Several years ago I loaded my surfboard up into my 2005 Buick Lacrosse along with a duffle bag of clothes and I headed out to travel the U.S. while living in my car. Though my travels I meet hundreds of people from all different walks of life.
Despite their different backgrounds and experiences in life, a common trend linked all these strangers together. They were all chasing something. For many, it was a feeling of belonging or purpose that they were seeking. Often, this desire expressed itself as a fiery passion for protecting nature. Many of the people I meet expressed the inner need to wander from place to place to connect to the earth. This is why so many travel to "Spiritual vortexes" like Sedona, Arizona, hoping to align themselves with the energy of the universe.
There is a movement across our culture that elevates a connection with nature. There is a worship-like reverence for the forests, the animals, the oceans, and lakes. People spend their whole lives chasing after a connection that will leave them empty, and in the process, they promote an ideology that places plants and animals above human life, which has resulted in the sacrifice of human life across the globe, all in the name of conservation.
As I traveled the United States, I learned about a small group of people, located in the Southwest of Uganda. The Batwa people are one of the oldest documented tribes in Africa. They lived high in the mountain forests, straddling several East African countries.
In 1991, the government of Uganda reclassified the lands the Batwa had lived on for millennia as national parks and forcibly removed the Batwa from them. This reclassification was pushed by large conservation organizations based out of the United States and Europe.
The Batwa became conservations refugees. Conservation refugees are people who are forced from their homes when the land they live on is turned into a protected area such as a National Park. The United Nations (UN) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimate the range of conservation refugees worldwide is five million to tens of millions.
Morris is only eight years old. He and his younger brother lived with their grandmother, who had a mental health issue. She never fed Morris and his brother. One day, Morris was so hungry that he stole a jackfruit. The people in the village captured him, put him inside tires, poured gasoline over him, and set him on fire. By the grace of God, the director of Hope Ministries Uganda was in town that day and was able to put the fire out and rescue Morris and his brother. Hope Ministries Uganda is a Christian ministry working to reach the Batwa.
There are 350 Batwa children that are under the care of Hope Ministries Uganda who would be street kids, sex trafficked, or dead if it weren't for the work of the Ministry.
We live in a culture that worships nature, and sadly, in many cases, Christians actively support organizations and projects that sacrifice the lives of people created in the image of God to protect plant and animal life. The Batwa were pushed out of their homes to preserve 250 endangered mountain gorillas, but their story is not unique. Across the globe, conservation organizations and governments are working to displace hundreds if not thousands of communities and people groups in the name of conservation.
Since 2020, my mission has been to raise awareness of the issue of conservation refugees and to partner with ministries working to bring the hope of the Gospel to the Batwa and provide for the needs of the next generation of Batwa children.
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