Still a Pygmy: Isaac Bacirongo’s remarkable tale of war, witchcraft and finding freedom in Sydney

GROWING up as a hunter-gatherer in the forests of Congo, Pygmy Isaac Bacirongo never dreamed he would end up living in Australia.

PYGMY Isaac Bacirongo’s remarkable journey from the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo to southwest Sydney makes for a riveting read.

Bacirongo, 54, has just published his book Still A Pygmy, a personal account of growing up as a hunter-gatherer in the eastern forests of Congo.

His tale of war, witchcraft and prejudice against BaTembo Pygmies is said to be the world’s first autobiography of a Pygmy. It was written with the help of Michael Nest, a researcher with a PhD in African politics.News_Image_File: A portrait of Isaac Bacirongo with his family before leaving for Fairfield from Nairobi in 2003.

Mr Bacirongo, wife Josephine and their 10 children and grandchildren fled the strife-torn Central African country after being persecuted for setting up the first indigenous rights group for Pygmies, who were seen as inferior to all other Africans.

“I hope my memoir will make Pygmies proud of their identity and make other people understand Pygmies are also world citizens with the same capabilities as anyone,” Mr Bacirongo said.

Mr Bacirongo married Josephine, a ‘town girl’, whom his mother hated. Complaining that her new daughter-in-law would not be able to catch crabs or collect firewood, she hired a witchdoctor to put a spell on Josephine to kill her.

Mr Bacirongo said luckily the witchdoctor wasn’t very effective and his wife was still healthy.

“But my wife and mother still don’t get on,” he said, so his mother lives elsewhere in Sydney.

News_Image_File: Isaac Bacirongo with wife Josephine and family members Johnathan, Mantil (rear), baby Esta, David and Salome (front) at their Canley Vale home .He estimates he is approximately 150cm tall, and has a sister who stood 135cm high.

“I think about being a Pygmy a lot — I can’t lose my nature just because I am out of the forest or living a new life. It’s in my blood and I can’t change it.”

Mr Bacirongo, who built a prosperous business in Congo after educating himself and leaving the dense jungle of Kasachi, ended up escaping to Australia on a humanitarian visa after the disruption of war and a brutal dictatorship in his homeland.

News_Image_File: Mr Bacirongo's family in Sydney from left to right Boaz, Jonathan (grandson) and Montil.News_Image_File: Josephine and Isaac Bacirongo outside their Canley Vale home in 2014.

The family was amazed by how clean the streets were around Fairfield, as well as the free delivery of newspapers, the approachability of Australian authorities and how locals mix at the shopping malls — rich and poor alike.

Another source of astonishment was the sight of kangaroos in the countryside — “free meat!”, Mr Bacirongo exclaimed.

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As a young boy of six he was taught how to hunt antelope and porcupine “our favourite food”, and lived in a hut built from sticks and leaves.

News_Image_File: Isaac with the banana tree he and Josephine planted takes pride of place in their backyard, where they also grow African vegetables. “It’s my connection to my homeland,” Mr Bacirongo said.

Pygmies have suffered oppression because of their short stature and lack of voice in the wider society.

“When I grew up there were no doors in our hut because we had no possessions,” he said.

“We did not wear clothes because they would get snagged on branches when hunting.”

News_Image_File: Isaac Bacirongo book is the first Pygmy autobiography.Yet he says life under the giant forest trees was not stressful.

“Because there were no people around!” he said. “Stress is brought to you by other people and no one looks down on you in the forest.”

His 82-year-old mother — who lived her entire life in the jungle — followed the family to Australia, and then had to learn how to wear shoes for the first time to catch the aeroplane.

“She is very very tough — she is much stronger than me,” Mr Bacirongo said.

The memoir is available as an e-book for $9.99 or softcover at the publisher finch.com.au or in bookstores

The word pygmy refers to a group of people whose average male height is 150cm or less

While other groups around the world also fit this definition, it is accepted as a race in Central Africa