We, the Zeme: Filming the First Zeme Olympics
Donation protected
We have 10 weekends left until the Zeme Naga Olympics which will take place in Jalukie, Nagaland, India from the 10th to the 17th December 2019. We have been asked by the organisers to make a film of the event. We have embraced the spirit of the Games by sponsoring the film production. Seth and Lukas have been invited to join the children at the opening ceremony by holding the Olympic torch to represent the USA and Great Britain. To raise money for travel to India we have decided to undertake sponsored runs as a family. We aim to do ten 10km runs in the lead-up to the Games. We would love our European and American friends and family to sponsor the children so they can come with us on this incredible journey.
Below is a letter from Jeremiah Pame, President of the Zeme Olympic Association:
We, the Zeme people, are the indigenous inhabitants of the Naga Hills with a population of about 100,000. We have been divided by state boundaries into three states of India – Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. There are 210 Zeme villages. Living in the most disadvantaged area, our people have been deprived of so many opportunities, thereby leading to a lack of personal and professional development on all fronts, including socially, economically and educationally. We are the people in whose midst the legendary anthropologist Ursula Graham Bower from England stayed and worked before the British left India. As such, our people still do have a nostalgic attachment and emotional connection with her story, on which Dr Alison Kahn of the Oxford Documentary Film Institute (ODFI) has personally worked and understood with great sensitivity and expertise.
Despite all odds, we the young people decided to say, ‘enough is enough’ and to do something great that transcends geographical boundaries in order to bring our people together and celebrate our common culture and history. After much deliberation, we decided that only sports could possibly overcome all barriers and create a common platform for our people in general, and the youth in particular. We shall be including several indigenous sports in addition to more popular contemporary ones (which are also indigenized to some extent).
We do not have financial support from any establishment. It will be purely funded by freewill contributions from many young people who are sparing their hard-earned money for the love of our people. It will be the First Zeme Olympics! We are making history with this event!
Therefore, it is our humble prayer that Dr Alison Kahn be the coordinator for filming and documenting this historic event, which can be digitized for posterity only by experts like her and her team at ODFI.
We thank Dr Kahn in anticipation of her participation and we look forward to walking the less-trodden path. Together we shall reminisce the glorious past, celebrate the beauty of the present and bring hope for the future of the indigenous people who are known by the name Zeme.
Yours sincerely,
Jeremiah Pame
President of the Zeme Olympic Association (ZOA)
Below is a letter from Jeremiah Pame, President of the Zeme Olympic Association:
We, the Zeme people, are the indigenous inhabitants of the Naga Hills with a population of about 100,000. We have been divided by state boundaries into three states of India – Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. There are 210 Zeme villages. Living in the most disadvantaged area, our people have been deprived of so many opportunities, thereby leading to a lack of personal and professional development on all fronts, including socially, economically and educationally. We are the people in whose midst the legendary anthropologist Ursula Graham Bower from England stayed and worked before the British left India. As such, our people still do have a nostalgic attachment and emotional connection with her story, on which Dr Alison Kahn of the Oxford Documentary Film Institute (ODFI) has personally worked and understood with great sensitivity and expertise.
Despite all odds, we the young people decided to say, ‘enough is enough’ and to do something great that transcends geographical boundaries in order to bring our people together and celebrate our common culture and history. After much deliberation, we decided that only sports could possibly overcome all barriers and create a common platform for our people in general, and the youth in particular. We shall be including several indigenous sports in addition to more popular contemporary ones (which are also indigenized to some extent).
We do not have financial support from any establishment. It will be purely funded by freewill contributions from many young people who are sparing their hard-earned money for the love of our people. It will be the First Zeme Olympics! We are making history with this event!
Therefore, it is our humble prayer that Dr Alison Kahn be the coordinator for filming and documenting this historic event, which can be digitized for posterity only by experts like her and her team at ODFI.
We thank Dr Kahn in anticipation of her participation and we look forward to walking the less-trodden path. Together we shall reminisce the glorious past, celebrate the beauty of the present and bring hope for the future of the indigenous people who are known by the name Zeme.
Yours sincerely,
Jeremiah Pame
President of the Zeme Olympic Association (ZOA)
Organizer
Aaron Kahn
Organizer
