Friday 31, 2009: GPS Workshop for Community Members

Last night we arrived for a late lunch to the Silverback Gorilla Camp, a simple lodge that is owned by CTPH. On our drive from the Telecenter to Bwindi we saw a few more animal species. It is the dry season here, so there are not many animals in this region. Once at the camp we were shown around and visited the Gorilla Clinic/Lab that is there. This is where gorilla fecal samples are analyzed and is the only place at the camp where electricity is available for charging electronics.

This morning we woke to the peaceful sounds of birds chirping and hot tea brought to our porch for us to enjoy. Our living situation is like a tent camp and it is very comfortable. We also ate breakfast out in front of our tent.

There are about 25 community members that are here to learn about using the GPS in order to collect information for CTPH. There are CPE and CPD participants from various towns and villages surrounding Bwindi National Park. Due to their lack of formal education past Primary School, everything takes a lot longer because their thought processes are much slower than we are used to. Translations from the local language to English takes extra time as well thus causing the slow progress.

When the GPS workshop is finished, a monthly meeting about community progress will be held and we are hoping to learn a lot from that meeting. These participants are very well spoken in their native language and a few even know some English.

We are enjoying out stay in Bwindi, the people are very friendly and we are learning a few words in the native language. It is very nice to be surrounded by so much lush green vegetation and we are so excited to be able to help these communities.