Read on to learn more about our accomplishments in 2020. In a year when it sometimes seemed like nothing was possible, everything was possible because of you. I am grateful to you, our incredible donors, who stepped up to help us during was no doubt a difficult period in your own lives. While 2020 wasn’t exactly the year I’d hoped and planned for, I look back now and take pride in all we accomplished despite the hurdles we faced. It is more than just building us a home: It is uplifting a community at an incredibly difficult moment in time, creating a future where both people and wildlife can thrive. This project is providing critical jobs for more than 500 individuals living near the forest whose livelihoods were greatly affected by the pandemic. But as an organization, and as a community of committed conservationists, we are working our way through these challenges with an eye to our mission of protecting the gorillas and their critical, biodiverse habitat.Īlthough we had to briefly halt construction on our new home, The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, to ensure the safety of the construction team, we are now back up and running. There have been times when the problems we faced seemed insurmountable. This year has challenged our staying power as few others have in our 53-year history. Every one of our trackers rose to the challenge going above and beyond, they transitioned to rotations in the field, which kept them away from their own families for long periods of time, because they know, as our donors know, that we never leave the gorillas. We adopted new and costly safety measures to ensure the continued health of our trackers and prevent transmission to the gorillas we protect. Our important work protecting the gorillas could not stop, but we had to ensure our staff members and the gorillas stayed healthy. Im a communications intern who reports on all the programs that Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International helps fund. The whole world changed, almost overnight, and we had to change with it. At the Fossey Fund, it was business as usual: Our trackers, staff and scientists were at work in the forests and communities of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.īut then the coronavirus began its deadly march across the globe. Many now work for government and local conservation organizations, or have gone on to pursue graduate degrees.2020 started out the same as always, with resolutions and wishes for a Happy New Year. Our education efforts are working! More than 85% of students who do their college senior thesis work with the Fossey Fund go into scientific or conservation-related careers. Deo first started as a student with us and is now a mentor to many other aspiring conservationists in Rwanda. Click here to read about our first Rwandan staff member to complete his Ph.D. We also provide scholarships for our own staff to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees, attend conservation conferences and conduct research. Click here to read about a recent group of Rwandan college students studying with and learning from Fossey Fund scientists at our campus. Our programs focus on providing classroom and hands-on training in areas such as conservation biology, research methods, lab techniques and scientific writing. Each year we host hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students and early-career professionals on our Ellen Campus for specialized trainings and internships aimed at building their skill sets.
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