July 3, 2008 (b): Virginians Join International Effort to Preserve Bonobo Habitat
Press Releases
Virginians Joint International Effort to Preserve Bonobo Habitat
Africa's Kokolopori rainforest home to endangered ape species
June 23, 2008
Falls Church, Virginia -- In January, Ingrid Schulze temporarily left her comfortable home near Washington for Kokolopori, a remote area deep in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The purpose of her trip was to deliver school supplies and eyeglasses to DRC's Kokolopori region and further Falls Church's two-year-old "sister city" partnership with the area.
Kokolopori is a chain of 35 villages with a total population of 8,000 people.
Schulze accompanied Sally Coxe, president of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, a Washington-based nonprofit organization devoted to ensuring the survival of the bonobo -- a species of great ape -- and its tropical forest habitat and to helping the people living in the Congo rainforest forest improve their lives.
Kokolopori is one of the richest known bonobo habitat areas and the anchor site for the Bonobo Peace Forest, a joint effort of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative and its Congolese partner organizations that links community-managed forest reserves and sustainable development zones. The 3,108 square kilometer Kokolopori Bobobo Reserve serves as the model for the reserves.
Kokolopori conservationist Albert Lokasola, founder of Vie Sauvage, a partner organization in Kokolopori, said people living in the region say the rainforest is the only resource they have; they want to protect it from illegal logging and hunting. The Mongandu people of Kokplopori recognize bonobos as relatives of humans from the distant past, according to the Bonobo Conservation Initiative.
Schulze said through the sister city tie people of Falls Church are learning about Congo's rainforests and about the lives of people in their sister city community. By sharing friendship and resources, she said, Falls Church can help the people of Kokolopori increase their economic security.
"Together we can help protect the rarest of the great apes, help prevent tropical deforestation that contributes to climate change, and teach our children valuable lessons about global citizenship," Schulze writes on the partnership's Web site.
The Falls Church partner group raised money to purchase school supplies including books, notebooks, maps and metal roofing.
Falls Church residents also established a micro-credit fund used to assist Kokolopori women start or expand businesses in such areas as dress making, palm oil production and soap making.
The Virginia community continues to raise money to purchase medical supplies and to pay the salaries for a doctor and nurse for Kokolopori's only clinic.
It has donated vision-testing equipment and eyeglasses collected by the Falls Church Lion's Club, a nonprofit service organization, with assistance from the Falls Church Victorian Society, a historical-preservation group.
Malaria, HIV/AIDS, diarrhea, respiratory diseases and complications of childbirth are common in Kokolopori, according to Lokasola, whose 2005 visit to Falls Church sparked Schulze to urge her city to officially adopt Kokolopori as a sister city.
The Falls Church-Kokolopori tie is an opportunity for residents of Falls Church to gain a greater appreciation of "global citizenship, diversity in cultures and environmental values," according to former Falls Church Mayor Dan Gardner.
The Kokolopori-Falls Church Sister City partnership is the only such relationship linking an American community with the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the Sister City International Web site.
The two communities are linked through the Washington-based Sister Cities International. The nonprofit group was originated in 1956 by President Dwight Eisenhower as a citizen diplomacy initiative.
More information is available on the Kokolopori Partnership Web site.