Children of the Forest by Kevin Duffy Essay -- Children Forest Kevin D

Children of the Forest by Kevin DuffyChildren of the Forest is a narrative written by Kevin Duffy. This book is a written testament of an anthropologists ordinary dealings with an African tribe by the name of the Mbuti Pygmies. My purpose in this paper is to inform the reader of Kevin Duffys visitings while in the Ituri rainforest. Kevin Duffy is one of the first and unaccompanied scientists to have ever been in close contact with the Mbuti. If an Mbuti tribesman does not want to be found, they alone wont be. The forest in which the Mbuti reside in are simply too dense and dangerous for humans not familiar with the area to enter. Without them he would simply be wandering aimlessly in the forest. It was very or so-valuable for Kevin Duffy to win the respect of the tribe when he arrived. The Mbuti are one of the most fascinating of every the uncivilized peoples of the world. This tribe inhabits equatorial Africa near the city of Kisangani in Zaire in the Ituri rainforest . The Mbuti, being the smallest people on earth, live in the most inaccessible place on earth. An Mbuti tribe is almost impossible to find in such a dense forest. The tribes men and women are only about four and a half foot tall yet they fly though rich and dense forestry daily in the search for meat and fruit. The Mbuti greatly acknowledge their beloved forest as the supplier of all their worldly-minded needs and possessions. The forest supplies them with food, clothing, shelter, and to them, affection. The Mbuti treat the forest as their parents and see themselves as its children. They often sing to it in times joy and pray to the forest in times of remorse. Duffy becomes a fly-on-the-wall among this particular Mbuti clan. Not by spying on them, but becoming a friend, a very good friend. The Mbuti arroganceed him uniform a brother and invited him into their lives to share everything from the birth Mazeros new child to the death of Ndima, one of the tribes elders. He was even allowed to film the Mbutis famous elephant hunt. To achieve this kind of trust among an alien culture is a phenomenal feat. The elephant hunt was the first story that depicted the actual way that the Mbuti hunted and shared their shared their rewards from a hunt. The completed tribe set out in order to search for an elephant for a feast. All the males of the tribe, regardless of age left ... ...in that respect. Humans seem to always support like humans no matter where they are in the world or what technologies they possess. The Mbuti are probably better than Americans in another aspect also. They all hunted together, but not only the hunters and their families got to eat. Families of all the surrounding tribes enjoyed a meal. In todays society, people walk the streets hungry while other live lavishly, alimentation until they are stuffed. If Americans were more like the Mbuti, this country would be a much better place.The Mbuti pygmies of the Ituri rainforest are a fascinating people. They need their forest for food, shelter, and bulwark from other peoples of the world. How the Mbuti managed to survive the conquests of the Spanish and the English is beyond our knowledge. Their dense, uncharted forest has kept them a secret to many people to this day. The Mbuti probably are the most unchanged people still living on earth. As long as the Mbutis forest isnt destroyed by the worlds greed for money, they will more than believably remain there for decades to come. Works CitedDuffy, Kevin, Children of the Forest. Waveland Press, Inc. 1996