Vanishing Tribes

At the end of our trip last year we had the really amazing experience of going to the pre-wedding ceremony for one of the staff. (And now, he and his wife have a baby!)

This year we had another unique experience. On Saturday, there was a meeting of two tribes called by the ward chairman in an effort to address their problems. There were about 160 people there, mostly men. The tribes were the Tatoga, a pastoral tribe similar to the Maasai. They had been forced off their good lands by the Maasai who were more fierce.

The other tribe is the Hadzabe, a very small tribe of 500-2500 people, depending on where you draw the line of ethnic purity. They are the only hunter-gatherer tribe left in Tanzania and as you can see by the numbers they are dying out fast. Hadzabe too have been pushed off good hunting lands and squeezed by farm development and pastoralists until they are left with little land and it is very poor. They are having great difficulty finding enough wildlife to survive and it really shows. While most of the men seem fairly healthy, many of the women are very thin. We were told the men go out to hunt and may find small birds which they eat on the spot. However, they don’t bring a kill home unless it is something big, which is rare, so the women and children suffer. Because of this, many died last year during the drought. Some of the old Tatoga women also were skeletal.

The Tatoga were obviously wealthier with their beads, brass jewelry wrapped up their arms, legs and around their necks, beaded hair (on the men) and cell phones. The Hadzabe men dress in shorts, with fabric or leather tied over one shoulder, carrying their bows and arrows. The meeting was held in Swahili and translated into the tribal languages.

After official presentations, the people spoke, often quite passionately, about their problems and needs. In the past it has been difficult to get the Hadzabe children into school. The children have to attend a boarding school because it is so far away. They talk in terms of the government “taking” their children and worry about losing their culture. It sounded rather similar to the issues of Native American and Australian children. In addition, they have traditionally moved around constantly. However, now their territory is smaller and, as it is more difficult to eek out a living, they see it is critical for their children to have an education as they will have to live a different life. That was their main concern; how to get a school in their area so the children can go home at night. Plus, while primary education is free, uniforms and shoes are expected and they have almost no income to buy such things. If they go to school without them, the children feel embarrassed and are teased by others. The Tatoga also worry about cultural dilution and uniform costs, so both tribes would like a school in their area.

The other issue they raised was health care. The facilities are far away and they lack funds to get there and pay for services. They cited an example of a problem delivery. It took so long for aid to arrive that the baby died and the mother was in grave danger. The Hadzabe had been pretty protected from HIV, but it has begun to show up. Experience with other isolated groups is that it arrives late and then spreads very fast. So there is deep concern about what will happen to these nutritionally compromised people with little access to education that may protect them or to necessary health care.

The tribes decided to make monthly contributions to a fund for a school and health services. However, they are struggling to find a way for the Hadzabe to contribute since they have almost no cash income. Tourists come to visit the tribe or go hunting with them, but while the tourists pay a handsome fee, the tribe only sees 15,000Tsh, about $11, for a whole group of tourists and it must be shared by all the tribal members who participate. In addition, tourism, especially in this area which is a distance from the wildlife parks, is reported to be down. Hopefully, they will organize and demand a better share of the funds!

The needs of these communities are great, and additional funding will have to be found to bring very basic health and education services to them.

Lights! Camera! Action!

Suddenly Rick has become a videographer and editor. WellShare periodically hires a local drama troupe to put on skits and creatively deliver health messages, such as during market days.

They are now developing videos to show during educational meetings. Since most villages have no electricity, using media like this is extremely popular. Last week they recorded a variety of scenes to teach sanitation, with Rick operating the camera. It was an all-morning affair and great fun. This week will be busy editing the material.

As we experienced last year, new tasks we never anticipated come up that help us develop new skills (how does this camera work?), use skills we didn’t expect to need here, and make our time here so interesting. Every day is a new experience.

Rick has also been able to offer lots of help with computer problems. He has been very valuable in the office.

We feel things are coming together. Now, organization leadership will need to make connections so microfinance and farm projects can get started. It looks like some of the women’s groups will soon be able to start training and begin on their path to income generating projects, and hopefully, a better life for themselves and their children.

We have also had our first encounter with the polisi (that wasn’t on the road). We went home for lunch to find our ipods, camera and binoculars missing from our locked house. All the windows except one are barred. The one that is not is in our bedroom and it is an emergency exit. Unfortunately, we have not felt compelled to keep it locked. It is in a secluded place and the dog had probably snuck out of the yard. We could not believe that anyone could get through the little window, but on closer inspection, we could see footprints where someone had landed after jumping out of the window. Today it wasn’t muddy enough to have good footprints! It was probably a kid. He must have climbed the tree outside out window, jumped over our concrete fence topped with iron spikes and been able to scramble back out again. Another lesson in diligence, I guess. Fortunately, we had the good camera and GPS with us and he didn’t take the voice recorder, which we have been using for interviews.