Nov 19 2007
Jean Bosco: Community Conservation Officer
I am Jean Bosco Bichamakara and I head up community relations in Rumangabo. This means that I work with the communities that live around the Gorilla Sector and in the southern sector of Virunga National Park.
I work very closely with Innocent and Diddy and so I will also start contributing to this blog. I have been in this job since 2003 and with ICCN for 9 years.
My name Bichamakara actually means “Forbid Charcoal” in the KinyaBwisha language.
So my job is to protect the park and to work with the local communities to do this. For example, if animals leave the park to steal the crops of the local populations, we need to intervene to help solve this problem. Buffaloes, elephants and gorillas are the main animals that do this. Remember the Rugendo family in particular does this because they are so habituated to humans.
So we often help coerce the animals into re-entering the park, and we try and educate the local communities into the importance of preserving our park. When we finally get stability, tourism will be one of the major sources of revenue for the local populations. So we need to protect Virunga and the wildlife so that this can become a reality.
Here I am with my colleague Pierre Ndeze. His grandfather was a tribal chief who died in February. Ndeze, the Mountain Gorilla daughter of Safari who is now orphaned in Goma after the Rugendo massacre, is named after him.
I have 12 Rangers in my team, so we are 13 including myself. There are 12 patrol posts in the southern sector of Virunga National Park, so this is how we come to this figure - 1 community relations officer at each post.
I look forward to posting more about my work on this blog and receiving your comments.
Jean Bosco
Technorati : community conservation, congo, drc, iccn, wildlifedirect
Daily news from the conservation frontline by Innocent and Diddy, and other Congolese rangers risking their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Welcome, Jean! Very nice to meet you. I’m impressed that every patrol post has a community relations officer. Looking forward to your posts.
s.
REMINDER: Vote for Mr. Rutagarama in the final CNN Heroes poll: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/cnn.heroes/index.html
You can vote as often as you like.
s.
Hello Jean! Thank you for sharing a little about you! Thanks for all you do also to protect all the animals of the park…be safe! God Bless!
Hello Jean, You have a very difficult job, but a very, very important one. Thank you for protecting the Mountain Gorilla. I hope that the crazy fighting ends soon so that stability can happen and the tourists come and generate lots and lots of revenue for everyone. I’ll be one of those tourists some day and then I will be proud to meet you in person. Lisa
Jean I am also glad to meet you..Your guys do such a good job.
Sheryl I have been voting for him…
Lisa same here one day we will get to meet the men in person and of course the gorillas…EEEEE. Would be so fun.
Hi Jean,
I look forward to reading your posts. Welcome!
~Robin
Jean….Were your parents involved with protection of your country and it’s environment?
It’s just your family gave you such a powerful name that means something that everyone has an issue with.
And I was just curious also….
I can’t wait to see your posts !!
Welcome Jean,
look forward to reading your posts. How is the fighting there affecting your work?
Greetings Jean Bosco Bichamakara and Pierre Ndeze! … I wish you much success in your dities … Pierre has a wonderful godchild! … Be safe and good luck!
Welcome Jean, Thanks for joining the blog. Looking foward to your posts here.
Hello Jean and Pierre and all of your team. Thank you for all you do. Looking forward to your posts and wishing you peace and love. Be safe.
Hello Stephanie. No, my parents did not work with ICCN. My father is a farmer at Rumangabo.
Angela - The conflict affects my work because I cannot work because the population around the park has fled. So my work with the local communities has been forcibly stopped, like the work of all Rangers. This is especially in the Gorilla Sector. But in other areas I can continue working.
Welcome, Jean. Nice to meet you. Looking forward to your posts on the blog. All of you are doing a great job with the gorillas, and greatly
appreciated. Good luck, Take care.
[…] security situation remains the same as you can see. We have been working in Goma since Monday with Jean Bosco, Balemba (the accountant who runs the Rumangabo Youth Alliance blog) and the administrator from FZS […]
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