Hadzabe
- Hadzabe child at the campfire
The Hadzabe are the last hunter and gatherer people of Tanzania. The ethical minority of about 800 tribesmen lives in an area of 1500 square kilometers around Lake Eyasi, an extremely dry region with little fertility. In this hard to access area, the old stone-aged way of life of the Hazabe has been widely conserved.The Hadzabe neither farm nor do they keep stock. Instead they use whatever nature provides, they collect berries, roots, corms and honey and hunt animals with bow and arrow.All of the daily necessities like bows, arrows, furniture and building materials are only made from what nature supplies.
- Hadzabe
The Hadzebe live in different sized groups of up to fifty adults and their children. All members of the group are equals. There is no hierarchy, no leader or chieftain, but men and women have different tasks to fulfill. While the men mostly hunt for animals, such as gazelles, antelopes, guinea fowl and buffaloes, the women collect berries and the fruits of the baobab or dig for roots and crums. The women are also responsible for the building of the grass huts, while the men sometimes trade and deal with neighbors.
- Hunting Hadzabe
Even today the Hadzabe consciously and consistly refuse to adopt the so called civilization. However, it is only a matter of time until they are forced to give up their traditional way of life to survive. The local wildlife, which is the foundation of the Hadzebe’s survival, is vanishing due to the immigration if other tribes into the Eyasi area – Nomad stock breeders and farmers. In addition the local government has put a hunting ban in place for the Hadzebe.
Experts agree that if none of these factors are changed, the Hadzebe will end as landless day labourers, beggars and prostitutes.
During a photographers’ journey to Lake Eyasi these tribes men and women were also visited. Their way of live made a lasting impression on the travelers and so it was decided to invest some of fair-trade media’s proceeds into schooling projects to give scholarships to Hadzebe children enabling them to visit a secondary school. A scholarship is designed to last three years and guarantees the respective child can finish school without depending on further financial support.