Article by: Barbara Appleby
We set out from Bujumbura in a van to travel to Muyinga, a small village in the northeastern corner of the country. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. We had been told that we were going to visit a Pygmy village and refugee camp. I thought we were going for a simple visit. Little did we know (Anne and Mike and I) that the Pygmies of Muyinga would become a part of our lives for years to come!
When we arrived in the village, the Pygmies crowded around us. They lived in basic huts made of leaves and grass and many wore clothes that looked like they had never been washed. A few of the children had no clothes and all! One of the women complained that her young daughter had accidentally set their hut on fire and that they had lost everything that they had. Beyond the crowd, I spotted a strikingly beautiful little girl standing away from the others with expectation on her face.
Although I had worked among inner city children in New York and Philadelphia, I had never seen such crushing poverty in all of my life. It was obvious that the kids were hungry and hoping for something from us. Before we had left Bujumbura, one of our hosts had given us bags of croissants and bananas. They were in the back of the van. I climbed in and ripped the croissants up and gave pieces to all the kids. Then I did the same with the bananas. Although the FAMA US team had not yet been formed at the time, unbeknownst to us, that day marked our very first food distribution—meager as it was—to the Pygmy children of Muyinga.
