You probably realise by now that we at Clips & Footage are pretty passionate about our work. We recently got very excited when we came across some early footage of a pygmy tribe in our Lobster Collection. The footage is colour, probably hand-tinted, and is dated 1925.
When we then stumbled across some footage of pygmies in the Belgian Congo in 1954 (see the clip below), we wanted to know more about these indigenous people. What we discoved is shocking. Displacement and discrimination against these people, numbering just half a million, is just the beginning of an appalling story of disenfranchisement and brutality.
Although there are distinct groups of pygmies across central Africa including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Cameroon with different languages, they are all fundamentally hunter-gatherers with a spiritual and cultural connection to the rainforest. Conservation projects such as the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and the expansion of industries like logging and mining have led to the displacement of these communities resulting in extreme poverty and ill-health.
How we can help:
www.survivalinternational.org/actnow/writealetter/pygmies
www.coffeerwanda.com/
From the sale of one bag of coffee, Coffee Rwanda can provide: 3 pairs of shoes for pygmy children; or health insurance in Rwanda for 2 people for 1 year; or nutritional support for one child with malnutrition for 3 months; or a shovel to dig farming terraces to increase food production in the village.
http://www.pygmysurvival.org/
CLIP FROM 05001
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