees to begin building the structure for a house. He told us that is for an orphan who doesn’t have a home. We agreed with him that, since he started the efforts on behalf of the orphan, we would supply the iron sheets for the roof and the door. He celebrated. Someone went to fetch the orphan who quickly joined us and when I asked him how old he was, he said 35. He is married with a child.
As you can imagine, we were very surprised and felt both amused and maybe a little regretful that we had promised to build this “orphan” house. However, our friend Ashaba, who is the accountant for our partners on this project sent me a text that opened my eyes to another way of seeing things. This is what she wrote:
“The lesson is that he is a nuisance in the community at his age with a wife and child but no house of his own. So the more able Batwa decided to help him acquire a home for his family. That rises his self esteem the same way PLF building houses for them raised their esteem. I mean, by building them houses, you have LITERALLY taught them that owning a house changes a man and they’re paying it forward so this man can change in society. And the house they’re putting up for him is like what PLF has taught them is a better living structure. See it in that light and it will be a story of UBUNTU”. Changing hearts and minds is everything, especially with the Batwa. I thank Ashaba for this beautiful, heartfelt message that changed OUR hearts and minds.
