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Brother Cryer (seated) is one of the original pioneering Rastafari

A crowd funding campaign has launched for a documentary that will unveil a part of Rastafari history that remains largely hidden. One journalist wants to tell the story of a people on the brink of extinction.

International journalist and film director, Nadine Drummond, presents Jamharics: The Children of Zion. This ground breaking documentary tells the story of a group of repatriated Jamaicans who now face an imminent threat because of the scourge of the HIV virus.

In 1948, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie set aside 500 acres of land for the “black people of the world”. He wanted to reward those in the African diaspora who helped Ethiopian forces during the turbulent times of the Italian Occupation.

Within four years a few West Indians and African Americans took Selassie up on his offer. But from the 1960s to 2000 Rastafarians from Jamaica began to make their way to the cradle of the Rift Valley in southern Ethiopia.

By 1984, at least twenty­eight Rastafari had come together to help establish and develop the town of Shashamane. Armed with faith and determination, they worked to create their spiritual sanctuary and heaven on earth, their Zion. But these families experienced decades of upheaval in the intervening years ­­ famine, regional conflicts, economic decline and, finally, persecution at the hands of the Ethiopian government itself. Rastafari faith and community helped them endure, but today, they are in crisis and facing serious questions about their way of life.

Rastafarians purposefully occupy the bottom rung of Ethiopian society and their children exist in a legal and political vacuum. Like much of the continent, the community is battling the scourge of HIV. The community’s limited knowledge on how to treat and prevent the infection means the most successful example that repatriation to Africa is possible could be destroyed.

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The campaign for Jamharics: The Children of Zion runs until December 2013. 

CLICK HERE to view the official crowd funding campaign and to donate. 

Visit the website at www.jamharics.com