Hadza in Tanzania

           Imagine a world in which there is no property and obligatory sharing is a thing. Where hoarding isn't an issue because you take only what you need when you need it, and there is an unlimited amount of resources because you aren't killing the environment with unsustainable living habits. Imagine being at peace because you live 100% in the present moment, not stressing about even the next minute to come. This is the way the Hadzabe of Tanzania live.

Climbing a Bau Bau Tree

           Many may have heard references to "backwards bush people" in their lives, but I will attest that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that these people chose to live by is far from backwards. In fact, I would argue that they've got it all right. They are the only society to have never experienced a famine! Tell me they aren't doing life the way life is meant to be done!
           Having finished Ishmael by Daniel Quinn while on my excursion into the bush, my perspective on "developed" societies has altered drastically. According to Quinn, Mother Culture tells us that in order to live a good life, we have to be in control of our surroundings at all times. This is to say that rather than going out and finding what there is to eat in nature, one plants their own food. And with development, one opens up a grocery store with foods brought in from all over the place. That way, when you want an orange, even if there are none on your farm, there are some in the store. You have access to whatever you want, whenever you want so long as you have the means to purchase it. Not only does this put into our heads that we are superior to all other life forms because we have the power, it also creates class distinctions between those who can have what they want when they want, and those who cannot. Money becomes the priority in this lifestyle because Mother Culture tells us that's what we need to survive. Ishmael makes a statement against this consumer culture in which we are so willing to kill the earth that we claim to love so much because of this human desire to "develop." Physically being with the Hadzabe and experiencing a semblance of what it feels like to live the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was eye-opening to the legitimacy of Daniel Quinn's book (which by the way, I highly recommend reading).

One morning in particular, we had the opportunity to split into small groups and go out with the men on hunting missions. Walking through the expansiveness of the savanna was overwhelming to say the least. The natural landmarks of trees and bushes were used to navigate our way through all the brush. The men carried bows and arrows that we'd helped them to make the previous day (by carving a tree branch, and chewing on giraffe tendon to use as glue for the feathers). Upon spotting something in the distance that none of us students saw, the man would take off his shoes and run off as we crouched down as quietly as we could. Obviously, we hindered his hunting experience greatly by being slightly clumsy, loud, and very visible, but the man whom my group walked with was able to hit a guinea fowl and capture all of her baby chicks (we couldn't find the guinea fowl or arrow used to hit her). Although unsettling to me to eat the babies, c'est leur vie, so sure enough, they were roasted up and eaten like chicken nuggets.

TORN UP LEGS post-bush hunting experience

          In Tanzania, it is law to attend school through primary years. Several Hadza people continue to attend school even after they've completed the compulsory years. A conversation that we had with the community however, demonstrated that regardless of whether or not someone attended school for 16+ years, they always returned to the bush because their quality of life there was so great. To me, this legitimizes how they live so much more. It is not because of a lack of education or knowledge that there is another way, it is completely willingly that the Hadza chose to hunt and gather as their livelihood. Although I'm not going to drop out of school and join the Hadzabe in the Yaeda Valley anytime soon, I highly respect their lives and believe that there are a few lessons that can be taken from them.

-Take only what you need, in the moment that you need it.
-Respect everyone as equals, understanding that everyone contributes something.
-Appreciate your culture, the values that you've learned, use them to be happy.
-Stay stress free!
-Remember that the benefits of "development" are subjective.
-Living a good life is not synonymous with having the ability to get whatever you want whenever you want it.

           There are so many other aspects of this experience that I could discuss, but I will conclude with only one more point. As I am a linguistics major, it would be unnatural for me to not at least mention the fact that the language of the Hadza peoples is linguistically different from any other, indicating their seclusion and lack of influence from other societies. In addition to hominid bones being found in their valley, this further leads to the potentiality of them being the origin of all mankind as we know it today. I feel honored to have been walking on the land that was very possibly the originating area of our ancestry.
           I highly encourage you to do a little google search of the Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania as what I've written here is only a cursory glance at this fascinating group of people. There are so many other aspects I could have touched upon such as their sense of independence at such a young age, or the way that women have all the same rights as men. I wish I could go on but I will leave it at this for now!
         

For those who are interested on a more personal note, my 21st birthday (February 13th) was an ultimate success and one that I will never forget. How many people get to say that they brought in their 21st year being sung to by an indigenous East African community and new friends, complete with Mt. Kilimanjaro lager and cakes with
arrows as representatives of the big 2 1? I was absolutely taken aback by the enormity of the moment, and even now cannot do justice to the experience. Everything about everything was amazing!




Siku Njema,
Beca

(P.S. This experience was made possible by DOROBO Safaris which although a for-profit organization, works very hard to establish a positive relationship with the Hadza, and help them to secure their land from being encroached upon by other communities. In conversation, the Hadza said that they were very happy to have us there because they were able to learn a lot from us and were so happy to teach us about their culture (DOROBO is worth googling as well to see the impacts they've had on the society)).

DOROBO Vehicle