Family subsistence in the hills of Hamar. We are guests of Shawa

Jean Lydall
Kaira Strecker
2019
58 minutes

The film is a sequel to former films on Hamar directed by Jean Lydall and Kaira Strecker. Kaira’s childhood friend Shawa moved as a young widow with two sons to her present home in search of good land. Here she met Garombe and had four more children. We get close to each family member in scenes of daily life, starting with children milking cows at dawn. After taking grain by donkey to a distant flourmill, Shawa and daughters brew beer, which the sons drink when ploughing the field. We learn how Shawa trained oxen to plough, and Garombe explains digging-stick cultivation is a thing of the past. He repairs the fence around his enclosure for plough-oxen and future fields. One son checks his beehive, cattle return home, children milk goats, and Shawa and girls prepare the evening meal.

Anthropologist: 
Jean Lydall
Producer / Production company: 
Jean Lydall (Germany)
Africa: 
Other keywords: 
Agriculture
Subsistence farming