Haba na Haba/Little by Little: Stories of Culture, Health and Community
Subtitle
DVD/VHS
SummaryText
Filmed in Kenya in 2003, this 38-minute documentary aims to explore the relationship between traditional culture and community health.
Description on the back of the DVD case:
What is the relationship between traditional culture and community health? Are newer ways always better? In Haba na Haba, these questions are explored by four local groups in Kenyan tribal communities. Each group is working to preserve, revive, discourage or adapt a traditional practice in order to improve the health of their community.
Cultural scholar Kimani Njogu travels to the coast to visit traditional Digo herbalist Mzee Abdullah, who is working to protect the Kaya Kinondo sacred forest from encroaching land development and tourism, and training several apprentice healers in the medicinal uses of forest plants.
The Tomwo Women's Group of West Pokot takes ethnobotanist Patrick Maundu into their arid landscape to sample traditional wild foods. Through songs and dances, they are teaching people in other villages about the nutritional value of these plants, which were staple foods in the pre-colonial era, but are now almost forgotten.
In the central highlands of Kenya, Lydiah Wangari Kariuki is researching the traditions of mukwa, a long leather or fiber head strap that rural Agikuyu women traditionally use to carry water, wood, animal feed, and other burdens on their backs. As Lydiah works to engender community discussion about mukwa-related health problems, important questions are raised about how best to change harmful cultural practices.
On the shores of Lake Victoria, the Luo tribe faces HIV infection rates that have soared above twenty percent in some places. In one small village by the lake, Mama na Dada is working to revive traditional dialogues between elders and youth about sexuality. Sometimes funny and sometimes serious, these forums are re-opening a channel of communication vital to their community's health.
Each of the community groups is a grantee in the Culture and Health Grants Program of PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), and has been funded by the Ford Foundation.
Description on the back of the DVD case:
What is the relationship between traditional culture and community health? Are newer ways always better? In Haba na Haba, these questions are explored by four local groups in Kenyan tribal communities. Each group is working to preserve, revive, discourage or adapt a traditional practice in order to improve the health of their community.
Cultural scholar Kimani Njogu travels to the coast to visit traditional Digo herbalist Mzee Abdullah, who is working to protect the Kaya Kinondo sacred forest from encroaching land development and tourism, and training several apprentice healers in the medicinal uses of forest plants.
The Tomwo Women's Group of West Pokot takes ethnobotanist Patrick Maundu into their arid landscape to sample traditional wild foods. Through songs and dances, they are teaching people in other villages about the nutritional value of these plants, which were staple foods in the pre-colonial era, but are now almost forgotten.
In the central highlands of Kenya, Lydiah Wangari Kariuki is researching the traditions of mukwa, a long leather or fiber head strap that rural Agikuyu women traditionally use to carry water, wood, animal feed, and other burdens on their backs. As Lydiah works to engender community discussion about mukwa-related health problems, important questions are raised about how best to change harmful cultural practices.
On the shores of Lake Victoria, the Luo tribe faces HIV infection rates that have soared above twenty percent in some places. In one small village by the lake, Mama na Dada is working to revive traditional dialogues between elders and youth about sexuality. Sometimes funny and sometimes serious, these forums are re-opening a channel of communication vital to their community's health.
Each of the community groups is a grantee in the Culture and Health Grants Program of PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), and has been funded by the Ford Foundation.
Publishers
Publication Date
Source
DVD and letter of introduction from Tom Furtwangler (Cascade Health Communication Group) to The Communication Initiative dated March 8 2004; Cascade Health Communication Group website.
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