HADZABE HISTORY:

In the hot, dry area around Lake Eyasi, live the Hadzabe (also known as Tindinga) people who have been ‘in-residence’ for around 10,000 years. Anthropologically, albeit distantly, related to the San Bushmen of the Kalahari, the Hadzabe possess a thrilling ‘click’ language and the precise hunting skills of the bow and arrow along with their food gathering traditions. A consistent stream of budding newly graduated anthropologists report that they are approximately 1500 true Hadzabe families living traditionally – nomadic and happily feasting upon baboons and other small game. The term ‘family’ is used loosely and encompasses a free-living society, where there is space you are welcome to sit and eat or lie down and sleep.

After night-long discussions amongst the men of the Hadzabe, a pre-dawn departure for hunting often follows with game meat on the menu. The women remain in the ‘camp’ preparing freshly collected ‘berries’ and tending to the children – who are more often than not, efficient hunters and gatherers by a tenderly young age, leaving only the very young at home with the women. The absence of fresh water is common-place and a selection fresh fruits and vegetables rare but against a modern nutritionists recommendations – they are surviving.

CHALLENGES FOR THE HADZABE

Unfortunately there are more and more orphaned children in the Hadzabe tribe as life is increasingly difficult for the adults in the tribe. Modern culture is encroaching on the lives of these tribe members, through the introduction of ‘cultural experiences’ to the tour itineraries and the need for the Hadzabe people to speak Swahili in order to communicate with local communities. The Hadzabe lives off of land that has been claimed as National Park. As this land is protected the tribe is being pushed off their own land, thus cutting off their food supply.
Among the Hadzabe people of central Tanzania there is currently a trend for tour companies to bring their clients to ‘experience’ the culture of the Hadzabe –hunting baboons with bow and arrow and smoking around an open fire. While this is an amazingly educational experience for the tourists, we believe they take a little piece of the Hadzabe away from the tribe with every visit. It is not possible for someone to maintain their ancient culture when ‘intrusion’ is common place. A man will not behave the same way with an ‘outsider’ as he behaves with his ‘brother’. Bearing this in mind, ‘ Support for Indigenous Children’ proposes to assist the Hadzabe to maintain what it is that is so interesting for those who are watching from the sidelines – and deliver it to them African to African.
Although the Hadzabe tribe is now using Swahili in order to survive, ' Support for Indigenous Children is concerned about four aspects of this change:

1. Will Swahili become common-place as a means of communication for the Hadzabe, thus losing their own glorious tongue?

2.  Are there crucial cultural keys that are lost in the translation from Kihadzabe to Swahili and then often to English? Not all languages possess words for certain things or ideas and therefore substitutes or synonyms are used and are often not ‘exactly’ what is meant.

3. With the introduction of another language into a society, the original language commonly loses its strength in terms of accent, tone, volume, etc – is this possible for Kihadzabe.

4. Will the children of the Hadzabe today not be able to communicate with the children of the Hadzabe tomorrow?

At ‘support for Indigenous Children’, we will strive to entrench education in the children of the Hadzabe as a means to retain this ancient and endangered culture – so it doesn’t fade, so ‘extinction’ is not an outcome.

Join together with us and donate now so that ‘ Support for Indigenous Children’ can support their intentions because there is no one that feels the pain of Africa than Africans themselves! I have seen how a proper education and a healthy lifestyle has changed one boys life and I am sure that if every young Hadzabe had these opportunities that this culture will be preserved and appreciated! Please help us in this cause.