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Displaced Pygmies from Pool Region, Congo Vaccinated Against Polio
UNICEF, July 29, 2002
Mounkomo Village, Bouenza Region, Republic of Congo "Our village was completely burned to the
ground," says Malima Dominique. "We all ran into the forest to hide
when we heard the guns and the shooting. We only had the clothes on our
back. The children were scared and hungry and the elders were exhausted.
We stayed hidden in the forest until it was quiet again, but when a few of
us returned to Nko, we found that it had been completely burned to the
ground - all our houses and even the village school. We have lost
everything we had." Malima is the Chief of the Pygmies of the village of Nko, located in Congo's volatile Pool Region, from which an estimated 100,000 people fled recent fighting that erupted on 30 March 2002 between government troops and the Ninja rebel militia. The fighting continued on into April and tension in the region continues to this date. Nko is situated close to the town of Vinza, home of Pasteur Ntoumi, the mercurial religious-military leader of the Ninja militia. Amongst those who fled the fighting were Malima and the 110 Nko village Pygmies. A soft-spoken, elderly man with a well-trimmed
grey beard, Malima became Chief of his Pygmy village 5 years ago when his
predecessor passed away. "We fled the fighting for good on April 2 and
finally arrived here in Mounkomo by foot on 14 May. We've been displaced
here ever since." The journey from Pool Region to Mounkomo, in
Pool's neighbouring Bouenza Region was long and difficult for the
Pygmies - along the way, one pregnant woman gave birth to a stillborn
child and one of the elderly men died on arrival from exhaustion. "We
had to cross through forests and rivers and we hid in the forests at
night," says Malima. "It was very difficult because we had no food, no
clothes or blankets and people started to get sick. We were frightened of
being attacked and killed." It has never been an easy road for Congo's
Pygmies. Centuries ago, the Pygmies were the first to inhabit the area now
known as the Congo. Bantu groups, including the Teke and the Kongo,
followed them and established powerful kingdoms. The Pygmies, with their
expert knowledge of nature, were used by both groups to cultivate land and
to hunt in the forest. However, they reaped little benefit from their work
for the Teke and Kongo kingdoms. For hundreds of years, they lived
together in small, tight groups, always on the periphery of the Teke and
Kongo villages. Today, five hundred years later, there is very
little difference. "We fled the fighting with the Teke of Nko
whom we work with", says Malima. "We stopped here three months ago at
Mounkomo because the Teke of Nko knew the Teke of Mounkomo. When we first
arrived, we all slept together in the church, but some of us were sick
with tuberculosis and the Teke arranged for us to stay in a few houses
here." The few houses are located on the outskirts of the Teke village
of Mounkomo. Centuries after the first Pygmies arrived in the Congo, the
110 Pygmies of Malima's village still live like their ancestors: on the
periphery of a Teke village - even when it is a village of newly
displaced. This afternoon, the Pygmies who are not out in
the field working for the Teke are gathered around Chief Malima, who is
dressed regally in an orange shirt, sitting on a small stool in the shade
under the branches of a large safoutier tree. "Our relations with the Teke are good",
says Malima. "They pay us for our day's work in the field and we can
buy food with that. The Teke of Mounkomo have even asked if we will stay
here, but my people want to return to Nko as soon as we can. That is our
home and there we know the forest for hunting." "How many of your children have been
vaccinated against polio?" asks Isabelle Mouyokani of
UNICEF-Brazzaville, to Chief Malima. "Last year, the children were vaccinated and
some of the children were vaccinated again yesterday" says Malima who
speaks Teke, but not French, Congo's national language. "But others were not here so they need to be
vaccinated today." "Okay, that's fine - today we'll
vaccinate all the children who weren't vaccinated yesterday. But, first
of all, who knows what polio is and how to prevent it?", asks Isabelle
in French. After the translation is made into Teke, there is a shuffling
from behind the group. An elderly woman comes forward, carrying her
grandson. He is about six years old and he holds her tightly around the
neck - both of his bone-thin legs dangle below him, providing no
support. "This is my grandson, Malonga. I think he
has the disease you're talking about", she says. "We had to take
turns carrying him all the way from Nko because he's never been able to
walk." "Yes, he does . he does have polio", says Isabelle. "This is what can happen to your children if they don't take the polio vaccine. All your children under 5 years of age must be vaccinated against polio. They must also be vaccinated two more times - one month from now and one month after that. The vaccine is free, it is not harmful and it will prevent your children from becoming crippled." Malonga has now been placed on the ground -
the open cuts on his knees are covered in flies, but either he has no
feeling in his legs or he simply takes no notice. Instead, his bright eyes
are fixed intently on the visitors. "Do you go to school, Malonga?" Malonga is very shy and hides his face in his hands. "But the school was burned down, remember?", says Malima. "Yes, of course, you're right. But before that, did he go to school?" "No", says his grandmother. "He doesn't go to school. Look at his legs." "But polio has only affected his legs.
He's a smart boy - look at his eyes. He looks very intelligent to me.
The polio hasn't affected whether he can learn to read and write. You
must treat him the same way you treat all the other children. Did you know
that one of the presidents of the United States had polio in both legs,
just like your grandson . and he still became President." This
generates some conversation after being translated into Teke and Malima
leans down and smiles, giving Malonga a pat on the shoulder. Malonga
buries his face in his hands again, shy and perhaps not used to so much
attention. "Chief, will you please have all the
children under 5 years of age brought here for their vaccination?", says
Isabelle. Malima gives a few orders in Teke and the Pygmy children are
brought forward . one by one receiving the two drops of polio vaccine
along with an appropriate dose of Vitamin A, which amongst other benefits,
helps to boost their immunity against infection. Malonga's grand-mother
carries him up to the line but the local Ministry of Health vaccinator
gently explains to her that the polio vaccine won't be of any help to
him now. With a kind smile, he pats Malonga on the back as his grandmother
turns away. Due to fighting in the Pool Region, the Nko Pygmies - and tens of thousands of other people displaced from Pool - have lost everything they had: their homes, their belongings, their school. But they have not lost their hope. "We are only waiting to be sure that the fighting has stopped completely in Pool Region", say Malima. "When it has, we will return to Nko and rebuild our lives. We hope that peace will come soon ... I want to see Malonga go to school one day." Malonga hides his face in his hands again. But
he quickly peeks out from behind them, and this time he's smiling.
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