Mar 21, 2012

Hadza story (Part II)

A typical iron-smith family of the Datooga (c) Nderumaki FA
 When I started my blog I thought big, the thoughts of few hundred or even thousand hits and reads weekly and monthly. I was, like any other youth, on a mission to change the world and in a flash, leave a mark for myself, my old man (whom I owe a nice surname from) and mum (a great buddy, she doesn’t really understand a lot of what I do but she thinks I am smart and that’s grand!).
A 'house' -- a typical dwelling of the Hadza. (c) Nderumaki FA

And so I was so wrong, was I? Those days I had the time, gusto and the oomph to do it. And then I made a startling discovery, actually I was the exclusive reader and writer of whatever that was in it. You may call me whatever is appropriate but, I threw in the towels and called in.

Now today I got an urge to see what’s not happening there and whether Blogger guys have decided to slam shut the account. I happen to find that there was a story I had promised a part II – the Hadzabe story.

This is that part; written so late I may have forgotten some niceties about. Well, the issue was how MONEY had changed and spoiled these beautiful ‘small’, noisy people. When a tour company vehicle shows up in any of their camps, there are payments to be made. The camp head will receive some amount called “boma” fee. And lot of other sums will purchase nice beads, bows and arrows, necklaces made out of seeds and barks, wrist bands and anklets. Though it may argued on many fronts, these guys make good money.
Now there comes the problem of how the money they get is spent, on what things, if it really helps them change anything in their lives. As happily as they may be seem, remember these guys do not have anything you may qualify as ‘civilized’. With monies they can buy alcohol – that sweet thing that makes you go barmy if you take it thoughtlessly. Now, you tell me, you have all this money and you don’t need to service a loan or buy a car, or even put a proper roof to your house; what do you do to the money. Answer: Drink it!

The Hadza have become serious and extremely perilous drinkers, taking anything between the bottled beers to the strongest of all – gongo. Don’t ask for the description of the latter, do a little googling on that brew that kills a lot of Kenyan drinkers.
There’s a CBO that has been established to help these guys move on and benefit from the trade, to see them get some of their children through primary and vocational education, to get them well fed and treated when sick. Those who benefit from turning them into money making machine are livid, and they lack apt management and they will for some time to come, but there is a light in the end of the tunnel. Maybe some things will be improved, but… well; you now know that there will always be one or two. But when a project like this is put in place and almost fully run and well-thought of by people other than themselves, I wonder if I am to expect a long-run and true change.

I remain sanguine but chary.

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