Isaac Bacirongo was born into the BaTembo Pygmy tribe as a hunter-gatherer, ultimately becoming an activist and promoter of indigenous rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Mr Bacirongo's account of his life, Still a Pygmy, is proclaimed by its publisher to be the first memoir ever published by a pygmy author.
It details the hardships faced by Mr Bacirongo throughout his life, including being imprisoned and tortured for his advocacy work.
Mr Bacirongo says he's encountered many negative perceptions about pygmies through his life.
“People talk negatively about pygmies,” he told SBS.
“Saying ‘there is no educated pygmy, all the pygmies live in the forest, they are naked, they just wear cloths’, and that made me upset. So I created an organisation to defend the pygmy’s rights.”
In 2003, Mr Bacirongo escaped to Australia with his wife Josephine and their 10 children as a refugee on a humanitarian visa, and settled in suburban Sydney.
Ms Bacirongo said she is proud of her husband for sharing their story and culture with the world through his book, and highlighted the contrasts between her life now and her life 15 years ago.
“When I came to Australia it was good because in my country it was war, when I came to Australia I feel happy because I have peace,” she said.
Although he has enjoyed his life in Australia, Mr Bacirongo said he has felt “excluded from the system” while living here, and went through a period of depression.
He also had an experience at a job where colleagues voiced negative stereotypes about pymgies after hearing about his background.
Still a Pygmy is co-authored by Michael Nest, who said the book dispels false narratives about the lives and culture of pygmies.
“He was an activist under a repressive regime, in the middle of a war,” he said.
“It takes a lot of courage. In our subconscious we have all these myths and stories about short people who live in wild places and pygmies fit into that and a lot of people weren't sure if there was such a thing as a pygmy.”
Mr Nest said before writing the book he was familiar with the broad history and culture of pygmies in Congo, but said he found Mr Bacirongo’s story a uniquely interesting one.
“He lived through this period of upheaval in Congo,” he said. “My previous two books both focused on this period in Congo, where there was a terrible war, there was a spill-over of the genocide and civil war in Rwanda into Eastern Congo, living under a repressive dictatorship.
“His personal story brought to life and I think gives access to all of these monumental events that affected millions of people.”
