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The potentially tragic extinc–
t ion of the Efé Pygmies of the
Ituri Forest now seems to be
halted! The work of The Pygmy
Fund, helping them lo help them–
selves, is proving to be successful
despite seemingly impossible
odds. From 1974 to 1978, to
compensate for the "progressive"
destruction of the Pygmies' forest
home, an intensive sclf-help pro–
gram was maintained. The Pyg–
my Fund provided them with
tools, selected seeds, medications
and the necessary land to prac–
tice simple, well adjusted agricul–
ture. As a result, the Efé Pygmy
popu1ation, which was dramati–
cally declining every single year
for many decades, was finally
stabilized.
ll was certainly not easy ...
The Pygmies, who for millennia
had been exclusively hunter–
gatherers, had had to progres-
sively adjust themselves lo a
quite d ifferent way of life, a more
agrarian and much less nomadic
mode of survival. Any abrupt
transition from their cosy, safe
and serene forest home (increas–
ingly and distressingly destroyed
by lumber operators, coffee and
cotton plantations) to the burn–
ing, equatorial open tracks out–
side of the forest could have been
catastrophic. Not only could the
Pygmies have succumbed from
new village diseases (dysentery,
tuberculosis, yaws) and from
heat prostration or sun strokes,
their all-importanl cultural iden–
tity, moral values, natural digni–
ly, simple wisdom and remark–
able fami ly unity (so rarely found
even among most "civilized" cul–
tures) could have been destroyed
forever.
In order to handle efficiently
this delicate transition, I started
to slowly initiate the Pygmies toa
simple type of agriculture as ear–
ly as in 1957 ( the story is detai led
in my book
Congo Kitabu).
For
the next 16 years, our diminutive
friends became more and more
familiar with planting banana
trees and cultivating manioc
(cassava), beans, peanuts, sweet
potatoes and rice. But the "farm–
ing" was not offered as the only
alternative for survival. Unfortu–
nately, during that per iod the
forest was increasingly destroyed
along with the food, shelter,
clothing and medications that it
provides. In 1974, it became
absolutely necessary to really
push all the way the' practice of
agriculture in arder to prevent
the imminent extinction of the
pure-blooded Pygmies.
Although their population
dropped about 25 percent in 1972
and 1973, by the end of 1974 it
PYGMY FUND BRINGS HELP
-Ready for distríbution, top photos
at left. are sscks of se/ected soybesn
seeds and hoes. lmplements vary in
size from beginners · hoes to imported
hoes for experienced Pygmies.
Machetes are local/y made. Shirts are
premiums for special efforts- used
when visiting a bíg vil/age. Self·help
kits, on ground, include seed, soap
and gifts for the children. Author visits
his Efé Pygmy friends annually.