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P
ERHAPS ON LY
a few times in a
·
generation do men of courage
rise who spend their lives for
o thers. In this issue of the
Plain
Truth,
we open up to our readers the
concerns and the dedication of a
man of that stature. who at this mo–
ment is at his work of saving a
people. He is Jean-Pierre Hallet. ex–
plorer and autbor. And the people
about to perish. for whom he is
spend ing his life and physical
energies. are th e Pygmies of the
Ituri Forest in the heart of Afr ica.
Jean-Pi erre Halle! has been a
reader of the
Plain Truth
for three
yea rs. We can do no less than
present lo our multiple millions of
other readers around the world his
story with these beautiful and re–
vea ling photos. Here are his own
words from conversa tions with us:
As
a chiJd,
1
was fortunate to grow
1\.
up in Africa with the physi–
cally smaJJ people called Pygmies.
Back then, in the 1930's, there were
about 35,000 of these healthy, de–
lig htfully happy and highly ex–
pressive people, as exemplifi ed by
the young man playing here the
five-string Pygmy bow harp. Twenty
yea rs la ter. asan adult,
.I
was again
reunited with my fonner playma tes
whom
1
respected a nd loved. Profes–
s ionally,
1
was a bush sociologist
and agronomis t for the Belgian
Congo. Rwanda and Burundi.
1
did
everything from diagnosing plant
diseases to delivering babies.
To know and unde rstand my
Pygmy friends better, I left behind
"civilization ," and in January 1957
I
wa lk ed into the tangled shadows of
the lturi Forest in the eastern Congo
(now Za"i.re). Por eighteen montbs
1
li ved with th em as a n adop ted
member of the Efé Pygmy society,
lea rning th e hard way
to
appreciate
their unique life-style, their high
moral values. their spi ritu a l under–
standin g. a nd their wisdom.
But I a lso became aware of the
many physical problems threateni ng
their surviva l. The Pygmies' ances–
tra l forest was being increasingly
chopped down by greedy lumber
ope rators. thus robbing them of the
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1975
"TO SAVE APEOPLE"
Conversations by Jean-Pierre Hallet as told to Senior Editor Herman
L.
Hoeh
Phot ography by Jean-Pierre Hallet
9