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10
AN EFÉ WOMAN (top) puts /ast
touch on the doorway of a traditional
Pygmy hut, a primitive version of a
geodesic dome, looking like a shaggy
green ig/oo. LeÑ, a grandmother
shows her granddaughter how to
thatch the hut with
ilipi
leaves. Bot–
tom left, Pygmy children are ex–
treme/y alert, with a great sense of
humor. Below, in the frame of a
traditional dance, a five year old is
blowing an
atsi
made from the horn
of a forest buffa/o.
animals they hunted. The Efe we re
forced lo li ve
in
the blistering trop–
ical sun for which their bodies were
. unprepa red. Bantu and Sudanese
Negro pla ntations were creeping in
from a l! sides. Tourists carne in
droves bringiog peanuts. cigarettes
and sugar. The Pygmies starled to
succumb lo new diseases. suffering
from a high mortalily rale and
being red uced to a bo u t 25.000.
Above a ll they suffered from loss of
basic huma n dignity. sliding into
feudal serfdom to the benefit of
th eir tall African neighbo rs.
On June 26. 1957. afler grea t dif–
ficulties. 1 managed to überate cvery
Efé ( the only true. pu re-blooded Af–
rican Pygmies in the Eastern lturi
Forest) from these bonds o f serfdom
by obta ining from the Nande Negro
chieftains of Beni an official "cman–
cipation proclama tion." Al the same
time 1 established for th e Efé Pyg–
mies a realistic se lf-help program
based on th e progressive in–
troduction of agr iculture a nd better
sanitation to compensate fo r the loss
of their fores t home.
During these eighteen months in
the Ituri Forest. 1 ta ught the alleg–
edly unteachable Pygmies how to
read. write. aod do simple arithme–
tic. ma inly for t he purpose of prov–
ing th a t t hey we re as abl e to learn as
their former masters - if not more
so. 1 taughl them crop rota tion and
use of improved selected brecds lo
enable them to compe te on a more
equa l footing wilh neighboring Ne–
gro tribes.
But in 1960 carne polit ica l ind e–
pendence to the Belgian Congo. and
with il chaos. rebellion and civil
war. Being by nature nonaggressive.
my Pygmy friends were the first to
suffer. They were rapidly reduced to
some 15.000. Vic tims of new harass–
ments - having to pay income tax.
being drafted into the Za'ire army,
suffering from enfo rced loss of cul–
tural identity - they kept on dyi ng
a t an increasing rate despite my
lonely effo rts. Today there are on ly
some 3,800 "pure-blooded" Pygmies
left.
In Africa. more th a n one hundred
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1975