Pygmy Survival Alliance

Since 2009, we have operated the Community of Potters Health and Development project in Ndera Sector, Gasabo District, Rwanda, also known as "COPHAD", in conjunction with our Rwandan national partner, Health Development Initiative-Rwanda https://hdirwanda.org/ . We began in the village of Bwiza, which has now become the new village of Cyaruzinge. We have also been working in Masoro Village and made outreach to other villages. We began by providing shoes, clothing, food, shelter, medical care, education and jobs. We established a Village Council of an equal number of men and women. Our interventions are lead by a Rwandan Field Manager who operates within an administrative oversight of a well-established and successful Rwandan NGO, ensuring compliance with all local regulations. Food security was job #1 because we found infant deaths were directly related to malnutrition. We improved agricultural methods by providing tools, fertilizer and training on terrace-building. We promoted the introduction of livestock including goats and cows. We provided training on reproductive health, childbirth, HIV screening, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene. We built water harvesting and storage systems, pit toilets, and new roofs for homes. We recruited support within the local Rwandan government at the Sector, District and National levels. We coordinated volunteer efforts among Philanthropic, Diplomatic, Educational, International and Business allies. We organized worker Cooperatives for agriculture, basket-making and performing arts. We advocated for and coordinated access to water and electricity. We started a Nursery School at the request of the mothers. At present, we are combining the concept of a Traditional Arts Cultural Village with a new Nursery school and we plan to buy land to build it.

We have a strong base of 10 years of mutual successful collaboration with our Rwandan NGO collaborators and staff, and a positive reputation in the region as a development partner who has accomplished changes at the grassroots level that many thought were impossible. We have a growing administrative capacity for fundraising based in the USA, together with some new collaboration emerging in Belgium. We are building an endowment and continuing to plant seeds, such as collaboration with other Seattle NGOs and Global Community Leaders. We have raised funds to buy land for the new nursery school and have begun planning for construction. We are embarking on a one-year organizational development process to build capacity for future sustainability.

Each year, we gather in Rwanda with our Field Manager and meet in the village where are efforts are focused to review our work, assess our progress and challenges and work for making the coming year better. Milestones that we can easily track include progress towards construction of the new school, number of students in each year’s class and funds raised for further development. We post photos on our Facebook page to easily record a highly visible public record of our progress.

Before we started, more than half the babies born in the Batwa Pygmy village of Bwiza died before they were 5 years old. Today, most are surviving past 5 years of age. Before we started, the women had less social status than men; now, the men and women have more equal social status. Before we started, people were dying of malnutrition and at risk of extinction. Now, they are surviving, and many are thriving. Before we started, the Batwa of Bwiza were not singing and dancing because they were hungry. Today, they are performing at the Marriott Hotel and the Embassies of Germany and the USA. Next, we will further extend our efforts to near-by Batwa communities and recruit in-country resources at the government level to sustain the progress with this new generation of children.