The man we see in the foreground is no compelling charismatic figure. In fact, the job he had for a number of years in the lakeside Bantu town of Inongo was a humble one: the caretaker of the house of a local man living in the capital. Traditionally the Twa live in small nomadic bands in the forest. There are no chiefs and court traditions like many Bantu peoples have. But he knows the town of Inongo well, and has become a respected leader of the Twa pygmy community in this area.
Despite his age and position in his community, or perhaps because of it, this man has joined the literacy classes, committed to learn to read and write, AND learn French. Why?
He HAS been impressed with our team’s arguments of the necessity of reading and writing. A leader has to know what official documents say and how their Bantu neighbors might use those documents to gain an advantage. But what really gives him determination to learn to read and write is his personal experience.
When he acted as caretaker for that house in the middle of town, he lived on the property, caring for the buildings and the yard. Nobody objected. There came a time when the owner of the house did not return. He had died. But before he died, he deeded the house to the man who cared for it so faithfully. The document was sent to the caretaker in Inongo. When it arrived, the caretaker, not knowing how to read, thought the letter was for the owner and put it aside. So it was that the death announcement and disposition of the house remained unknown.
Eventually, after several years, the news of the death trickled home and the extended family claimed the house and moved in. When they did, they found the document, read it and were outraged. The neighbors were outraged too when they heard. No way was that house going to go to this pygmy. No way was the neighborhood going to accept a Twa as their landed neighbor on an equal footing. He wasn’t going to stay there a minute longer. They chased him off into the forest at the edge of town.
But he stayed. He built himself a house there, just sufficiently off town territory to satisfy them. When other Twa came to Inongo looking for a different life, they joined him. That’s how their community, Lwatekaka, grew. With his years of experience in the town, he was their natural leader, able to advise them as to where to go and the best way to do things.
He’s the head of the Twa Christian community too. While he was caretaker, drawn by the lively music and drums in churches, he hovered around the edges, taking in what they said about God, and accepted Jesus as his savior and lord. A pastor grudgingly baptized him and a few others. It’s no surprise that, in their ignorance, their practice of their faith leaves a lot to be desired, but they have a strong desire to know better this God who says he loves and died for them. Other Twa in their community are interested too.
Maybe he doesn’t know it, but the literacy classes will make him a much better leader for his people, both outside and inside the church. Besides learning how to read and write, and understand the legal things that affect them, besides learning perhaps to use the language of prestige and education, French, when it counts, besides learning how to gain the respect of their neighbors for his community, besides learning how to buy and sell wisely, to craft new things, to build better houses, to get more of what they want, and to teach these things to the others, in learning to read the Bible he will have the source for learning how to truly walk with Jesus as a Twa, how to please God, and how to really lead his fellow Twa in this new path of good news.
