Some 30,000 Aka people
Live in the CONGO they
Are purely forest dwellers
In the warm light of each day
Pygmies under five feet tall
A faith and way of being
Undeniably indigenous
And genuinely all seeing
The forest is their everything
Their knowledge to exist
They live there and they hunt there
Like gorillas in the mist
They have traits and characteristics
Bemba appears to be
The god and the creator
Then the Djengi
The forest spirit
A belief system exists
They have their degree of order
Which their history enlists
Clearly their independence
Is worshipped even they
Are very inclusive
And, that is their way
Family is the keystone
Men and women need
They marry and have children
And what they read
Into such relationships
Is the longevity
Of children and the family
For them really it’s key
Births are in the forest
It’s as natural as can be
A lot of babies die alas
And mothers desperately
Try to come to terms with that
As do Father’s who
Suffer such internal strife
And blame each other too
Relationships are status
There is a clanship you can feel
Women have six children
For them it’s very real
A great deal of suffering
But those surviving do
Look relatively healthy
That’s my general view
A certain Linda Vastrick
A Swedish lass apparently
Found a group of AKA people
And made a film which
You can see
Called “Forest of the dancing Spirits”
An in depth study where
People are followed day and night
And their lives
We all can share
It’s intimate and meaningful
An expose that may
Present their unpolluted lives
In an holistic way
Their integrity their oneness
Their enduring capability
Their influence and charisma
And of course their energy
The owners really slavery
Of sorts something that they
See as a vulnerability
And accept it come what may
Not seeing it as negative
But as transformative and so
Able to provide them
With recompense and show
They still have some power
Clearly
There’s a contract in a way
Give and take and neither break
The contract so to say
Though pygmies they are big enough
To initiate and enthuse
And not be dominated
If the owners turn the screws
Living in the forests
Encompassing the dream
The men collecting honey
And the hunting team
Netting maybe elephants
Hogs and antelope
Crocodiles and the mongoose
Clearly they do cope
No Mod cons and no internet
No TV’s Books or pens
Just dance and really story time
And talking to their friends
Drumming chanting calling up
The spirits of the night
And Suffering the vagaries of what
Comes as a right
Thank you Linda Vastrick
For all your hard work and sensitivity.