Photo: AP Photo| Samy Ntumba Shambuyi
In the Kinshasa Botanical Garden, a troupe of cardboard animals stand at attention in a clearing. Their handlers, puppeteers dressed in black, begin to move slowly through the woods, eventually picking up speed and breaking out into a run. These were the first steps of “The Herds,” a moving theater performance made up of cardboard puppet animals that flee from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Arctic Circle bring attention to the climate crisis. This week, the puppet animals started their journey in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC in central Africa. The story goes that the animals will be forced out of their natural habitats due to global warming and displaced north, stopping in cities along the way and being joined by more animals. Tshoper Kabambi, a Congolese filmmaker and producer, is working on “The Herds” as its DRC producer. He said “The Herds” main goal is to raise awareness. “Nature is very important to us. But humans have a tendency to neglect nature,” he said. “We want to raise awareness among people about everything that is happening.” “The Herds” comes from the team that was behind “The Walk” in 2021, in which a 12-foot tall puppet of a refugee girl called Little Amal drew attention to the refugee crisis by traveling to 15 countries — from Turkey to the U.K., Ukraine, Mexico and the U.S.
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