this piece reflects my desire to savor the world, and to enjoy the profound experiences that make up this unique place. 

in this piece i hope to have captured a glimpse of sierra leone for those who have not been there before. i hope to show how some of the smallest and most simple moments can also be the most beautiful. the rainy season “brings the forest to life,” with unique sights, sounds, and smells. these are some of the things that i saw during july and august of 2019, during my time at tacugama chimpanzee sanctuary, located in the western area forest reserve.  

although there are prominent human and environmental challenges that need to be addressed in sierra leone, this video focuses on the present beauties and successes that also exist. 

i want to add to the expanding collection of stories and experiences that are told about this place, because the media often portrays sierra leone, or “mama salone,” in a light that is not truly reflective of its people and their circumstances. i am beyond grateful to have witnessed the beauty of the people who live here, the beauty of the rainforest, and the beauty of the plant and animal life which inhabit it. this piece is an appreciation and documentation of salone, but, as with many alike, does not encompass the whole story. 

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source: music is copyright-free, courtesy of rage productions on youtube.

conservation and environmental protection always felt blindly obvious to me. my love for nature led me to quickly internalizing information about how the world and its animals were at risk. i then developed an even stronger concern for the fate of our planet and our species. rather than this world being solely ours to wander, i always felt as if we were lucky just to share it with the other creatures who have long inhabited it. 

but recently, my affirmed beliefs have been questioned. after spending six weeks as a wildlife and conservation intern at tacugama chimpanzee sanctuary in sierra leone, my clarity on the ethics of conservation work are as blurred as ever. the future seems dangerously uncertain. looming within the persistent dark clouds of the rainy season, every day at the sanctuary i felt more strongly the imminent reality of climate change, population growth, and species extinction. i felt the hopelessness of long-term, momentarily intangible projects, of underfunded programs, unfairly slow productivity levels, and infuriating legislation that allows a chimpanzee poacher to get away with less than a $1 fine.

what i had thought would be a reflective, meditative, and illuminating six weeks instead became the complete opposite. i envisioned spending my mornings practicing yoga and meditation with the backdrop of rainforest sounds, and my evenings reading my 1,000-page novel, “infinite jest,” and then journaling, pinpointing exactly what i wanted to pursue in this field of work in the future. 

instead, i spent many of my mornings patrolling the electric fences in the unrelenting rain, scrubbing chimpanzee poop off my pants, and making sure the millipedes hadn’t crawled back into my suitcase overnight. my evenings were spent most often in the candlelight, without power, struggling to write down my disorderly thoughts beneath the glow of my headlamp. i was totally exhausted. was all this even worth it? 

i would often find myself trapped in this pit in my mind: 

the problems are so overwhelmingly huge, i can’t possibly make a difference. how naive was i to think that i could come here for six weeks and change a situation that is so deeply corroded?

what good am i doing, killing myself over the small problems provoked by climate change, when there are just 100 companies who create 71% of all carbon emissions?! even if i dedicated my entire life to this particular cause, devoting every ounce of energy i have into bettering the lives of those living closest to the chimpanzee habitat in sierra leone, my impact would clearly be negligible to the irreversible environmental catastrophe that is looming. 

and if i did, i wouldn’t be happy — i can’t do this for more than a few months at a time. living in the middle of the rainforest is really, really hard. am i a phony conservationist and environmentalist? if someone who is as passionate as i am is unwilling to devote their life entirely to this issue, then who on earth is? 

should i just quit school then, and enjoy my life while i can? hey, maybe i could move to hawaii and become an artist, eating fresh papaya, and surviving off the grid with a self-sustaining garden. 

i thought about all these things, and more. i let my mind wander down the endless paths of what-ifs and worst-case scenarios. what i’ve realized is that all this worrying is doing far more harm than what i could be doing if i was doing anything but worrying.

the problem these days with conservation action, with considering climate change, is that we spend way more time deliberating and arguing about whether or not it is happening than actually implementing solutions. people are willing to put as much energy into arguing about how to save the planet as they are into actually getting about doing it.

i almost fell down this hole, too. but doing something, anything, is far more moral than doing nothing at all — and that in the end, it does add up. international development work is certainly not perfect; it is riddled with ethical conflicts and it’s important that we continue to examine these closely. but it also has dramatically improved and saved millions of lives, provided critical health care, education, jobs, infrastructure, and political stability. maybe these improvements aren’t seen right away, but over time they add up. slight positive developments do make a difference, especially when you’re dealing with small local communities and individual animals. 

there are institutional barriers that make improvements and solutions to entrenched problems nearly impossible. it’s important to recognize that volunteering or interning for a brief period of time does not provide a systematic solution to these problems. that’s not to say it has no value, just that we need to accept our contributions for what they are.

the truth is we need both: we desperately need large institutional changes, but we also need individuals who care about specific issues, who are willing to make day-to-day changes and have conversations that shift consumer habits. 

maybe i didn’t come away knowing what conservation-related career path i was going to pursue. my biggest takeaway was a perspective, an insight as to how complicated, sensitive, yet important conservation work can be, about privilege, about the power of storytelling. 

it was an insight into how it feels to face situations that seem doomed, but choosing to not let that shut you down. and lastly, it was an insight into how optimism and a positive outlook can change your perspective and can help you change the world.

have you ever wondered what it would be like to interact face-to-face with our closest living relatives? to hear them, smell them, hold them? my intense curiosity for these questions, as well as a desire to help promote wildlife conservation, is what led me to getting to know some of the most marvelous creatures that walk the planet.

imagine waking up 6 a.m., having torrents of rainfall slide heavily down off your raincoat and onto your boots. then imagine having an orphan chimpanzee reach out at you, cautious at first, murmuring with a soft “hoot hoot hoot,” fervently grabbing for your middle finger. when she first deeply gazes up at your face, with eyes that are so full of expression it makes you question if she is even real at all —  it changes you. after spending six weeks surrounded by almost 100 chimpanzees in sierra leone, i can confirm, and hopefully convince you, that chimpanzees are well worth saving from extinction.

the world as we know it is rapidly changing, and with these changes come negative implications to tropical forest ecosystems and the primates who inhabit them. currently, 60% of all primate species are under the threat of extinction, and 75% of species have declining populations. wild chimpanzee populations have plummeted since the 2000’s, causing extinction already in four of their 25 range countries. if we don’t take action now, populations will decline by an additional 80% within the next 30 years or so. the trajectory is clear — it is up to our generation to alter the trend. 

so the question now becomes, how do we prevent this impending extinction crisis? one answer to this overwhelming large problem begins on a relatively small scale, but is slowly summoning up momentum in the deep rainforests of sierra leone.

sierra leone is home to approximately 10% of the estimated 53,000 remaining western chimpanzees. sierra leone’s expanding human population has swiftly increased deforestation of critical chimpanzee habitat, making way for agriculture, mining, and infrastructure development. this combined with diseases like ebola, as well as hunting for bushmeat and the illegal pet trade, has caused a dramatic decrease in their population. so much so, that they are now on the iucn (international union for conservation of nature) red list of threatened species.

despite weak law enforcement and limited resources, the country’s only chimpanzee sanctuary, known as tacugama, works tirelessly in areas where remaining chimpanzees reside. tacugama has, and continues to, implement a range of conservation and community outreach initiatives to help mitigate site-specific issues posing the greatest threats to chimpanzee populations. one of the most effective ways they have created positive change so far, is by working with the communities which live in closest proximity to the western area peninsula forest reserve. 

take for example, moyamba district, where tacugama has been carrying out an extensive community forestry management program since january 2018. it targets five communities that neighbor two forests (mai-makombo and yelleh-sorbengi) as well as mangrove regions. these areas provided essential habitats for a number of key wildlife species, but unfortunately have faced deforestation due to slash-and-burn agriculture. 

to help protect these habitats, in addition to promoting community-based forestry management, the program also has succeeded in the continuation of a bio-monitoring program that recruits community members to monitor and present wildlife data. they’ve also provided workshops teaching sustainable oyster farming to help empower local women. they’ve held community meetings about sustainable forest management practices. they’ve supported local teachers in the implementation of tacugama’s environmental education curriculum. the list goes on. 

while these projects might seem small relative to the damage being done, i can tell you first hand that they are making a significant difference: not only for the people who live here, but also for the chimpanzees who remain. supporting small-scale, long-term conservation strategies is imperative for protecting the forest and thus the survival of chimpanzees in sierra leone. i would argue that the effects of conservation efforts are felt substantially more here, due to site-specificity and vital need for action.

no, sierra leone is not my hometown, and chimpanzees are not humans, but i firmly believe we have a responsibility to stand up for the issues that matter most to us.

it is up to each individual to decide what kind of difference they would like to make, and i strongly encourage you to make a difference on issues that you feel most passionately about. for me personally, i feel the urgency of this situation deep in my bones. and because i’ve seen that i can, in fact, make a significant difference here, the work is well worth it. 

sources:

jane goodall institute 

national geographic

mongabay

african wildlife foundation

primatology research paper

international union for the conservation of nature

global forest watch

tacugama chimpanzee sanctuary 

the guardian

un great ape survival partnership

now imagine undertaking the task of propelling conservation in places where environmental protection has been neglected for so many years; the earth’s decline a negligible problem compared to far more tangible issues of poverty, disease, and conflict.

children in sierra leone are at the forefront of changing this narrative. at tacugama chimpanzee sanctuary, the tacugama kids environmental educational program (tkeep) is already shifting the values held by children in nearby communities.

“bala always saw it as the core,” aram kazandijan told me, although the environmental education program has been gradually developing on an upwards path for years. 

kazandijan is the development manager of the sanctuary, who has overseen the hard work into tkeep. the program is aimed at the children who live and attend the schools that are in closest proximity to the sanctuary and to the forest reserve. 

when you walk up the scorched copper-colored path, and into the lush greenery at the mouth of the sanctuary, you pass the sign, “change starts with kids.” printed intentionally on the wall on the backside of the surgery room, visitors at tacugama can see it right away. this eye-catching sign reflects the importance of education to the sanctuary’s core mission.  

kazandijan, who doubles as the assistant director of tacugama, is convinced that kids have the power to influence great change. after my time working at the sanctuary this past summer, i am also convinced.

as a wildlife and conservation intern, i spent an abundance of my time at tacugama working with both the environmental education program and community outreach programs.  

the kid’s environmental education program enables children in sierra leone to have access to valuable conservation education, giving rise to future voices and leaders in research, environmental protection, and climate change.

one of the ways they are helping to implement this mission is by the creation of the kid’s workbook: a comprehensive, 13-lesson educational workbook that teaches kids about various aspects of the rainforest ecosystem, about health and sanitation, and about wildlife conservation.

while tacugama was originally created as a sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees, it has now expanded to address the issues that are most relevant to not only the forest and its species— but also to the people living in communities in its closest proximity.

with a combination of education and livelihood support, they “are trying to not just enhance, but improve their quality of life,” according to kazandijan.

he explained how without basic needs, “there is no way you are going to be able to connect and facilitate change.”

in order to create lasting changes through conservation and livelihood projects, you must improve the quality of life.

kazandijan said, “that’s key.”

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friends of tacugama  fundraising and scholarships

in august 2017, a devastating landslide hit the freetown peninsula in sierra leone, killing more than 1,100 people, and leaving more than 3,000 homeless. the slide occurred less than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the sanctuary.

“when there is a disaster of that magnitude, whether you’re an ngo, wildlife organization, or a research institute, you are all morally obligated to help,” kazandijan said. 

this disaster hit home. many staff members ended up losing loved ones and their homes. tacugama knew that they had to intervene, as many of those affected by the slide were members of communities where outreach and educational projects were being carried out.

in the beginning, tacugama provided immediate supplies that were most needed — collecting donations to help provide breakfast (milk, bread, sardines), bowels, plates, cups, and waste management bins. after the launch of a gofundme page, and by approaching various donors, the sanctuary managed to raise quite a bit of money. but by this time, however, other far more established ngo’s had moved in, and were supplying aid and resources effectively. so tacugama decided to use the money they had raised for more long-term objectives. that’s when they came up with the idea of scholarships: sponsoring children who were orphaned by the landslide.

“it’s about assessing the gaps, figuring out which organizations are specializing best, and if they have the funds, they should cover the full spectrum, while we focus on more long-term objectives,” kazandijan said. “it’s not a one-off commitment.”

four of the schools that implemented tacugama’s education program were greatly affected by the landslide. in two of the schools closest to the sanctuary, more than 40 children were killed. two months after the disaster, full scholarships were provided to 44 children who had lost their parents to the slide — and their school fees will continue to be covered on an annual basis.

the sponsorship covers their school fees, the registration, and, in some cases, uniforms, shoes, and book bags. their academic progress and wellbeing are being monitored through relationships with the teachers and principals. the charity arm of tacugama, known as “friends of tacugama,” is also continually fundraising and receiving donations, of which a portion goes into continuing these scholarships. you can help by fundraising or donating here.

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author’s note: during the six weeks of my internship, i spent time almost every day working on an updated version of the kid’s workbook and teacher’s manual. this required extensive redesign, lesson planning, interviews, and editing. this was also done for the corresponding teacher’s manual, which is given to the teachers as instruction onto how best utilize the workbook in their classrooms.