Kitabu mbt free#

He also had encounters with multiple other cultures, including the Balamba (near Zambia), the Bahutu (Rwanda), Bahunde, the Bambuba, the Batalinga, and the pygmoid Batwa of Rwanda. He wrote about in detail of his encounters with the Luba people, the Kuba Kingdom, the Balega (in the historically cannibalistic areas of Maniema, including the Bwame secret society), the Efe Pygmies of the Ituri forest and the neighboring Balese, the Tutsi of Rwanda, the Maasai people of Kenya, the Bagoma people, and the pygmoid Bamosso of Burundi. His accounts provide a unique anthropological source of information of the valley of the River Congo during that period. In it he documents interactions with multiple isolated cultures throughout the Belgian Congo, Rwanda and Burundi regions. The word kitabu means bible, or book, in Swahili.Ĭongo Kitabu is an auto-biographical book about Hallet's travels through central Africa from 1948 through 1960. Books Ĭongo Kitabu, Pygmy Kitabu, and Animal Kitabu have been translated into 21 languages, including Chinese and Russian, and a Reader's Digest version of Congo Kitabu was also released. Hallet was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize for his work with the Pygmies. Eisenhower, and for his humanitarian efforts has been described as the 'Abe Lincoln of the Congo'. He received more than 100 awards and honors and was a featured speaker internationally, including at the Explorer's Club. In 1987, Jean-Pierre Hallet won the US Presidential End Hunger Award, and by 1994 the Pygmy Fund had reached 46% of their goal of securing 500 acres (2.0 km 2) of good farming land for the pygmies in the Congo. Hallet was awarded the National Order of the Leopard in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) for his efforts on behalf of the Efé.

Kitabu mbt free#

In one instance he was captured by rebel forces in Eastern Congo during the First Congo War and detained until Congolese troops were able to free him.Īwards and international recognition He returned to the Eastern Congo region to visit the Efé (and friends he had made during several decades) and to further his goals of securing land and protection for the Efé. Some of the profit from these art sales was used to benefit the Efé pygmies. The shop was managed by Hallet with his wife Liane Hallet, and two of his stepchildren. Hallet and his family owned one of the largest authentic Central African art shops in the United States-at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, near Los Angeles-until the late 1990s. Hallet donated much of his Central African art collection to the UCLA African Art exhibit of the Museum of Cultural History (later renamed the Fowler Museum), which was part of the rationale for the museum's creation. It was in this capacity that he initially traveled throughout central Africa, interacting with various cultures and tribes.īoth the art works of André Hallet and many pieces from Jean-Pierre Hallet's African art collections have been sold at international art auctions. He was then sent to Belgium with relatives for his 'formal' education, which included the study of agronomy and sociology at the University of Brussels (1945–1946) and at the Sorbonne (1947–1948).ĭuring 1948 he returned to Central Africa to work as an agronomist with the Belgian Ministry of Colonies. Jean-Pierre, born in Africa, spent his early childhood there. He lived on the shore of Lake Kivu, in modern Rwanda. Hallet's father was André Hallet, a Belgian painter of African scenes. He initiated the Pygmy Fund for the benefit of the Efé. He wrote the 1964 autobiographical book, Congo Kitabu, the 1973 ethnologic book Pygmy Kitabu (a more detailed description of life with the Efé and neighboring pygmies), and the 1968 book Animal Kitabu, which details his extraordinary collection of animals in the Congo and in Kenya. Jean-Pierre Hallet (1927 – 1 January 2004) was a Belgian (born in DR Congo) ethnologist, naturalist, and humanitarian known best for his extensive work with the Efé ( Bambuti) pygmies of the Ituri Rainforest.