Submitted by Julia Tortu on the 2018 winter session program in Tanzania sponsored by the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology…
One of the highlights of my program so far happened today. We have recently been staying and speaking with the Hadza People: a nomadic tribe of hunters and gatherers. We hiked into the Yaeda Valley to join the Hadza women in gathering tubers this morning (a root vegetable they eat very often). Before we began, however, we stopped at the Hadza settlement. I was able to go into one of the small huts where a couple and their three children lived. I was particularly taken with the two youngest kids: a young boy and a baby girl. Even though I have learned very few phrases in the Hadza language, I was still able to connect with the children by high-fives and laughs. The baby girl grabbed onto my finger while trying to suck on it. As I was getting up to leave, the young boy put a long beaded necklace over my head. One side of the necklace was several shades of blue beads and the other was white. The mother then told me it was a gift for me to keep. This moment was particularly special for me. Despite the language barrier, I still felt a strong connection to these two kids.
The rest of our morning was spent watching and attempting to help the Hadza women collect tubers for roasting. The strength and knowledge these women had was very impressive. They knew exactly where to look and made the digging with their stick look much easier than it really was. The women I was with did twice as much work as me in about half of the time.
The afternoon was spent back at our camp with some men and women making arrows and jewelry. It was again fascinating to see how easily they crafted the arrow and wove the beads. Meanwhile, it took us much more time to even understand the concept of what we were trying to do. Between watching the women skillfully gather and make jewelry and the men carefully mark each arrow with their own signature, today helped me further appreciate how intricate and impressive the Hadza People are.
The last night we spent with the Hadza was definitely the most memorable. It was the night we had been talking about since the orientation meetings in Delaware: singing and dancing with the Hadza. We started out a little shaky, but after the Hadza performed a few beautiful songs for us, everyone was really into it. We joined in with their dances around the fire and they joined in with ours. One student on our program even brought out her ukulele and showed us her amazing talent. Overall, this was definitely a night I will remember.
