Season Greetings...Makes Me Think of Gorillas?

I thought I'd share a neat story I came across the other day. As many of you who follow my blog know, I like to write about Rwanda from time to time. My trip there in 2007 has had a lasting impact on me.

While in Rwanda, on my one day off from the Water For People volunteer work I was there to do, I was able to see first hand the work that The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund does (and of course see the gorillas themselves too!). Not only do they help the endangered mountain gorillas, but also the people who live in the surrounding areas. This article (http://gorillafund.org/Page.aspx?pid=843&srctid=1&erid=30879) discusses two Rwandan women who worked their way up through the ranks to become respected scientists with The Fund. They also recently earned the distinction of being the only African women to take a leading role in the intense field operations of the mountain gorilla census in the Virungas (the mountain range where the gorillas live). Pretty cool that women have come such a long way in Rwanda. Did you know that they have the most women in parliament than any other African country?

Pictured below is one of the women trackers, Bernadette (photo courtesy of The Fund):

Here's a picture of the tracker for my group when I went to see the gorillas (I'm pretty sure he was the same tracker who took Anderson Cooper on his trek-if you happened to catch that TV special a few years ago):

The gorillas trackers live in this house below, which is supported by The Fund:

While I was there, I stayed with the manager of a health clinic that The Fund supported, to provide much needed services to a remote village on the outskirts of the Virungas. Pictured below is the house she lived in and graciously opened up to us for two nights:

Here is the health clinic and the long line of people waiting. The day we were there, there were 4 babies born!

And a blog about Rwanda and the gorillas wouldn't be complete without a few gorilla pictures. During the 2010 census mentioned above, they counted 480 gorillas, up over 25% from 380 counted in 2003! The family I visited had about 12 gorillas in it. Here are some of my fav pics I took:

And now a plug for The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund...this holiday season please consider adopting a cute gorilla seen here :)