What if preserving one story could change how the world sees Indigenous wisdom?
A fast changing world
We, the Hadzabe, have always been storytellers. For thousands of years, we passed down our knowledge through songs, dances, and fireside stories. But the world around us is changing fast. Our land and even our language face pressures that threaten our way of life.
Through the Hadzabe Media Center every time we pick up a camera, record a song, or film the stories of our elders we use them to protect what has always been ours.
How we do it
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Community-Led Decision
The Hadzabe Media Center is entirely community owned. Every decision from what kind of stories we want to preserve for ourselves, share with the world and in which medium. Some of the elders across Yaeda Valley and Lake Eyasi, have even shared their hopes for future generations and their ideas on preserving traditional knowledge through creative storytelling.
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Cultural Preservation Through Media Workshops
Together with AFRISOS, we are documenting and safeguarding the Hadzabe culture through a series of hands-on workshops in digital storytelling. These workshops have produced 10 of the first-ever Hadzabe photographers, whose images were celebrated by the community and even printed as community artefacts.
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Creative Empowerment
Digital storytelling has become a powerful way for our youth and elders to preserve and tell our stories with many community members reaching out to AFRISOS for more workshops and mentorship. Some of our first photographers in Domanga village continue to practice by sharing the donated cameras that were left behind.
Our impact so far
10
Hadzabe Photographers Trained
15
Photo stories Created
07
Films Produced
Our Intended Impact
With the support of AFRISOS, we intend to continue mentoring our current Indigenous photographers as filmmakers and audio storytellers, while also training other community members who feel inspired to follow the same path.
Our goal is to grow the Media Center into a living hub of digital artefacts for our culture, a place where young people can learn, practice, and strengthen our Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
The Hadzabe Media Center will also serve as a home for repatriated research, films, and recordings that were created about us, so that our community can finally benefit from this work and use it to pass ancestral knowledge to future generations.